CUTTING LABOR COSTS WITH OFFSHORE SOURCING
UK labor costs tend to be relatively high, leading many manufacturers to turn to overseas sourcing for a majority of their products. Companies can establish overseas production in three ways. They can buy or build a plant, establish agents that have ties with factories in the foreign country, or contract directly with the owners of foreign factories. Typically, major UK apparel companies establish overseas production in all of these ways. They also use domestic sources other than their own plants.
Using overseas manufacturers and/or outside domestic contractors has several benefits for apparel companies. Overseas sourcing allows them to compete with less expensive imports. Domestic sourcing allows companies to respond quickly to fashion changes and to retailers’ needs for automatic inventory replenishment. (Kumar, 2006)
For production of more complicated apparel items, UK companies generally go to Southeast Asia, where many countries have large pools of skilled laborers who can create high-quality products. Products that are simpler to make are outsourced to less-developed countries, where labor rates are lower than in Southeast Asia.
削减劳动力成本与境外采购
英国的劳动力成本往往比较高，导致许多制造商转向海外采购他们的产品为广大。公司可以建立海外生产在三个方面。他们可以购买或建厂，建立代理有在外国的工厂，国外工厂直接与业主或合同关系。通常情况下，英国主要的服装企业建立海外生产在所有这些方面。他们还利用自己的工厂以外的国内来源。
使用海外制造商和/或境外的国内承包商服装公司有几个好处。海外采购，使他们能够与较昂贵的进口竞争。国内采购，使公司迅速作出反应时尚的改变和零售商的需求，自动补货。 （库马尔，2006年）
英国公司生产更复杂的服装，一般去到东南亚，许多国家都有大量的熟练工人，谁就能创造高品质的产品池。是简单的产品外包给欠发达的国家，劳动力价格都低于东南亚。
