As Chinese textile and apparel imports have been restricted, US production seems to be increased in 2005 for the first time in ten years, according to a data.

Before quotas era, US textile and apparel industries have been struggling for decades. The industry has lost more than 650,000 jobs since 1994.

Data revealed that US textile production is down 33.8 percent from its height in December 1997.

Apparel prices have plunged 10.5 percent since the end of 1997, as cheap imports have replaced made-in-America clothing.

After the quota restrictions, production at US textile plants grew by 2.1 percent from December 2004 to December 2005.

Production at apparel units went up 0.9 percent year-over-year, and at the same time for the first time since 1996, both textile and apparel production had increased in the same year.

Since the US government imposed quota restrictions on some Chinese textile imports, second half of 2005 witnessed a rise in production.

Fibre2fashion.com