Development of Technology Roadmap for Guangdong Textile and Clothing Industry

Textile and clothing (TC) industry is one of the nine pillar industries in Guangdong province. It has solid foundation and infrastructure with a complete supply chain from fiber manufacturing, textile manufacturing, dyeing and finishing, garment manufacturing, whole selling and distribution channels to fashion branding and fashion retailing. Since the economic reformation started 30 years ago, many specialized textile and garment manufacturing towns have been developed to form flexible and effective TC clusters. Guangdong TC production outputs and exports are ranked among the top four in China. However Guangdong TC industry is facing substantial challenges and threats in the economic globalization process and dynamic social, economic and political changes in both domestic and international markets. To enhance Guangdong TC industry's competiveness and sustainable development, it brings the urgency for Guangdong government to restructure and upgrade the TC industry. A key research project was initialized and funded by the Guangdong Science and Technology Department to develop a technology roadmap for Guangdong TC industry for the purpose to set up a blueprint for the future development of the industrial clusters in Guangdong. This paper reports the roadmap development process, the methodology and key findings from the project.