Publication Details
Abstract
Uzbekistan’s textile and apparel sector has expanded rapidly following reforms that redirected the economy from raw cotton exports toward domestic processing and export-oriented manufacturing. Yet many small textile enterprises (STEs) remain less competitive in price–quality–delivery performance and in compliance readiness for demanding export markets in most cases. This paper argues that advanced foreign practices from high-performing textile ecosystems—particularly Turkey, Vietnam and EU supplier bases—can be adapted to Uzbekistan’s institutional and industrial realities. The study uses secondary statistics (trade and production data), sector diagnostics, and evidence on workplace and sustainability compliance with a comparative benchmarking design. Results show that competitiveness constraints for STEs cluster around limited upgrading from intermediate outputs to higher value-added products, technology diffusion gaps and weak productivity management routines, insufficient standards infrastructure for testing/certification and buyer compliance, and incomplete cluster spillovers for STE supplier development. The paper offers an adaptation roadmap that analyzes lean–digital upgrading packages for STEs, shared services (testing labs, design studios, training), compliance facilitation (Better Work/industry programs), and market diversification strategies leveraging GSP+ and regional corridors.