The apparel market consists of sales of all menswear, womenswear and infantswear. The menswear sector includes all garments made for men and boys. It includes both outer and under garments. The womenswear sector consists of the retail sale of all women's and girls' garments including dresses, suits and coats, jackets, tops, shirts, skirts, blouses, sweatshirts, sweaters, underwear etc.

Nowadays China is often identified as the biggest corporation in the world. The enormous growth of the textile and apparel industry in the last ten years made the People's Republic appear as a true leader of the sector. The enormous change took place in China since the country opened its markets.

Aruvian Research analyzes the Apparel Industry in China in Michael Porter's Five Forces Analysis. It uses concepts developed in Industrial Organization (IO) economics to derive five forces that determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of a market. Porter referred to these forces as the microenvironment, to contrast it with the more general term macro-environment. They consist of those forces close to a company that affect its ability to serve its customers and make a profit. A change in any of the forces normally requires a company to re-assess the marketplace.