Global apparel trade data through September 2025 paints a sharply divided landscape for sourcing executives. Tariff disruptions, shifting currency dynamics and evolving buyer behavior are reshaping export performance across key manufacturing hubs.
While emerging players like Cambodia and Egypt are accelerating on the back of diversification and favorable trade terms, traditional powerhouses such as China, India and Turkey are feeling the strain of tariff shocks and slowing Western demand. Each market’s performance offers a glimpse into how cost competitiveness, regional trade alliances and capacity upgrades are redefining the global supply base heading into 2026.
Countries with key advantages are positioning themselves for outsized growth, while exporters with over exposure to U.S. tariff headwinds are recalibrating.
Here, HGI provides export statistics for key apparel producing nations, as they compare to China, which ended the first seven months of this year with textile and apparel exports down 20% yoy to $11.21 billion.
India
Exports from India in general were up by 4.5% in the first half of FY26, which ran April through September. Despite the 50% tariff the U.S. placed on goods from the country, which began on August 27, September exports were up 6.75%, according to the Commerce Ministry.
For September, the first full month since of the tariffs, India’s exports to the U.S. specifically dropped to $5.46 billion or 11.93% year-on-year, according to data released by the Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
“The data shows how severely the new duties have hit India’s outbound shipments,” Global Trade Research Initiative founder Ajay Srivastava told World Ports. Srivastava noted textiles were among the sectors most impacted.
The U.S. is the top export market for textiles and apparel, representing 28% of global exports.
Focusing on textiles and apparel, the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) reported that exports fell by 10.34% yoy in September. Looking at the first half of FY26, tariff pressures dragged down textile exports by 3.42%, while apparel was up 3.42%.
Turkey
Exports from Turkey reached $200.6 billion in the first nine months of the year. The performance represented a 4.1% increase yoy, pushing past the $200 billion mark for the first time, according to the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TiM). Exports in September rose by 3% to $22.6 billion.
Turkey’s trade minister reported that exports climbed in 20 of the last 28 months, breaking records in 16.
Zooming in on apparel exports, the sector reached $12.61 billion through the first nine months of 2025, according to Istanbul Apparel Exporters’ Association (iHKiB). That’s a 7.4% decrease from $13.6 billion during the same period in 2024. Turkish apparel exports were partly hit by weak EU demand as well as exchange rates that increased costs beyond competitors in the EU and Asia.
Ready-made clothing and apparel exports hit $1.49 billion in September.
Vietnam
In the first nine months of 2025, Vietnam’s global export value reached $348.74 billion, an increase of 16% over the same period last year, according to the Vietnam Customs Department.
U.S. apparel exports from Vietnam represented a 21% market share for the first seven months of the year, surpassing China for the first time. Apparel exports grew by 15% during this period as companies raced to frontload goods and reduce exposure to China, according to Shinhan Securities.
In September, textile exports to the U.S. plunged by 20%, marking the sharpest decline since the U.S. trade war began, according to Reuters. While that sector underperformed, exports to the U.S. in general remained mostly flat during the same period, just edging down 1.5% to 13.7 billion thanks to strong performances in coffee and machinery.
Pakistan
Exports from Pakistan declined by 4% to $7.59 billion during the first quarter of FY26, which ran July to September.
Though up 3 percent from $2.42 billion in August 2025, the country’s overall exports stood at $2.5 billion in September 2025, down 12 percent from $2.84 billion yoy.
Bucking the trend, textile exports from the country were up 5.63% to $4.77 billion during the same period. But it was an uneven quarter. Though textile exports increased 3.23% in August 2025, they were down 1.99% yoy, to $1.57 billion just a month later.
Given the tariff situation, the country is making a push to capture additional market share. “We’re seeing a window of opportunity that we cannot afford to miss,” Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh is reported to have told industry leaders last month.
The decrease in exports and company closures have the Pakistan Textile Council alarmed.
“These developments are a wake-up call. They are symptoms of deeper structural issues – Pakistan’s cost of doing business is simply becoming unbearable,” PTC Chairman Fawad Anwar told Business Recorder.
Cambodia
Cambodia’s global exports surged 12.9 percent yoy to $19.83 billion in the first nine months of 2025, according to the General Department of Customs and Excise.
Exports of apparel and textiles accounted for $8.64 billion between January and September of this year, up 16.8 from the same period last year. The strong performance was fueled in part by buyers stocking up ahead of the Aug. 1 tariffs.
“The growth of GFT [garments, footwear and travel goods] product export showed the strong demand for made-in-Cambodia products in the international markets as the government is diversifying markets to boost more exports to new markets,” Penn Sovicheat, Secretary of State and spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, told the Khmer Times.
The U.S., along with the EU, Canada and Japan are among the country’s biggest export markets for this sector.
Lim Heng, Vice-President of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, pointed to free trade agreements like those with China and South Korea and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as means of continued growth. “These agreements and trade preference schemes are the primary means of boosting exports and investment by granting Cambodian goods access to vast new markets,” Heng said.
Egypt
Egypt’s ready-made garment exports soared by over 23% to a record $2.21 billion in the first eight months of 2025, according to the Apparel Export Council of Egypt (AECE).
Apparel exports to the U.S. specifically increased 14% to $877 million during the same period. Similarly, exports to Europe jumped 36%, and Africa, excluding Arab countries, surged by 56%.
Egypt continues to see investment from Turkey, as a result of the country’s high inflation, and China. In addition to expanded capacity, the country notes proximity to Europe and strategic free trade agreements as drivers for growth.
The outlook is for between 20% and 23% annual growth over the next five years, potentially reaching $5 billion by 2030, according to AECE Chairman Fadel Marzouktold.
Mexico
Exports from Mexico increased 4.4% yoy in the first half of 2025, according to statistics agency INEGI.
During the same period, textile and apparel exports from Mexico plunged by 21%, according to the National Chamber of the Textile Industry (Canaintex). In June, the country reported a 25% surge in exports compared to June 2024. More than 90% of the $3.65 billion in textile and apparel exported from January to June went to the U.S. market.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported total exports were down 4.6 percent to $3.63 billion in September compared to the same period in 2024, according to the country’s Export Promotion Bureau. The country’s ready-made garment sector had a negative impact, with a 5.66% decline in exports.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) reported the sector began the quarter, which ran July to September, strong with a 24.67% surge in exports in July. Performance over the next two months have been negative, with a 4.75% and 5.66% decline respectively. The quarter ended up 4.79 percent to $9.97 billion yoy.
Inamul Haq Khan, BGMEA senior vice president, noted August to October are typically leaner months, though the Dhaka Tribune reported that he acknowledged demand has lagged behind expectations given the country’s competitive 20% U.S. tariff.
