Story from the Sun Sentinel
More than 90 percent of the clothing sold in the United States is imported, and the U.S. recession is sending ripples through the apparel industry worldwide.
In all his decades in the apparel business, South Florida customs broker Norm Gelber has never seen it so bad.He's handling about half the shipments he did two years ago and just laid off 40 of his 100 employees in Miami.
More than 90 percent of the clothing sold in the United States is imported, and the U.S. recession is sending ripples through the apparel industry worldwide.
At the Material World trade show at the Miami Beach Convention Center, the pain was obvious Tuesday in fewer booths, fewer buyers and grim news of layoffs, including the 40 at Gelber's Customs & Trade Services.
Guatemala has been especially hard hit, with as many as 18,000 apparel jobs lost last year, leaving about 90,000, said Carlos Arias, president of Denimatrix, a jeans maker. In the first two months this year, U.S. apparel imports from Guatemala plunged 36 percent, U.S. trade data show.
In Dominican Republic, where 22,000 apparel jobs have vanished since 2005, the government is getting aggressive to keep factories open. It is lifting taxes on fuel for machinery and reducing rents to help producers cope with shrinking U.S. sales, said Luisa Fernandez, executive director of the country's National Free Zone Council.
South Florida has long has served as the gateway for the apparel industry in the Americas. It helps ship U.S. fabric and supplies to factories in lower-wage countries in the Caribbean, Central America and South America and then receives the finished clothes for distribution to U.S. stores from Abercrombie & Fitch to Wal-Mart.
But the Americas have been losing their shine in apparel since a 2005 change in world trade rules lifted quotas and unleashed Asia as the new powerhouse. Clothes producers in Central America, Peru and other U.S. neighbors have been trying to fight back, signing free trade pacts for better access to the U.S. market and touting faster delivery closer to home.
Yet China, India and other Asian nations keep gaining, partly because of stronger fabric industries.
At Tuesday's show, even importers of Asian fabrics were feeling down. Siggy Kolko, of Boca-Raton-based Dreamtex, said he supplies textiles to the hotel industry for bedding, sofas and other needs. He once bought mainly U.S. fabric from quiliting fabrics designers, but most U.S. mills have closed, forcing him to rely on China. Sales nowadays are woeful, as recession takes a toll on of tourism, and hotels cut back on fabrics for room upgrades.
"If you're in the water and you're up to your neck, it's OK. But if you're head is under the water, it's not good. And that's where we are right now," Kolko said, at a booth full of bright, colorful fabrics. "We're just surviving."
So much of the U.S. apparel business has shifted to Asia that the Material World trade show next year plans a Los Angeles version to be closer to that region. Some exhibitors who wonder if they can afford both may skip Florida.
Still, there are some bright spots for the Americas. Production is rising in Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country, thanks to a recent U.S. law that allows generous entry for clothes made there of any designer fabrics. And chances are improving for Congress to pass a U.S.-Colombia free trade accord that should boost sales from that South American country.
Many at Tuesday's show were waiting most of all for the U.S. economy to heal and consumers to shop again.
"As we were early to feel the pain,"' said Guatemala's Arias, "we hope we're early to feel the gain."
