BRIEFING: China’s market for clothing and footwear – forecasts to 2012

This report covers the market for clothing and footwear in China for the period 2000 to 2005, with forecasts from 2006 to 2012. During the last 25 years, China’s economy has changed from being a centrally planned system that was largely closed to international trade to a more market-oriented economy that has a rapidly growing private sector and is a major player in the global economy. China of course has had a huge clothing and footwear industry for many years. Today China still has a major silk industry. It also is a major manufacturer of all forms of textiles which are exported in large quantities either in the form of finished products or as lengths of materials to be made up in other countries.