On July 20, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University published a fascinating study entitled Repeat, Repair or Renegotiate? The Post-COVID Future of the Apparel Industry. It covers a lot of ground in 80 pages, focused mostly on the Asia and Pacific region, ranging from a historical view, a look at the future of sourcing and production, future impacts for workers, the future of labor governance models, and future scenarios for the industry. If this brief summary piques your interest, we hope you will read the full report!

As the authors note, the Asia and Pacific region accounts for about 60% of the world’s apparel exports. Clearly, the pandemic was a shock there, as it was in the rest of the world. In describing the purpose of the paper, the authors state, “The paper defines possible long-term choices for buyers, employers, workers and regulators in the global apparel industry in three scenarios for the post-pandemic industry that go beyond the ‘COVID recovery’ reporting and recent scholarship on the future of the industry.”

The study consisted of interviews with 29 apparel industry experts working in Asia and globally—regulators, apparel brands and retailers, employers and their organizations, unions and labor rights organizations, journalists—between August 2020 and March 2021. It resulted in the development of three potential scenarios for the future of the industry. These include: