From The Editor
It’s 2005 … Are You Ready?It has been predicted that as soon as global textile quotas
expire in 2005, a small number of Asian manufacturing nations will flood the world’s textile
markets with low-cost imports and subsequently bring about the demise of established textile
manufacturing countries. How accurate is this prediction? It is still too soon to tell. However,
there is no doubt the post-quota market presents an opportunity to many of Textile World Asia’s
readers. So the question is, are you well prepared to take advantage of it?Market access itself is
no guarantee to success. Other factors, such as quality, credibility, customer service, innovation,
technology, human resources, capital, speed to market, brand power, to name a few, are just as
important in today’s business environment.Asia is by and large the low-cost leader in textile
products now. Compared to their counterparts in the West, there is no doubt that Asian textile
manufacturers enjoy important advantages such as an abundance of inexpensive labor and raw
materials, thus lower operation costs and end-product prices. But it will not be prudent, nor fair,
to assume that Asia can only be the production base for inexpensive commodity-type products. To
become truly competitive and to be worthy competitors in the global market, Asian textile suppliers
must look beyond 2005 and make the commitment to become a world-class player.By Carmen
Pangcpang@TextileWorldAsia.com
January/February 2005