The performance of UK textiles and clothing: recent controversies and evidence

This article focuses on the recent performance of textiles and clothing in the UK. The central argument is that the poor international competitiveness of these industries and the long term decline of textiles in particular has not been substantially reversed in the 1980s. Evidence is presented which demonstrates that the industry's uneven development in the 1980s does not conform to the analysis put forward by flexible specialization writers. The role of the state in the industry's decline is emphasized and related to alternative explanations of the industry's predicament.