2005 Retrospective
If there were one word that would best sum up the events that shaped the U.S. apparel industry in 2005, it might be “China.”
China’s manufacturing capacity and the effect—both real and perceived—on local business weighed heavily on the minds of many importers, manufacturers and retailers who produce offshore. This was the year quotas expired on goods exported from China. And this was the year safeguard measures— or temporary quotas—were introduced. The instability of U.S. trade with China is reflected in the local employment numbers, as well as throughout the national import figures.
But China wasn’t the whole story for 2005.
On the retail front, consumers continued to spend at the highest and the lowest ends of the retail spectrum. Still, there were no clear category winners in 2005, not even in the typically insulated discount tier.
It was a boom year for commercial real estate, as mall owners redeveloped existing centers to create lifestyle centers. In Los Angeles, the west end of Melrose Avenue hit critical mass with key retailers such as Marc Jacobs, Diane von Furstenberg and Paul Smith opening shops on the street. Melrose’s more bohemian neighbor to the south, West Third Street, was similarly inundated with new stores carrying contemporary resources.
