Ian Barbour, Chairman of Textile New Zealand, while addressing the National Conference in Wellington said that, the industry, which once was considered to be highly-secured while rendering employment to around 50,000 persons, now needs to fine-tune with the truth of free-trade…He asserted that, henceforth any development has to definitely follow from exports and that, it is essential for New Zealand to maintain itself with respect to quality, luxury market. However, the up-market segment of the country is not extensive enough to support the industry as a whole, he said…Elizabeth Tennet, Chief Executive of Textile New Zealand opined that, the free-trade agreements, which on one hand have laid the industry bare to compete with imported items, at the same time has also won a chance for the industry to retaliate…She also mentioned that, the budding middle-class population of China holds the potential to afford luxury items from New Zealand and this will be facilitated through the free-trade agreements.
Date:5/29/2010
Source:Fibre2fashion