The New Economics of Outsourcing: Empirical Evidence from the Textile-Apparel Industry

There is extensive evidence to indicate that many high-end/luxury firms in textile and apparel industry decided not to outsource to other countries. In order to accomplish the objective of the study we will take the propensity not to outsource as the dependent variable, taking into account not only the present degree of outsourcing but also the tendency to outsource at any given time. Having this in mind we asked those people surveyed what factors have they considered in the trade off between advantages and disadvantages. We also asked the relative importance of each factor. Our findings suggest that the main reason for maintaining production in Italy is the crucial role of brand for luxury goods.