Models And Trajectories Of Textile & Apparel Clusters

Cluster is an important form of textile and apparel industrial organization in China. The types of the clusters are different due to different development background and stage. On the turning point of textile and apparel industry, study of the characteristics and development path can not only fill in the blank of the dynamic research of this field, but also provide theoretical base to policy making.In this paper, the methodologies and results of previous cluster researches are studied. The development of clusters is discussed based on classification of different types of clusters.The textile and apparel clusters are classified into four types according to firm scales and internal relationship in this study.Affected by factor input conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, socio-cultural identity, government and chances, the scale and relationship of inter-cluster firms are changing continuously, which causes thecluster to develop to different types of clusters. In this paper, three possible development paths are estimated.The development path of a textile and apparel cluster will follow is resulted from the comparison of the benefits of internal expansion and external integration, with the consideration of external situations and internal conditions of the cluster.The development of a textile and apparel cluster is not an absolute endogenous process. Path dependence and lock-in effects may happen in this process. So, the development process needs external policy guidance.The type of the cluster may also reflect its learning and innovation performance. The development process is also the process of continuously enhancing the ability of learning and innovation.In this paper, there is also an empirical study of textile and apparel cluster based on classification of clusters and estimation of cluster development path. The author interviewed 15 firms distributed in the Datang socks cluster, Shengzhou tie cluster and Shaoxing textile and apparel cluster as well as the public institutions of these three clusters. Based on the investigation and related statistics, the specific cluster types ofdifferent periods are studied. Then, the development paths of specific clusters are estimated and our model is proved.The contribution of this study is the classification of textile and apparel clusters according to two key factors that is firm scale and internal relationship. Furthermore, three types of cluster development process are estimated based on the discussion of external effects. At the same time, learning and innovation ability which implies the ability of upgrade of different types of clusters are discussed in this paper.