European industry: slight increase in clothing exports for 2013

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Published
Jun 5, 2014

Last year, the EU exported some 20.9 billion euros worth of apparel compared with 20.1 billion a year earlier. Textiles, on the other hand, remained stable at 21.5 billion. In contrast, imports continued to grow, to 25.3 billion for textiles (compared with 24.5 in 2012) and 67 billion for apparel (compared to 65.9).

The greatest share of EU exports last year was women’s clothing (40%), followed by men's clothing (23%) and then workwear (1%). In terms of imports, the European trade organization Euratex shows that 35% of orders were for women's clothing, 25% for men, 2% for workwear, and 39% for other garments.

As for textiles, the greatest share of EU exports was woven fabrics (27%), followed by yarns and threads (9%), knitted fabrics (6%), carpets and home textiles (each at 5%). Woven fabrics also dominated imports (20%), followed by home textiles (19%), yarns and threads (15%), and natural fibers (7%).

In 2013, the European textile/clothing industry generated 166.5 billion euros in sales (-1.2%). Some 172,662 companies make up the network (-4%), now employing 1.66 million Europeans (-4 %).