Louis de Poortere is a Belgian textiles company established in the 1920s, specialising in the manufacture of high-quality carpets for the international market. For many years, it was among the largest employers in the Belgian textiles sector, with approximately 3,000 employees in the 1970s....

In the last two decades, many western European textiles and clothing companies have moved their manufacturing activities to low-cost countries in Eastern Europe or to non-European countries (e.g. India, China), resulting in a decline in sectoral employment. This report examines the main factors...

This report gives an overview of working conditions, job quality, workers’ health and job sustainability in the textiles and clothing sector (NACE13 and 14). It is based mostly on the fifth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), which gathers data on working conditions and the quality of...

The European textiles, clothing and leather sector (TCL) lost 40% of its production volume and 40% of its jobs at the same time within a ten year period from 1996. It had to accept continuously rising import shares from low-cost countries – China in particular. The phasing out of the Agreement...