In 2025, in the face of the complex situation of profound changes in the international environment, major challenges to the world's economic and trade order, and intensified risks in the supply chain, China's foreign trade industry in the garment sector has shown strong resilience.

In the first 12 months of 2025, China's garment (including clothing accessories, hereinafter referred to as) exports accumulated to $151.22 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 5%; the import accumulated to $10.2 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 2.3%; and the trade surplus was $141.02 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 5.2%.

Export situation

Looking at the garment exports in each quarter of 2025, the first quarter saw a large fluctuation in exports due to the Spring Festival holiday, a year-on-year decrease of 1.9%. The second quarter's exports were generally stable, with a year-on-year increase of 1.2%. In the second half of the year, China's garment exports continued to decline year-on-year, with a year-on-year decrease of 6.2% in the third quarter and a decrease of 12.2% in the fourth quarter.

The export decline of cotton-made garments is significant

From January to December, the export of knitted garments was $69.88 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 4.3%; the export quantity was 24.42 billion pieces, an increase of 3.9%. The export of woven garments was $61.52 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 5.6%; the export quantity was 14.53 billion pieces, an increase of 3.7%. The export of clothing accessories was $15.03 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 4.2%.

Looking at the material of the garment, the export amount of cotton-ma

de garments decreased more than that of synthetic fiber-made garments year-on-year, with a decrease of 9.3% and 6.6% for cotton-made knitted and woven garments, and a decrease of 1.7% and 5.5% for synthetic fiber-made knitted and woven garments.

The export decline of underwear is significant

From January to December, except for sweater exports, which increased slightly by 0.1%, the exports of other major categories of clothing all decreased. The largest decrease in underwear exports was 11.8% for corsets and 10.7% for underwear/sleepwear. Skirts and knitted T-shirts decreased by 10.8% and 8.9%, respectively.

Exports to the EU and Japan increased

Exports to the United States and ASEAN continued to decline

From January to December, I exported clothing worth $31.86 billion to the United States, down by 12% year-on-year, accounting for 21.1%. Exports to non-US regions totaled $11.936 billion, down by 2.9%. Exports to the EU totaled $2.859 billion, up by 3.1%, accounting for 18.9%. Exports to Japan totaled $1.172 billion, up by 1%, accounting for 7.7%. Exports to South Korea totaled $6.21 billion, down by 9.2%. Exports to the UK totaled $5.39 billion, up by 3.4%. Exports to Australia totaled $4.61 billion, down by 2%. Exports to Canada totaled $2.73 billion, up by 0.2%.
From January to December, China exported clothing worth $6.51 billion to the countries participating in the "Belt and Road" initiative, down by 5.5% year-on-year. Exports to ASEAN totaled $1.232 billion, down by 19.6%. Exports to Latin America totaled $0.999 billion, up by 4.6%. Exports to Africa totaled $0.851 billion, up by 15%. Exports to the five Central Asian countries totaled $0.971 billion, down by 21.2%. Exports to the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries totaled $0.454 billion, down by 1.7%. Exports to Russia totaled $0.397 billion, up by 4.1%.

Zhejiang and Shandong exports grew against the trend

From January to December, Zhejiang and Shandong exports grew against the trend. Zhejiang exported $3.808 billion, up by 3.8% year-on-year, accounting for 25.2% of the national clothing export share; Shandong exported $1.851 billion, up by 0.9%. Guangdong exported $1.997 billion, down by 11.5%; Jiangsu exported $1.943 billion, down by 7%; Xinjiang exported $1.2 billion, down by 8.7%; Fujian exported $1.132 billion, down by 15.9%. Among other regions, Sichuan and Hunan exports respectively dropped by 44.7% and 35.7%; Heilongjiang exports increased significantly by 80.8%, and Tianjin and Chongqing exports increased respectively by 16.2% and 10.6%.

China's market share in the US declined, while in Europe it increased

From January to October, Vietnam's share of the US clothing import market was 19.8%, an increase of 2.3 percentage points year-on-year, remaining the largest supplier, with its leading advantage increasing month by month; China's share in the US market was 15.2%, a decrease of 7.4 percentage points year-on-year.

From January to November, China's share of EU clothing imports was 29.8%, an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year; Bangladesh ranked second, with a share of 20.9%, an increase of 3.3 percentage points year-on-year.

From January to November, China's share of Japan's clothing imports was 46.9%, a decrease of 1.7 percentage points; Vietnam ranked second, with a share of 18.7%, an increase of 1 percentage point year-on-year.

Import situation

Imports from neighboring Asian countries grew rapidly

From January to December, China's cumulative clothing imports totaled $10.2 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 2.3%. The main sources of China's imported clothing are Europe and Asia. China's imports from Europe have significantly decreased, with imports from Italy, France, and Portugal decreasing by 10.5%, 17.7%, and 13.1% respectively year-on-year. Imports from Asia's surrounding regions have grown rapidly, with imports from Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Indonesia increasing by 5.5%, 23.2%, 12.1%, and 3.3% respectively.

General category of clothing imports declined

From January to December, China imported $3.57 billion of knitted clothing, a year-on-year decrease of 3.1%; imported $5.39 billion of woven clothing, a year-on-year decrease of 1.4%; imported $0.78 billion of clothing accessories, a year-on-year decrease of 6.5%.

Guangdong's imports grew against the trend

Shanghai is the main province for China's clothing imports. From January to December, Shanghai imported $7.12 billion of clothing, a year-on-year decrease of 3.1%, accounting for 69.7% of China's clothing imports. Guangdong's imports grew against the trend, importing $1.09 billion, an increase of 2.7% year-on-year, accounting for 10.7% of China's clothing imports. Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hainan, and other main import provinces decreased by 11.8%, 2.4%, 0.1%, respectively.

International market situation

EU and Japan imports grew rapidly

In 2025, the overall demand for apparel in developed economies remained stable. From January to October, the United States imported $74.5 billion of apparel, down 1.1% year-on-year. From January to November, the EU imported $96.8 billion, up 7.6% year-on-year. Japan imported $23.6 billion, up 5.5% year-on-year. The UK imported $20.4 billion, up 8.3% year-on-year. South Korea imported $11.7 billion, down 1.9% year-on-year. Australia imported $7.8 billion, down 0.5% year-on-year.

Vietnam and Cambodia's apparel exports grew strongly

From January to October, Vietnam exported $30.2 billion of apparel, up 8.1% year-on-year. From January to November, India exported $15.5 billion, up 3.9% year-on-year; Turkey exported $15.4 billion, down 6.3% year-on-year; Cambodia's apparel exports were $10.5 billion, up 17.2% year-on-year; Indonesia exported $8.4 billion, up 5.2% year-on-year; Sri Lanka exported $4.8 billion, up 4.5% year-on-year.

India and the EU recently reached a free trade agreement (FTA) negotiation and plan to take effect at the beginning of 2027. From January to November 2025, the EU's import of apparel from India achieved a year-on-year increase of 11.9%. After the agreement takes effect, the EU will implement a more substantial reduction in tariffs on Indian products, which may put some pressure on the export competitiveness of related Chinese products.

Trend Outlook

In 2025, the global economic growth rate slowed down, and unilateralism and protectionism continued to rise, severely impacting the international economic and trade order and bringing significant pressure to China's apparel foreign trade industry. This is specifically reflected in the following aspects:

First, the United States has imposed tariffs multiple times, leading to increased fluctuations in China's apparel exports to the US and a year-on-year decline of 12% for the whole year, with a decrease of up to 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Vietnam's market share in the US has exceeded China's for the first time, becoming the largest apparel supplier to the US.
Second, the rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce channels in recent years has been impacted. The United States, the European Union, Japan, Vietnam, Mexico, Thailand, and other countries have successively canceled the duty-free treatment for small trade, strengthened the supervision of small goods, and the cross-border e-commerce exports have been significantly hindered. On January 21, 2026, Turkey conducted a surprise inspection of the cross-border e-commerce Temu, and Turkey announced the cancellation of the previous duty-free policy for parcels worth less than 30 euros, and the new regulations are expected to take effect at the beginning of February 2026.

Third, the trend of traditional garment orders shifting overseas is accelerating. Influenced by factors such as US tariffs and "de-Sinicization", long-term and large orders with relatively simple craftsmanship are accelerating their transfer overseas. After Southeast Asia, Africa has become a new hot spot for investment by apparel enterprises in 2025.
Fourth, the appreciation and depreciation of the RMB have increased the operational pressure on enterprises. In 2025, the RMB兑US dollar exchange rate showed a "weaker first, then stronger" trend, and the end-of-year offshore and onshore exchange rates both broke through the "7" threshold, leading to a reduction in企业的 foreign exchange income and a squeeze on profit margins.

Faced with multiple challenges, China's garment foreign trade industry has shown strong resilience and actively responded under pressure:

First, the industrial chain in major eastern provinces such as Zhejiang and Shandong is solid, and exports have achieved growth against the trend. Second, the effect of market diversification is reflected in the steady increase in exports to the EU, Africa, and Latin America. Third, the phase-by-phase easing of Sino-US economic and trade relations has led to multiple phone calls between the heads of state of the two countries and a successful meeting in Busan, South Korea, where a series of important consensuses were reached, and the reduction of export tariffs to the US has brought benefits to export enterprises.

Looking ahead to 2026, uncertainties in the external environment are still prominent, and stabilizing foreign trade still faces significant pressure. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report points out that the combination of factors such as a slowdown in global economic growth, geopolitical division, policy uncertainty, and rising trade costs is expected to make global trade growth even weaker; the World Trade Organization has also significantly reduced its forecast for global goods trade growth in 2026 to 0.5%.

Despite this, China's economic foundation is solid, its industrial system is complete, its development resilience is strong, the advantages of the garment industry industrial chain continue to be consolidated, its trading partners are becoming increasingly diversified, its risk resistance is significantly enhanced, and the basic盘 of foreign trade remains stable. Especially, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has made an important deployment for promoting the innovation and development of trade, which provides stable expectations for the continuous improvement of China's garment import and export industry and will also inject more determinacy and positive energy into the development of global economic and trade.

The future of China's apparel industry will rely on a well-developed industrial system, efficient supply chain, and leading innovation capabilities to maintain long-term competitiveness in the international market. Faced with new situations and challenges, apparel enterprises continue to optimize product structure, innovate trade models, expand diversified markets, actively integrate into the global industrial and supply chain system, and thus enhance the industry's risk resistance and development resilience, promote the industry to advance to the high-end of the global value chain, and achieve higher quality and sustainable development.

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