The North American Free Trade Agreement, emerging apparel production networks and industrial upgrading: the southern California/Mexico connection

The processes of globalization and trade regionalization are creating new f orms of regional concentration of economic activities both within and acros s sovereign borders. The passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement has spawned cross-border strategic production alliances that impact econom ic development at both the subnational and transnational levels. This artic le examines the southern California/Mexico transnational apparel production network: NAFTA-era bi-national production alliances that are reconfiguring strategic apparel production districts, as well. as the larger North Ameri can apparel commodity chain. Using the commodity chains framework, I analyze the importance of NAFTA as an intervening variable in the economic integration of North America's text ile/apparel sector; the extent to which southern California apparel product ion has shifted offshore to Mexico; and the characteristics of post-NAFTA s trategic production alliances. From this discussion I address more fundamen tal issues of economic development, namely how cross-border changes in the mix of high- and low-value production activities have reconfigured the sout hern California fashion and apparel production center, and garment-specific industrial clusters in Mexico, and enhanced the prospects for industrial u pgrading in Mexico.