For 27 years, Olga Falcon has sewn clothes for local apparel manufacturers. During the 1980s, she said she sometimes took 12,000 orders a week. Now her orders often number in the low hundreds.

''It's a bad situation,'' said Falcon, who sews the clothes herself with two subcontractors. ``I don't know why I am still alive.''

Falcon's calculations are on par with a countywide trend. Just two decades ago, Miami-Dade County claimed the third-largest clothing manufacturing industry in the country, raking in $1.2 billion annually. Fueling the industry's growth was an influx of skilled Cuban textile workers and entrepreneurs in the 1950s and '60s. By 1990 the county boasted 682 apparel manufacturers, according to the Beacon Council, Miami-Dade's business recruitment organization. Last year that number had been shredded to 192 -- a 72 percent drop.

In Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, the apparel industry's decline has been particularly pronounced. Previously known as the Fashion District, at one time 50 clothing manufacturers operated there. Today just a handful of local clothing manufacturers survive, overshadowed by trendy art galleries, shoe warehouses and discount clothing shops.

Capitol Clothing Corp. is one of those, designing, manufacturing and shipping children's clothes from its warehouse at 578 NW 27th St. for 20 years.

Although owner Richard Behar feels the pinch of the economic crisis, he is confident his business of seven employees will survive. For one thing, Behar says, his customers think his products are adorable -- Capitol Clothing manufactures specialty wear, such as police and zookeeper outfits, for boys between the ages of 12 months and 12 years.

For another thing, he's made it this far -- unlike many of his former manufacturing neighbors. ''People started closing in the early 1990s,'' said Behar.

Many local textiles businesses simply blinked out of existence, unable to compete on price with companies that relocated work to regions where factory labor can be as cheap as $15 a week, Behar explains. Others went offshore themselves, such as D'Avile, a large men's clothing manufacturer that operated across the street from Behar's warehouse. ''They wound up closing right after that,'' Behar said. D'Avile's former space is now home to the noted art collection of Miami developer Marty Margulies.

Behar has resisted the urge to move outside of the United States for two reasons: quality and control. ''We created a following because of quality and timely delivery,'' he said, adding that foreign manufacturers insist on bulk orders that are often delivered late. By keeping his operations in the United States -- he uses only local contractors to do the sewing -- he can deliver clothing products within a few weeks, not months.

Two blocks north at 571 NW 29th St., Richard Levy, owner of the Wynwood-based Priority Manufacturing, said local operations like his can't afford to produce the number of clothing items that offshore operators can.

''We will make 300, 400 or 500, but if you are talking about 3, 4 or 5,000, I can't compete price-wise,'' Levy said of his 20-year old company, which employs five full-time workers.

LESS WAITING

Like many local manufacturers, his edge is delivery time. ''Offshore takes 10 to 12 weeks,'' noted Levy, whose company makes custom uniforms for restaurants, hotels and theme parks, including Universal Studios and Disney World. ``I can deliver in three weeks or less.''

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