The Clothing Industry
• Where did the clothing industry first develop?
• What were the important new clothing-producing
countries in the early 21st-century?
• What is the hourly wage for apparel workers in
the U.S. at the time the article was published?
How does it compare with other areas?
• How does high-end apparel production differ
from cheap leisure wear?
Industrialization
“Why Do Industries Have Different
Distributions?”
It’s All About THE MONEY!
• Industry seeks to maximize
profits by minimizing
production cost
• Geographers try to explain
why one location may
provide more profit than
another
• Two geographical costs:
– Situation: transporting
materials
– Site: land, labor, and
capital
Situation Factors
• Definition – transporting materials to and
from the factory
• Objective – minimize the costs
• For some companies, this is the most
important factor in choosing a location
If you were building a car manufacturing plant
in the U.S., where would you locate it?
Proximity to Inputs
• Every industry needs either resources from
the physical environment or parts/materials
made by another company
• Weight of the material is a factor for choosing
location
Example: Copper Industry
•
•
•
•
•
First Step: Mining the copper ore
Bulk-reducing Industry
Concentration mills must be near mines
Purified copper is then treated at refineries
Source of energy
Example 2: Steel Industry
• Also a bulk-reducing industry
• Choose location to minimize the cost of
transporting inputs
• Steel is an alloy of iron that is produced by
removing impurities in iron
Origin of Steel Industry
• Productions was small
until the Industrial
Revolution
• The constant heating and
cooling of steel required
strength, skill and a lot of
time
• The Watt Steam Engine
More advances in the steel
industry
• Henry Cort
– Puddling – reheating iron until
pasty, then stirring it with iron rods
until impurities are burned off
– Rolling – passing iron between
rollers to remove remaining scum
• Abraham Darby – produced high
quality iron smelted with purified
carbon made from coal, known as
coke
– Result – the iron industry needed to
be near coalfields
U.S. Steel Industry
• In the mid 19th Century – the U.S. steel
industry was concentrated around
Pittsburgh
• In the first half of the 20th Century – steel
mills were built near the coast
– Baltimore, L.A., Trenton
Changing U.S. Steel Industry
• Recently, many steel plants have closed
• Survivors – southern Lake Michigan, East
Coast
• Successful steel mills are located close to
markets
• Mini-mills
Proximity to Markets
•
Transporting goods to consumers is an
important locational factor for three
industries:
1. Bulk-gaining
2. Single market
3. Perishable
Bulk Gaining Industries
• Gain weight during production
• Example: soft drink bottling
• Coca-Cola has bottling plants all over
Fabricated Metals and
Machinery
• This is a prominent example of a bulk
gaining industry
• A fabricated-metals factory brings
together parts to make a more complex
product
• Examples: TVs, refrigerators, air
conditioners, and cars
Location of Car Manufacturing
• Historically – near large markets
• Recently – assembly plants focus on
producing a single model rather than
locating near all large markets
The Ford Plant in ATL (#6) has closed
Single Market Manufacturers
• Products are sold primarily in one
location, so they cluster near the market
• Example: the manufacturers of
automobile parts only sell to a couple of
customers (GM, Toyota)
• Parts makers ship their products directly
to assembly plants
• “auto alley”
Average Percentage of State
GDP in Automotive
Manufacturing, 1998 to 2008
Perishable Products
• Products must be delivered to consumers
ASAP!
• Milkshed
• Technology’s impact?
Ship, Rail, Truck, or Air
• Trucks – used for short
distance
• Trains – longer distances
• Water – if available, is
attractive for long
distances
• Air – the most expensive,
but more firms are using
the air for speedy delivery
Break-of-Bulk Points
• Cost rises each time inputs are transferred
from one mode to another
• Sometimes – the cost for one mode is
lower for inputs and expensive for
products, so companies locate at a “breakof-bulk” point where transfer among
transportation modes is possible
– Seaport, airport
St. Louis is a break of bulk point and you
can see the multiple transportation
modes intersect here
Site Factors
• Definition = the unique characteristics of
a location
• Land, labor, and capital are the three
traditional production factors that vary
among locations
• The most important site factor on a
global scale = labor
• Minimizing labor cost in VERY important
for some industries
Labor
• Labor-intensive industry – one in which labor is
a high percentage of expense
• Some need highly skilled, expensive labor
• Labor intensive is not the same is “high-wage”
• Textile and clothing industries – require less
skilled, low cost workers
– 3 steps: spinning, weaving, and
cutting/sewing
– All are labor intensive, but not equally so
resulting in global distributions that are not
identical
Textile and Apparel Spinning
• Because it is labor
intensive, it is
located in low-wage
countries (PINGs)
• PINGs account for
¾ of the world’s
spinning production
• Located where
cotton is grown
• The U.S. is the only
PED that is a major
thread producer
• Synthetic fibers – ½
is made in PINGs
Textile and Apparel Weaving
• Labor is even more
intensive
• Especially highly
concentrated in lowwage countries: 86% of
the world’s woven cotton
is produced in PINGs
• China accounts for ½ of
production
• India accounts for ¼ of
production
Textile and Apparel Assembly
•
Textiles are assembled into
four main types of products
1.
2.
3.
4.
•
Most of the 80 billion
articles of clothing sold
worldwide are made in Asia
–
–
–
•
Garments
Carpets
Home products
Industrial uses
3/4 of shirts
½ of dresses and suits
Most of the world’s underwear
and lingerie
Europeans and North
Americans produce woolens
Land
• Most efficient form of factory is a one story
building = more land needed to build these
• Land is cheaper in suburban or rural areas
than in the city
• Industries are attracted to energy sources,
low electrical rates, and amenities at the
site
Capital
• Manufacturers
typically borrow funds
to establish new
factories or expand
existing ones
• Silicon Valley – capital
• Financial incentives
• The ability to borrow
money in PINGs