A Historical Review of Environmental Factors and Business Strategies for U.S. Apparel Manufacturing Industry 1973-2005

The apparel manufacturers that service apparel products, also known as fashion products, have been challenged by turbulent and volatile changes within the market over the past 30 years. Changes in the business environment in the U.S. apparel manufacturing industry and the reactions of associated firms have continued to affect the profile of this industry. In this research, we documented the historical changes in the U.S. apparel manufacturing industry, from 1973 to 2005, and examined the impact of the business environment on strategies during this time. A mixture of positivism and phenomenology techniques was used within the scope of the historical review to achieve the study's purposes. The conceptual framework developed from theories about environmental determinism or adaptation provided support for data collection and organization. The results present an in-depth exploration of three environmental factors (i.e., globalization, technology, consumer) for the U.S. apparel manufacturing industry, a listing of the implemented business strategies for U.S. apparel manufacturing firms, and the interrelation of the environmental factors to these resultant strategies.