Global Apparel Consumption and Trade Update – Jan 2026
Date – Jan 2026
Global Apparel Trade Trends 2025: Tariff Reshaping, Supply Shifts, and a Two-Speed Market
Global apparel trade in January-November 2025 tracked a market split cleanly along geopolitical fault lines. Across four key import markets, aggregate apparel imports reached US$ 192.9 billion in the first ten months of 2025, up 7% year on year, but that headline number masks a sharply divergent picture between the EU and the US.
Divergence at the Import Level
The EU was the unambiguous demand engine. EU apparel imports grew 12% year to date through November 2025, reaching US$ 93.4 billion. The UK, despite a soft November (down 8% month on month), delivered 9% YTD growth. By contrast, US apparel imports fell 19% in October 2025 alone, the third consecutive month of decline, dragging YTD growth to just -1%. Consumer Confidence Index readings in the US closed December at 89.1, down from 104.7 a year earlier, and unemployment reached 4.4% by December 2025, compressing discretionary spend.
The Tariff Reallocation in the US Market
China’s share in US apparel imports fell from 22% in 2024 to 15% in Jan-Oct 2025. Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Cambodia absorbed much of that displacement:
- Vietnam: US share rose to 23% in Aug-Oct 2025 (from 20% a year prior), with Jan-Oct 2025 exports at US$ 14.16 billion
- Bangladesh: share moved to 10% in the same period, exports at US$ 7.08 billion
- Cambodia: share climbed to 8%, driven by tariff advantage
India’s position was more nuanced. Full-year 2025 apparel exports closed at US$ 16.27 billion, up 3.5% over 2024, but monthly US-bound shipments weakened in the second half, particularly from August onward. India’s share in the US market held narrowly between 5.1-5.2% in the Aug-Oct 2025 window.
Retail Signals: Physical Stores Firm, E-Commerce Retreating
US apparel store sales reached US$ 22.8 billion in November 2025, up 7%, and the Jan-Nov 2025 cumulative total hit US$ 203.9 billion, 4% above 2024. UK apparel stores closed the year at £50.9 billion, up 7%. E-commerce told a different story: US online clothing sales in Q3 2025 fell 4% to US$ 15.7 billion, and UK online clothing declined 3% over the same period. Physical retail is recovering ground lost to digital channels; the channel mix is rebalancing.
EU textile confidence (textile sub-index: -17 in December 2025) stabilized marginally, but clothing confidence weakened to -25, indicating that production-side stress in Europe has not cleared.
The full report benchmarks monthly apparel import and export data across the US, EU, UK, and Japan against 2024 actuals, tracks India’s long-term export trajectory from 2017 to 2025, and maps retailer inventory positions across eight major US brands through Q3 2025. Download for the complete dataset.
