The Other Garment Industry sheds light on an economic, social and political phenomenon in Latin America, which is well known in the region, yet largely overlooked in social sciences literature. The volume analyses a regional configuration of informal garment production, distribution and consumption which cannot be explained by the dominant paradigm of global chains. This volume is pioneering in providing a holistic account of a specific industrial configuration in Latin America, showcasing this type of economy in Argentina, Brazil and Peru, and brings examples of trade in neighbouring countries such as Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay.
The volume focuses on three pillars of this economy: downstream entrepreneurs, bustling garment marketplaces and far-reaching national and regional trade routes. Far from the conventional image of sweatshops as monotonous spaces where creativity is reserved for big brands, the volume reveals workshops where design, trend-sensing and production are tightly woven together around consumer desires and imaginaries. Within these productive units, a differentiated division of labour makes room for experimentation, style innovation and rapid responses to shifting tastes. The garments travel through large, informal marketplaces expressly devoted to low-cost fashion, where traders and buyers meet in dense, dynamic circuits of exchange. These garment-oriented marketplaces, linked to extended informal trade routes, become crucial connectors that compress distribution chains, lower costs and expand access to affordable fashion for broad segments of the population.
