The state US industry agency Office of Textiles and Apparel (Otexa) published the merchant data for May 2025 last week. They provide a detailed overview of the US textile and clothing imports. While the overall imports have been able to grow since the beginning of the year, the clothing sector recorded a remarkable decline in May, whereby the changing role of China stands out as a key supplier.
In May 2025, the total import of textile and clothing products in the USA reached 8.02 billion square meter equivalents (SME). The clothing imports were 1.70 billion SME in the report month. This corresponds to a significant decline of 13.2 percent compared to May 2024. This decline in monthly clothing imports is in contrast to the previous years. The clothing imports amounted to 10.11 billion SME as of the end of May 2025. This is an increase of 5.1 percent compared to the same period last year.
All textile and clothing categories from China decreased by 42 percent in May
China’s role in US clothing imports is still the focus. The exact monthly clothing imports for China in May 2025 are not listed in the data provided, but the total volume (Total Trade) for China in all textile and clothing categories showed a 42 percent decline in May compared to the previous year. In the previous course until May, China’s overall trading imports in the USA in the areas of textiles and clothing were 11.70 billion SME. This means a minus of 3.3 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. This indicates a continued shift in procurement strategies because US brands diversify their supply chains.
Total imports from India increased by 54 percent in May
The overall trend of overall trends of cotton, wool, chemical fibers, silk mixtures and not made of cotton plant fiber textiles and clothing for the twelve months before May 31 shows an increase of a total of 15.3 percent to 109.13 billion SME. In particular, the clothing imports rose by 7.7 percent in this period compared to the previous year. This indicates a broader growth of clothing imports over a longer period of time, even in view of the recent monthly fluctuations and shifts in the country -specific contributions.
Clothing imports increased by 7.7 percent in the course of the year
Compared to the previous year, total clothing imports to the United States rose by 7.7 percent to 26.24 billion SME.
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