Knitwear and clothing sector

The origins of the textile and clothing business date back to the post-second world war period, as a result of the evolution of a pre-existing handicraft sector, specialised in packing processes. Success on the Italian and international market came in the second half of the 1960s, during a period of strong growth in European demand, when local factories had been able to exploit the competitive skills of its organisational district model. The productive activities are mostly located in Carpi, which is mainly an agricultural area composed of five communes: Carpi, Cavezzo, Concordia, Novi of Modena and San Possidonio (in this area there is about 55% of the labour, and 58% of the province's clothing textile factories). The characteristic of this district, whose production concentrates on knitwear, shirtmaking and tailoring and dressmaking, is the great expansion of productive activities in the territory. This expansion is the result of a strong decentralisation, involving not only the companies that design and market the final product, but also the companies dealing with some of the processing stages.
In the following decades many changes occurred in the sector. These changes were caused by a shift in demand towards increasingly prestigious products. In addition, the increase in competition determined an increase in low-price clothing imports from developing countries.
In order to face this competition, local producers tried to change from a traditional, to a medium-high market aimed at quality. The companies that produced longer ranges started to turn to sub-suppliers outside the Modenese area, especially in the South of Italy and some foreign countries with lower labour costs.
The selection, which has become more severe in the last few years, has not led to the end of business with local sub-suppliers.
Over the years, the products have been safeguarded by a high-quality "up-grading" process, concerning the products manufactured by the sub-suppliers.
In fact the concentration of some medium-sized clothing companies in more flexible productions (productions in ready-to-wear clothes, instant clothes updating) has favoured the protection of business within the district.
Recent surveys have reported that in the last few years the production still located in the province is about 40% of the total, whilst processing is generally assigned to other regions outside Emilia Romagna, favouring the developing countries.
This double solution of international de-localisation and protection of the exchange with sub-suppliers, has enabled a great expansion of the productive range as regards knitwear (equal to 62% of the totale), clothing industry especially for women's fashion. Quality and rapidity in fashion evolution make the physical proximity important regarding purchasers and sub-suppliers, reducing transaction costs and increasing the quality of processing.
Currently new trade marks are becoming more and more important in the field of knitwear women's fashion and sports wear.
In the whole Modenese province there are about 3,700 factories and 2,000 (54%) of these are specialised in knitwear and fabrics and 1,500 (more than 40%) in the clothing sector in general. There are about 20,000 employees, whilst the turnover is around 2.3 billion Euros, 33% of it coming from exports. The main destination for Modenese fashion products is the European Union, accounting for 64% of the total. This is particularly true of Germany (especially regarding knitwear), and the Asia and North America (accounting for 11% and 6% respectively).