Textiles and Apparel | United States International Trade Commission (2024)

FAQs

Why has the US lost most of its textile and apparel manufacturers? ›

Since the 1960s, low wages and new industrial production capacity in countries such as China, India, and Brazil made textile production in the United States a losing proposition. Most U.S. textile companies either shut down or moved abroad, and it seemed as though the U.S. textile industry would never make a comeback.

US' imports of textiles and apparel rose by 16.03 per cent to $132.201 billion in 2022, compared to $113.938 billion in 2021.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (the Agreement) provided for the phased liberalization and elimination over the transition period of quotas on textiles and apparel imported from WTO member countries.

The textile market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.6% from 2023 to 2030 to reach USD 3,047.23 billion by 2030.

A successive wave of trade liberalization polices in the 1990s, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, effectively wiped out most import restrictions and duties on foreign-made clothing.

In 2021, the top importers of Textiles were United States ($135B), Germany ($66.7B), Japan ($33.7B), France ($33B), and United Kingdom ($31.3B).

China is the largest supplier of textiles and apparel to the United States (table TX. 2) and its share of U.S. imports in this sector increased to 39.2 percent in 2020 from 33.6 percent in 2019.

In 2020, the top partner countries from which United States Imports Textiles and Clothing include China, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Mexico.

The overall objective of the WTO is to help its members use trade as a means to raise living standards, create jobs and improve people's lives. The WTO operates the global system of trade rules and helps developing countries build their trade capacity.

What are the major textile and apparel trade regions of the world? ›

The world's biggest exporter of textiles in 2021 was China, followed by the EU and India. China was also the world's biggest exporter of clothing, followed by the EU and Bangladesh.

Garment and footwear manufacturing are labour-intensive industries that employ large numbers of mostly low-skilled workers. To cut costs, fashion companies are therefore increasingly outsourcing to developing countries where labour is cheap.

The textile industry of China is the largest manufacturer and exporter in the world with an export turnover of $266.41 Bn.

Cotton is one of the most important textile fibers in the world, averaging about 25 percent of total world fiber use. The United States is the world's third-largest cotton producer and the leading cotton exporter, accounting for one-third of global trade in raw cotton.

The market size, measured by revenue, of the Textile Mills industry was $42.4bn in 2022. What was the growth rate of the Textile Mills industry in the US in 2022?

Manufacturing did not decline due to economic evolution or other externalities. Instead, manufacturing declined due to conditions we created in the United States. Ultimately, the root cause of the decline in American manufacturing is that it was left adjacent to the new American system of innovation after WWII.

The biggest cause is that companies are "shipping jobs overseas". Capital and technology have also replaced labor in the textile industry. Mechanization and technological process have overtaken many jobs.

Why does the U.S. textile industry lose jobs to foreign countries? Cheap imports can force U.S. companies out of business.

There are 12,372 Textile Mills businesses in the US as of 2023, a decline of -2.7% from 2022.