My textile and apparel industry career spans over 40 years in textile manufacturing, textile education and textile and apparel business information publishing. I joined the Courtaulds Group as quality control manager at a towel production facility near Manchester in the UK. I later became production controller at Courtaulds' Skelmersdale plant in Lancashire, UK, which was then the largest single-floor weaving factory in Western Europe. After seven years at Courtaulds, I left to become director of the BSc course in Textile Economics and Management at UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) where I taught textile industry economics and management to students from around the world.In 1985 I was asked to join The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in London, part of The Economist, to establish and develop a textile and apparel industry publishing division. In the same year I launched the highly acclaimed publication Textile Outlook International, which quickly established a presence in over 50 countries. In 1992 I founded Textiles Intelligence as a spin-off from the EIU and became managing director. I am often invited to speak at textile and apparel industry conferences around the world, and to comment on textile and apparel industry issues in the financial press and on radio and television -- including the BBC World Service. I was recently invited to be a special advisor to the BBC in connection with a new documentary film being made about the UK textile industry.Specialties: analysis and insight; apparel and textiles; business information; business intelligence; international apparel federation; international trade; market analysis; market intelligence; market reports; natural and man-made fibres; nonwovens; performance apparel; research reports; sourcing apparel; sourcing textiles; statistical data; statistics; strategy; technical textiles; textile industry experts; textile machinery; textile markets.