This study explores the impact of trade liberalization in the latter part of the twentieth century and the early twenty-first century on the denim value chain. Denim is one of the world’s most iconic and ubiquitous products and remains in high demand on a global basis. The denim value chain is a classic example of a buyer-driven network where major apparel jean brands and retailers wielded their enormous power to lobby successfully for duty and quota elimination. This allowed them to reduce their reliance on suppliers in this hemisphere and to expand their sourcing matrixes to create a geographically diverse production network which resulted in unemployment in industrialized countries and new opportunities for countries like Bangladesh to expand their industrial base. This shift accentuated structural inequalities and new hierarchies of industrial power contributing to debates on globalization, outsourcing, and its economic implications.