Abstract
Forecasting the future of clothing and textiles has involved many important activities, such as developing scenarios of alternative futures, analyzing the future of clothing and textiles as one part of home economics, and assessing the relation of our discipline to broader trends in society at large. Recent Futures Conferences have focused on identifying the profession's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as a method for analyzing the future. This essay suggests an overlooked approach to analyzing our future, one proposing that future survival is based on understanding and adapting to the competitive system. To enhance understanding of competitive dynamics and the operation of competitive systems, principles of competitive behavior are outlined. Examples of adaptive competitive strategies clothing and textiles professionals can use to increase their competitive advantages also are proposed. To survive, departments or units of clothing and textiles must be successful competitors in the increasingly adversarial environments in which they are members.
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