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This paper undertakes a comparative study of two large UK clothing plants in the 1990s with earlier twentieth century studies of clothing workshops undertaken in the late 1950s by Cunnison and Lupton, and in the late 1970s by Edwards and Scullion. Traditionally the clothing industry is identified with a history of low wages and poor conditions of employment. Though increasingly subject to global market pressures, research findings from this study illuminate workplaces in the 1990s with much in common with the aforementioned historical studies, offering working conditions that leave the clothing worker isolated, individualised and struggling to survive.