Low-Cost Fashion : The Political Economy of Garment Production and Distribution in Latin America

This Element explores marketplace dynamics in Greater Buenos Aires and São Paulo, which sell locally produced garments. Despite declining industry due to competition, these hubs have thrived. Success is linked to sustained demand, economic cycles, informality, and state policies.

This Element analyses a fundamentally new regional configuration of the garment sector, covering much of South America. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews with a wide range of actors, it examines two major circuits of informal production and distribution of affordable garments, both of which have emerged around the urban marketplaces of La Salada (Buenos Aires) and Feira da Madrugada (São Paulo). This Element examines a configuration characterized by (1) manufacturers who interact with customer preferences to produce low-cost fashion, (2) marketplaces that function as large garment distribution hubs, and (3) extensive distribution routes with regional reach. This Element discusses the role of creativity in informal production processes, reflects on the implications of both cases for our understanding of global value chains and informality, and provides empirical evidence on forbearance as an explanatory element for the emergence of this phenomenon.