Digitalisation in the textile, apparel and footwear industry – a threat to industrialising and developing market economies?

This Focus contributes to the debate on the digitalisation of the working world and discusses the risks this trend has for emerging and developing countries. The paper examines the textile, apparel and footwear industry as an example. This industry is of high economic importance to emerging and developing economies in particular. The general finding is that, in the short to medium term, there is a minimal risk of the textile, apparel and footwear industry moving back to the industrialised economies. Firms currently deem the costs of digitalisation to be excessively high. In order to save costs, firms are looking for new, more cost-effective production locations in Asia or Africa.

Digitalisation in the textile, apparel and footwear industry – a threat to industrialising and developing market economies?(PDF, 71 KB, non-accessible)