Journal of Economic Geography Advance Access published online on July 7, 2009
Journal of Economic Geography, doi:10.1093/jeg/lbp033
Coping with the changing rules of the game in the global textiles and apparel industries: evidence from Turkey and Morocco
z
lgün**
*Milano the New School for Management and Urban Policy, The New School, New York, NY 10011, USA. email <tokatlin{at}newschool.edu>
**Fine Arts Faculty, Okan University, 34959 Tuzla, Istanbul, Turkey. email <omur.kizilgun{at}gmail.com>
JEL classifications: F13, F23, D21, L14, L67
In 2004, USA signed a bilateral free trade agreement with Morocco that was potentially devastating for the Turkish firm Mithat, an established clothing supplier of a number of major US buyers including Gap/Banana Republic/Old Navy. By means of this case study, we observe the manner in which manufacturing suppliers make their own calculations in response to their buyers sourcing calculus—a daunting task, especially when it is necessary to take into account politically motivated bilateral free trade agreements between countries which are neither natural partners nor in geographical proximity with each other.
Keywords: global clothing industry, apparel, quotas, bilateral trade agreements, upgrading, Turkey/Morocco
Date submitted: 3 October 2008
Date accepted: 11 June 2009