draft june 15 2004 can fast fashion save the us apparel industry peter doeringer department of economics boston university sarah crean garment development corporation comparative advantage seems to have doomed after all is a labor intensive where capital assets per employee are only 14 average for manufacturing murray 1995 rothstein 1989 and most production jobs 90 unskilled or semi skilled mittelhauser 1997 with hourly compensation in china s less than 1 about 2 50 mexico at substantial disadvantage costs usitc since factory has 27 employees technology remains dominated by industrial version home sewing machine also lacks scale economies new technologies that sometimes sheltered other mature industries from global competition helpman krugman 1985 dertouzos et al it therefore not surprising imports abundant countries risen steadily mid 1970s import penetration ratios reached 71 value 80 volume aama focus 2002
