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© 2011, International Textile and Apparel Association, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ITAA Proceedings, #59 – www.itaaonline.org
2002 Proceedings New York, New York
President's Address Enhancing the Inevitable: Globalization and the ITAA
Sara U. Douglas University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Keywords: industry, textile, global
For many ITAA members this past year has been a year of living with gloom. Not necessarily living gloomily, but living with at least a certain amount of gloom. As our presence in New York City reminds us, the gloom of 2001-02 is not so much what Alexander Pope in "Eloise to Abelard" called "the convent's solitary gloom." It is instead the encircling gloom of the thicket, lacking the institutional character of the convent and confronting us with less structured and visible challenges. The terror visited on New York last September was not the creation or act of a nation-state or a formalized international alliance. It was more amorphous, a movement driven by ideology, a transnational phenomenon akin to certain forces of nature. Economic forces seem increasingly to take on this same supranational quality, and the gloom suffusing the textile and apparel industries, at least in recent years in the USA, is another example. So we have some exposure and practice in dealing with gloom. Consider the following headlines from selected issues of Women's Wear Daily- all published within the past year: "DuPont Sends Warning as Textile Firms Face Dire Economic Outlook" (7/26/01). "An Industry [retailing] in Crisis: Where's the Bottom?" (9/4/01). "Burlington on Its Knees from Heavy Debt, Low-Cost Imports" (11/16/01). "More Layoffs at Sara Lee" (11/20/01). "Guilford Mills Makes Its Exit from U. S. Apparel Production" (1/16/02). "ATMI Plans Layoffs of Its Own" (1/16/01).
Now, negative developments usually have upsides. These may amount to little more than Pollyannaish interpretations, as when Rush Limbaugh, first having denied the plausibility of global warming, proclaimed that if, by some fluke of fate it is happening, it is really a beneficial process for agricultural producers in northern climates. (As far as I know, he has neglected to notice the windfall that global warming may create for hydraulic engineers whose skills may be needed to protect coastal regions from flooding. Our son-in-law happens to be employed in a sector that was greatly enhanced in the post-9/11 emphasis on security. But somehow this has not been cause for family celebration.) The decline of the American textile and apparel industries has had the perhaps salutary effect of inducing the two industries to pull together more than previously had been the case. That hardly detracts from the difficulties they now endure.
In August 2001, ATMI's comprehensive report entitled "Crisis in U. S. Textiles" laid the blame on such things as the collapse of many Asian currencies in 1997 and 1998, high
Object Description
| Title | ITAA Proceedings 2002 President's Address |
| Papers | President's Address. Enhancing the Inevitable: Globalization and the ITAA |
| Authors | Douglas, Sara U. |
| Corporate Author | International Textile and Apparel Association |
| Date | 2002 |
| Type [DCMIType] | text |
| Type [IMT] | |
| Collection | International Textile and Apparel Association Records, 1944-[ongoing];http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/manuscripts/MS342.pdf |
| Location | Iowa State University Library Special Collections and University Archives; http://archives.lib.iastate.edu/ ; International Textile and Apparel Association: http://www.itaaonline.org/ |
| Call Number | MS 0342 |
| Format-Extent | PDF from Word doc; 5 pp. |
| Identifier | 0342-ITAA-Proceedings.2002.President's_Address |
| Rights | U.S. and international copyright laws protect this digital image. Commercial use or distribution of the image is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder. For permission to use this content, please contact the International Textile and Apparel Association at info@itaaonline.org or executivedirector@itaaonline.org. |
| Format | |
| File Size | 150720 Bytes |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Collection | International Textile and Apparel Association Records, 1944-[ongoing];http://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/manuscripts/MS342.pdf |
| Transcription | Page 1 of 5 © 2011, International Textile and Apparel Association, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ITAA Proceedings, #59 – www.itaaonline.org 2002 Proceedings New York, New York President's Address Enhancing the Inevitable: Globalization and the ITAA Sara U. Douglas University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA Keywords: industry, textile, global For many ITAA members this past year has been a year of living with gloom. Not necessarily living gloomily, but living with at least a certain amount of gloom. As our presence in New York City reminds us, the gloom of 2001-02 is not so much what Alexander Pope in "Eloise to Abelard" called "the convent's solitary gloom." It is instead the encircling gloom of the thicket, lacking the institutional character of the convent and confronting us with less structured and visible challenges. The terror visited on New York last September was not the creation or act of a nation-state or a formalized international alliance. It was more amorphous, a movement driven by ideology, a transnational phenomenon akin to certain forces of nature. Economic forces seem increasingly to take on this same supranational quality, and the gloom suffusing the textile and apparel industries, at least in recent years in the USA, is another example. So we have some exposure and practice in dealing with gloom. Consider the following headlines from selected issues of Women's Wear Daily- all published within the past year: "DuPont Sends Warning as Textile Firms Face Dire Economic Outlook" (7/26/01). "An Industry [retailing] in Crisis: Where's the Bottom?" (9/4/01). "Burlington on Its Knees from Heavy Debt, Low-Cost Imports" (11/16/01). "More Layoffs at Sara Lee" (11/20/01). "Guilford Mills Makes Its Exit from U. S. Apparel Production" (1/16/02). "ATMI Plans Layoffs of Its Own" (1/16/01). Now, negative developments usually have upsides. These may amount to little more than Pollyannaish interpretations, as when Rush Limbaugh, first having denied the plausibility of global warming, proclaimed that if, by some fluke of fate it is happening, it is really a beneficial process for agricultural producers in northern climates. (As far as I know, he has neglected to notice the windfall that global warming may create for hydraulic engineers whose skills may be needed to protect coastal regions from flooding. Our son-in-law happens to be employed in a sector that was greatly enhanced in the post-9/11 emphasis on security. But somehow this has not been cause for family celebration.) The decline of the American textile and apparel industries has had the perhaps salutary effect of inducing the two industries to pull together more than previously had been the case. That hardly detracts from the difficulties they now endure. In August 2001, ATMI's comprehensive report entitled "Crisis in U. S. Textiles" laid the blame on such things as the collapse of many Asian currencies in 1997 and 1998, high |
