World apparel exports experienced an average annual growth of 4.5% between 2002 and 2020, rising from $204 billion to $449 billion. However, the 2010s show signs of slowing growth, with an average increase reduced by 0.8% between 2011 and 2020. Likewise, China's market share, which rose from 20 % in 2002 to weigh 39 % of exports in 2015, has seen a decline in its position since then. China accounted for 31-32 % of the market during the fiscal years 2018, 2019, and 2020. This decrease corresponds to the subprime crisis, but it also occurred at a time when the country was partly disengaging from clothing to invest massively in textiles," explained Gildas Minvielle, director of the IFM's Economic Observatory. The situation is partly similar on the side of textile exports, which have grown by an average of 4.3% each year since 2002, from $154 billion to $328 billion. An average annual increase that has, however, been limited to 1.2 % since 2011. In this area, China has never stopped increasing its market share. From 13 % in 2002, it rose to 32 % in 2011. After reaching 39 % in 2019, it even reached 44 % during 2020. The growth is attributed to sanitary masks and gowns, accounted for in textile exports. In the end, therefore, China has experienced an increase in its clothing exports from $41 billion in 2002 to $142 billion in 2020, an average increase of 7 %. But this period also benefited others, such as Vietnam (from $3 billion to $28 billion), Bangladesh (from $5 billion to $27 billion), Turkey (from $8 billion to $15 billion), and Malaysia (from $2 billion to $10 billion). Not to mention the United Kingdom and Indonesia, which increased from $4 billion to $8 billion.
At the same time, European Union countries have experienced an increase in clothing exports outside the EU from 17 to 18 billion euros. This shows that there’s is an increase in European activity, and this despite high wage costs. The Supplier Countries of 2021 Based on Eurostat figures, Gildas Minvielle also analyzed estimates of European apparel imports for the 2021 financial year. These rose by 1.1 % in value to 69.2 billion euros and by 3.8 % in volume. The estimates show stability in orders from the Chinese leader, down 0.2 % to 20.7 billion euros, ahead of Bangladesh with 13.3 billion (up 8.3 %), Turkey with 9 billion (up 12.7 %) and India with 3.2 billion euros (up 10.6 %). Among the highlights was the 8.9% drop in clothing orders placed in Cambodia. But the most spectacular drop of -60.5 % to 1.6 billion euros came from the United Kingdom. According to Gildas Minvielle, this is due in particular to the very strong impact of Covid-19 in the country, but also to an anticipatory effect in anticipation of the expected consequences of Brexit. The situation was also denounced in November by the European textile industry confederation Euratex, which addressed the "lose-lose" effects of Brexit for the sector.
Between 2020 and 2021, European apparel orders in the region are forecast to increase by 13.4 %, while Asian orders rose by only 2.4 % more. In the ranking of EU supplier countries over the last 20 years, other countries have shown rapid rises. Albania has thus gradually moved from 29th to 16th place among EU suppliers. A progression of 13 positions similar to that of Serbia, which has gained 12, to become Europe's 18th largest clothing supplier in 2021. In addition, Laos also stands out, which has moved from 33rd to 24th place since 2015. But the ranking also experienced drops. Thailand, which ranked 10th in 2005, now ranks 17th, while Ukraine, a giant in European apparel production, meanwhile fell from 14th to 20th.