Among the Andean states, there are fears that their textile sales to America will lose out to China's as the world textile trade deregulates this year.

ECONOMIST: China and Latin America

"The costs here are too high, " says Sit Hoi Kan, general manager of Hong Kong's World Textile.

CNN: SEWING UP A DEAL

For example, in Flanders, the textile center of the world, the banks forced productivity-oriented consolidations of hundreds of small producers into a few textile firms.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

But while the world debates over just how much China will impact the world's textile trade when quotas are lifted on Jan. 1, Ross will be focusing on the market within the country's borders.

FORBES: Ross: Billionaire Ventures Into Chinese Textile Market

Garbage of the world consists chiefly of kitchen waste, textile waste and paper which can be converted into fuel for homes and industries.

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Sinivasan, president of the Texmaco group, an Indonesian textile and machinery manufacturer, his company will be one of the world's top producers of high-quality polyester.

CNN: A STITCH IN TIME

It will be hard to persuade farm- or textile-trade negotiators, for example, to care about third-world producers.

ECONOMIST: Development

Bangladeshi textile employees are among the lowest-paid of their kind in the world.

BBC: Bangladesh textile workers' deaths 'avoidable'

Justin, a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in textile and apparel management, walked me through the various steps required to make one of their world-famous bespoke shirts.

FORBES: What You Need To Know Before You Order A Bespoke Shirt

Its textile industry, still dominated by smaller firms, had not geared up for the post-quota world as China's had.

ECONOMIST: China has won; but so far, South Asia has not lost