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Textile and apparel industry in Europe is faced with higher cost structure than many of its competitors on world markets. Focusing on higher quality is a way to distinguish from competition and reduce total cost. In the past few years this industrial branch has been expecting problems because the total production is significantly smaller. Therefore, industry management has been warned about giving constant attention to: reducing costs and promoting their own brands. Hypothesis of this paper are that: Croatian managers in textile and apparel industry are not familiar with quality concepts;and that application of quality tools and concepts contributes to achievement of better business results and competitiveness. It was critically assessed by survey sent to 150 managers in Croatian textile companies. Results showed that managers were not familiar with different quality concepts, but their perceptions about benefits from application were positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]