According to estimates from the economic and statistical office of the Confindustria Moda association, the Italian men’s fashion industry was expected to suffer a 2.1 percent decline in sales in 2025 compared to the previous year. These forecasts are based on internal surveys and current macroeconomic developments. The term men’s fashion includes ready-to-wear, knitwear, shirts, ties and leather clothing.
The turnover of Italian men’s fashion would amount to 11.2 billion euros in 2025. This corresponds to 19.3 percent of the total turnover of the Italian textile and clothing industry. This data was published by the organizers of Pitti Uomo. The menswear trade fair opened its doors in Florence on Tuesday.
“The year 2025 began in an environment that continued to be characterized by great uncertainty for fashion as a whole and for Italian men’s fashion. There were no concrete signs of recovery. The international macroeconomic environment continued to be influenced by geopolitical tensions, market instability and protectionist measures. This was particularly true for the USA,” it said in a statement.
According to available data, the production value in 2025 fell by 2.3 percent compared to the previous year, reflecting the difficult environment.
Over the course of the year, sales abroad experienced a turnaround and slipped back into negative territory. A decline of 2.0 percent is currently expected for exports. This would reduce the total volume of foreign sales to around 8.7 billion euros. According to the available figures, the share of exports in the industry’s total sales was 77.2 percent, which underlined the strong international orientation of Italian men’s fashion.
Imports are forecast to grow by 2.8 percent in 2025. The total value would therefore amount to around 5.5 billion euros.
Given this development in foreign trade, the industry’s trade surplus is expected to decline compared to 2024. It is likely to amount to around 3.2 billion euros for the year as a whole.
Exports fell in the first nine months
In the period from January to September 2025, foreign sales of men’s fashion “Made in Italy” fell by 2.5 percent to 6.9 billion euros. Imports developed in the opposite direction. They rose by 3.2 percent and reached a value of 5.0 billion euros.
These developments affected the trade balance. Although it remained positive at over 1.9 billion euros, it was lower compared to the previous year. The decline was around 330 million euros or 14.6 percent compared to the first nine months of 2024.
Overall, the data reflects a fairly volatile development. A different dynamic was observed in the first quarter. Imports increased while exports decreased. In the following three months there were signs of weakening. Both exports and imports recorded declines. The trend reversed in the third quarter. According to the Economic and Statistical Office of Confindustria Moda, exports and imports recovered and returned to positive values.
Geographically, there is a divergence between the two major regions. The EU internal market showed positive dynamics with growth of 2.6 percent. Exports to non-EU countries, however, fell by 6.9 percent.
Despite the decline, non-EU countries remained the main buyer for Italian men’s fashion exports. It accounted for 51.3 percent of the total volume, while the EU market covered the remaining 48.7 percent. The two macro-regions are also developing in opposite directions when it comes to imports. In the first nine months of 2025, imports from EU countries fell by 4.4 percent. Imports from non-EU markets, however, recorded a double-digit increase of 10.1 percent.
Proportionally, 44.4 percent of men’s fashion imported to Italy came from countries in the European Union. The remaining 55.6 percent came from non-EU markets.
Among export markets, France remained the most important destination for men’s fashion “Made in Italy”. With growth of 3.4 percent to 937 million euros and a 13.5 percent share of total industry exports, the country consolidated its leading position. Despite a decline of 3.5 percent to 691 million euros, Germany came in second with a share of 10.0 percent. The USA remained in third place and recorded an increase of 4.0 percent to 686 million euros. Their share of total exports was 9.9 percent.
Despite a consolidation phase, China maintained fourth place with a decline of 16.7 percent with a value of 469 million euros. Within Asia, Japan stood out with growth of 4.6 percent and confirmed its eighth place. In contrast, Hong Kong and South Korea recorded declines of 6.8 percent and 18.9 percent, respectively. As a result, the two markets fell back to tenth and twelfth place respectively.
Back in Europe, Spain held on to fifth place thanks to an increase of 5.1 percent. Great Britain, on the other hand, recorded a decline of 6.2 percent. This was followed by Switzerland, a traditional logistics and trading center for the most important brands in the industry. However, the country continued to show weakness and recorded a decline of 13.7 percent.
Exports to the Netherlands developed positively, ranking ninth with an increase of 1.2 percent. There were also growth signals from Poland and the United Arab Emirates, which took eleventh and thirteenth place respectively. Poland recorded a particularly dynamic increase of 26.1 percent, while the Emirates grew by 4.9 percent.
The group of target countries was completed by Austria and Turkey. Both had a share of less than 2.0 percent of total exports, but showed positive development.
When it comes to imports, the three most important procurement markets for men’s fashion showed positive developments in the first nine months of 2025. China confirmed its position as the main supplier with a value of 694 million euros. This corresponded to an increase of 14.4 percent compared to the same period last year. The country’s share of total imports was 13.9 percent.
Bangladesh was in second place with 649 million euros and growth of 16.1 percent. The country thus covered 13.0 percent of total imports. Spain followed in third place as the first EU country in the ranking. With 413 million euros and an increase of 9.6 percent, it contributed 8.3 percent of the total volume.
Among the other EU suppliers, the Netherlands, in fourth place, recorded an increase of 2.2 percent. France, on the other hand, showed a significant decline of 15.4 percent, bringing the country’s share to 6.9 percent. Imports from Romania also fell, with a slight decrease of 0.8 percent and a share of 5.5 percent, as well as Germany. Imports from Germany fell by 22.4 percent and accounted for 4.2 percent of total imports.
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