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How South Korea's once-mighty textile sector is losing its edge

That heritage was later repurposed for something far more industrial and urgent. In the decades following the Korean War, textiles became one of the country’s most reliable economic engines. From the ****s through the ****s, labour-intensive garment manufacturing powered export growth, absorbed rural labour and helped bankroll Korea’s transformation into a modern industrial economy.

However, as wages rose and the economy matured, the industry underwent significant evolution. Korea shifted away from basic garments into higher value-added chemical fibres, synthetics and vertically integrated supply chains, even as by the late ****s, textiles had become such a symbol of export success that the sector was the first single industry to cross the $** billion export mark in ****. November ** was even designated “Textile Day,” a rare honour reflecting how central the industry had become to national prosperity.