Textile industry in Taiwan seems to have declined in recent decades. According to the “Overview of Textile Industry in Taiwan in 2019”, which was released by the Taiwan Textile Federation in June, 2020, points out that the gross production from 2005 to 2019 decline 27.7%. The data is from the bureau of statistics, minister of economics. (Figure 1) Besides, the export of textile and textile products have also declined, as shown in Figure 2.

In this circumstance, the government, public research institutions (PRI), and commercial oriented non-profit organizations (NPO) try to provide some solutions. For example, in 2019, the industrial development bureau in the ministry of economics organized three projects related to the textile industry, which were executed by the Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI). And the total budget of these projects is 75 million NTD. These three projects are focused on smart manufacturing, integrated resources to optimize the industry development, and branding and technology transfer, respectively.

In Addition, Taiwan Textile Federation, which is a foundation, points out that the textile should develop the functionality and sustainability of the textile, and apply the high value and differentiation strategy. These ideas appeared in the “Chairman’s word” page in the official website of Taiwan Textile Federation. And also in its report, Overview of Textile Industry in Taiwan in 2019.

However, it seems like the support provided by the government, PRIs and NPOs are focused on the up and down stream of the textile industry. If this circumstance is true, then how does the middle stream of the textile industry face the decline?