Werner Stengg, in his report June 2001, stated the main strategy of European Clothing Industry as “Remain in Europe as expensive and very good OR move to Pan-Euro-Mediternean Zone as moderately cheap and good enough OR move to Far East as remarkably cheap and ordinary” .

If we recall Marks&Spencer as a giant Department Store in UK it will be obvious that M&S is following the same principles….

M&S is considered as British as The Queen and has its roots very long ago in UK. M&S has no production facility of its own, it is just a dealer. Every item in the store has M&S brand regardless how authentic it is to any culture.

In 1998, %100 of these products were “Made in The UK” . In 1999, the UK share has decreased to %75, and in 2000, dropped to %25 and eventually in 2004 ended up %5.

While production is moving to off shore countries the lion’s share is in Pan-Euro-Mediternean Zone with %73 ! Near East has a share of %15 and Far East has a share of %12. Now we are in Free Trade Term and Far East is likely to capture a bigger share against the others.

In 2003, Turkey is the leading fabric supplier of Marks&Spencer with %16 and second big clothing supplier to M&S (after Morocco) with %13. Neverthelesss there is almost no fabric production in Morocco whereas in Turkey one can find every type of trims, fabric, clothing, fashion… a totally skilled, diversified and integrated export oriented industry.

Moreover Marks&Spencer has launched “Limited Collection” line which has 8-10 garments per style, existing 4-5 weeks in a store ! In other words order volume is getting smaller and everything is urgent !.

Recently Marks&Spencer introduced “Autograph” line which covers sophisticated, unique, exceptionally good and slightly expensive garments..