Exploring economics: the secret life of t-shirts

This free course, Exploring economics: the secret life of t-shirts, aims to describe what goes into making and selling t-shirts. Which resources, which markets, who is involved, the income people get, the income and value they create are all discussed. You will explore these questions at different stages of the production of a t-shirt, and you'll use concepts from economics such as 'supply chains' or 'value added' to answer them. The course will be described using data. You should think about key numbers and data which help constructing evidence of how a t-shirt is produced, from raw cotton to our wardrobe.

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 Defining a supply chain and organisation of the supply chain for a t-shirt
• 1 Defining a supply chain and organisation of the supply chain for a t-shirt
• 1.1 The supply process
• 1.1.1 The firm’s transformation process
• 1.1.2 Labour intensive and capital intensive techniques of production
• 1.1.3 From inputs to goods sold in markets: stages of production
• 1.2 The supply chain of a t-shirt
• 1.3 Vertical integration
• 2 Who are the main actors at each stage of production?
• 2 Who are the main actors at each stage of production?
• 2.1 Stage 1: cotton production
• 2.1.1 Production figures
• 2.1.2 International trade figures
• 2.1.3 Production and international trade data compared
• 2.2 Stage 2: textile and spinning
• 2.3 Stage 3: making the garment
• 2.4 Stage 4: packing, trading and retail
• 3 Value added in the supply chain
• 3 Value added in the supply chain
• 3.1 Value added
• 3.2 Which countries benefit the most from t-shirt production?
• 3.3 Labour costs
• 4 Interactive activity
• 4 Interactive activity
• Conclusion
• Glossary
• References
• Acknowledgements