What do these factory examples indicate in terms of the industry, its present and its future? There are a number of common challenges but also a number of different futures. The ‘heyday’ of the cut, make and trim sector has passed, and today the more successful factories are seeking to add value, find niche markets (including within Pacific Island markets) and diversify products. While commenting on the Fijian garment industry at the 16th Australia Fiji Business Forum, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, stated, ‘We must be realistic — increased competition means that reform is not a choice, it’s a necessity. … The choice is between having a textile [industry] that is competitive, or watching it disappear altogether’ (Pacific Islands Report, September 1, 2003). But what should the nature of this comparative advantage be?

Despite noting the need for reform in order to add value, many industry representatives still ‘sell’ their role as a ‘low-cost, flexible, short-run clothing and footwear manufacture’ (TCF Council and MoC 2003: 3). Indeed, the industry promotes itself as playing the same ‘strategic role’ for the Australian TCF sector ‘as Mexico and the Caribbean Basin do for the USA and Eastern Europe and Northern Africa do for Europe’ (TCF Council and MoC 2003: 8). Dependence on Australia continues. There remain an estimated 50 garment factories exporting garments to Australia (Daily Post, September 8, 2003).

Today there is huge variation in the experiences of factories: some are on the brink of collapse while others are looking to the future with cautious confidence. With the loss of preferential trade agreements, and as a result of the shakedown of the past five years, it is a misnomer to talk of a single garment industry today. The garment sector is divisible by size, export orientation, target markets and comparative advantage, as well as positions in value chains. A number of factories had anticipated the effects of increased competition and upgraded their factories with equipment and staff training in order to be able to produce higher quality value-added products for niche markets. It is widely held that Asian exporters are either not interested in, or not geared for, providing higher quality garments in short time frames, especially for orders that are distinct from high-volume/standard-cut production lines. This was reiterated to me by industry representatives and factory managers who saw this as an opportunity (Interviews 2003). In addition, several larger operations (with consequences for the industry as a whole) have attempted to improve their relations with workers and even trade unions, seeing this again as a point of differentiation.

It is fair to surmise that these companies are the better-placed ones with regard to future prosperity. They are currently undergoing stress but surviving as they are embedded locally and globally. However, they are not necessarily typical of the industry as a whole. That they have found niche markets has a great deal to do with their unique and long-term links with wholesalers and their ability to develop markets purchasing high-quality, high-cost products. One such company even has subsidiaries in New Zealand and Australia. The exports of successful businesses such as this include suits, safety wear, business shirts and specialist clothing (such as Gore-Tex).