This study, which covered calendaryears 2005 and 2006, found that there is relatively little production of travel goods with an outer surface of textile materials, 1 or of thefabrics from which they are produced, in the United States, as most firmsreportedly have moved production offshore, primarily to Asia.
Nine companies reported producing or contracting for the production of such travel goods in the United States during 2005-06. Domestic producers of the subject travel goods either serveniche markets or produce for the U.S. military and government. U.S. shipments of travel goods with an outer surface of textile materials totaled anestimated $37 million in 2006.2
Between 2005 and 2006, both thequantity of domestic production and the value of domestic shipments of thesubject goods declined, primarily reflecting a decline in shipments tocommercial markets. While domestic production for the U.S. military and government nearly doubled between 2005 and 2006, it represented less than 5 percent of domestic production of such goods. The limited data availableon the total market for the subject travel goods suggest that domestic production accounts for a small share of the total U.S. market for such goods.
Nine firms reported producing or contracting for the production of textile materials, 3 or fabrics, foruse in travel goods in the United States during 2005-06. U.S. shipments of domestically produced fabrics for use in the subject travel goods totaledan estimated 11.2 million square meters in 2006, up from 9.2 million squaremeters in 2005. Over 70 percent of the value of shipments of such fabrics wasintended for goods produced for then U.S. military and government. It is likelythat the shipments data are overstated, because the specific end use of thefabricparticularly that used by the U.S. military and governmentis often notknown to the fabric producer; thus, the data likely include fabrics intendedfor use in products that are not included in the scope.
This report draws on industryinformation received by the Commission from questionnaire responses andinterviews with representatives of the travel goods and fabric industries. TheCommission used questionnaires to obtain data on these products because thereis no published information on domestic production and shipments of travelgoods with an outer surface of textile materials or the fabrics used to makesuch articles. Although the Commission requested and received data forshipments and production by product type and end-use markets, much of theaggregated data collected was not presented in this report to protect the business confidential information provided by individual firms.
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Originallypublished at http://www.usitc.gov
1 For the purposes of this study,travel goods with an outer surface of textile materials are defined as trunks,suitcases, and similar containers; briefcases, computer cases, and attachcases; and travel and sports bags; all fabricated with an outer surface of anytextile material of any fiber type. Also included in the definition are bothwheeled and non-wheeled backpacks of manmade fiber textile materials. Thedefinition excludes all handbags and articles normally carried in a handbag orwallet, as well as insulated food and beverage bags, musical instrument cases,and occupationally specific bags.
2 Data for 2005 are withheld to avoidrevealing the individual operations of responding firms.
3 For purposes of this study, textilematerials used to make these articles are defined as any U.S.-produced fabricsused in the production of travel goods, including fabrics for the outer surfaceof the travel goods, lining fabrics, and narrow fabrics used for straps orother purposes.
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