BRIEFING: Where’s the next apparel sourcing Shangri-la?

The world apparel industry has seen remarkable changes in the past 15 years. Buyers in rich countries now find a cheap source of production, immediately start looking for a cheaper one, and will continuously look for somewhere cheaper still or a 'new sourcing hotspot'. For this month's briefing, Clothesource spell out the key factors in apparel sourcing by mid-2007, including where apparel is sold and where it is made; the main effects on production centres; the invisible changes in the industry; the right questions to ask for ethical sourcing; where the next interesting sourcing ideas are likely to originate from; and how the complexity of data around the apparel industry can be simplified.