Progress 10/01/01 to 09/30/04
Outputs
This project investigated the decline of apparel manufacturing and the growth of an apparel service sector in rural Wisconsin. As apparel firms have moved to offshore contracting of apparel production, sewing jobs have disappeared, while a new category of apparel service jobs has expanded. These jobs support the sale of apparel that is predominantly produced overseas. The sector includes some marketing and design operations, but a far larger number of jobs in call centers and order-fulfillment operations that serve catalog and internet-based sales. This study found the apparel service sector to be an important new source of jobs in Wisconsin, in a period when apparel manufacturing has declined in the state (1990-2002). The state lost 1600 jobs in apparel from 1987 to 2001, while gaining as many as 10,000 jobs in apparel services. Through quantitative analysis and mapping of data from the Department of Workforce Development, the project found that the benefits of the
transition to apparel service employment affected communities across the state unevenly. Through case studies of an apparel manufacturing firm (Oshkosh B'Gosh, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin), and a catalog-based apparel distributor (Lands' End, in Dodgeville, Wisconsin), we compared the kinds of jobs provided by the two types of firms. We found little evidence that apparel service companies were experiencing difficulty in finding workers with the skills and education to perform the tasks required, even when this involved computer-based order fulfillment. Managers were pleased with the willingness of rural employees (nearly 80% women) to work flexible hours and at the times of the year they were needed. We found that, contrary to what some theories predict, even in regions where apparel service firms have provided significant numbers of new jobs, these jobs are less well paid, more casually structured (62% seasonal workers) and less secure than manufacturing employment has been.
Impacts
The quantitative data allowed us to assess the hypothesis that while apparel manufacturing jobs are declining, apparel service jobs are increasing in rural areas of Wisconsin. The economic profiles of firms help establish the kinds of ties that different kinds of firms establish with their surrounding communities and labor markets and the kinds of jobs provided.
Publications
- Collins, J.L. and A. Quark. 2005. 'Creative Destruction' and Rural Communities: The Apparel Industry's Changing Connection to Rural Labor Markets. submitted to Rural Sociology.
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Progress 01/01/03 to 12/31/03
Outputs
Research efforts focused on determining change in the nature and extent of apparel industry in Wisconsin. One of the hypotheses guiding this project was that the number of firms and jobs in apparel production would have declined in Wisconsin over the period 1990-2002, while the state would have experienced growth in apparel service jobs. We conducted the following activities in order to determine if this was true and to understand how competitive conditions in the industry were driving this trend. 1. We assessed which categories in the Standard Industrial Classification (used until 1999-2000) and the North American Industrial Classification System (used after that time) corresponded to apparel production jobs, and which included apparel service jobs. Then we worked to establish comparability between SIC and NAICS categories so that we could compare data from 1990 and 2002. 2. We gathered and compiled data from the U.S. Economic Census on firms and employment in these
categories in 1990 and 2002. 3. We submitted a data request to the Department of Workforce Development for a listing of firms in these categories in the state of Wisconsin in 1990 and 2002. 4. Working with these lists, we verified that each firm was still in business, and was, in fact, either an apparel producing or apparel service firm. We did this through checking web-sites where possible, and calling the firms when necessary. 5. We submitted a request to the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin to use the geo-codes attached to the data to develop a county-by-county mapping of apparel producing firms in 1990 and 2002 and apparel service firms in 1990 and 2002. 6. We selected several key Wisconsin firms that could shed light on how the dynamics of change in the apparel industry were affecting producer and service firms. These included: a. Oshkosh BGosh, Oshkosh: an example of an apparel producer that did not retain its Wisconsin factories through the difficult
apparel economy of the 1990s. b. XMI, Richland Center: an example of an apparel producer that managed to grow and retain its factory operations through the 1990s. c. Lands End, Dodgeville: an example of a highly successful apparel service firm. 7. We gathered data for case studies from comprehensive searches of local newspapers, as well as the Wisconsin State Journal. These searches provided a wide range of information, including the expansion or closure of physical facilities, changes in business strategy, movement of jobs offshore, union activities, public stock offerings and the outcome of negotiations between the cities and the firms over taxes, utility rates and other issues. We supplemented newspaper accounts with searches of company web-sites (for current annual reports and sales data), and collected past annual reports and sales data from the UW Business Library. 8. We developed case study profiles of each firm, and analyzed this data to develop an account of how factors in
the global apparel economy affected the success and failure of Wisconsin firms, and of which strategies helped firms to survive in this environment.
Impacts
The data confirmed our hypothesis that the shape of the Wisconsin apparel industry is changing. While jobs in apparel production have declined sharply, there has been tremendous growth in call centers and order fulfillment facilities (apparel service jobs). Our results showed that while some niche manufacturers of apparel could retain production facilities through the difficult apparel economy of the 1990s, for most firms the economic climate led to bankruptcy or to movement of jobs overseas. Our research also showed that many large firms found Wisconsin an attractive location into which to expand their apparel service operations.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/02 to 12/31/02
Outputs
From January 2002 until July 2002, I focused on completing the investigation of the competitive conditions in the apparel industry, as a context for changes occurring in Wisconsin. Beginning in July 2002, I gathered data on apparel manufacturing and service firms and jobs in Wisconsin in 1980, 1990, and 2000. I also compiled a list of plant start-ups and closures from 1990 to 2002. I worked to develop economic profiles of key Wisconsin apparel manufacturers active during this period.
Impacts
The quantitative data on number of firms and jobs will help me assess the hypothesis that while apparel manufacturing jobs are declining, apparel service jobs are increasing in rural areas of Wisconsin. The economic profiles of firms will help me establish the kinds of ties the different kinds of firms establish with their surrounding communities and labor markets.
Publications
- 2002 Mapping a Global Labor Market: Gender and Skill in the Globalizing Garment Industry. Gender and Society 16(5):921-40.
- 2002 Deterritorialization and Workplace Culture. American Ethnologist 29(1):151-171.
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Progress 01/01/01 to 12/31/01
Outputs
The first year of this research project is devoted to a review of the literature on apparel sector restructuring in the United States with attention to its impacts on rural areas. Data will be collected on industry trends, such as the growth of internet marketing and catalog sales, mass customization, and quick response retailing. Between 10/01/01 and 12/31/01 the academic and trade presses were reviewed and relevant articles collected on apparel sector job loss and its impacts on rural areas, and on the growth of apparel service sector jobs in rural areas. Information was entered into a qualitative data base management program (QSR-Nudist)and was coded for future retrieval.
Impacts
The project hopes to determine to what degree "new" apparel service sector jobs require the same skills as assembly work, and whether these jobs are structured in ways that require or preclude the participation of certain groups of workers. It should provide information that can help local economic development authorities to determine whether a region is appropriate for apparel service industries, and potentially to recruit those industries.
Publications
- 2001 Quality By Other Means: Flexible Specialization and the Garment Industry. Competition and Change 5(2)165-200.
- forthcoming (2002), Globalization is in the Details: Case Studies of Labor Markets in the Apparel Industry, in Interrogating the Globalization Project, Rex Honey, ed. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
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