The apparel industry is a global manufacturing and trading system whose measured boundaries vary by source. The WTO measures textiles and clothing, the ILO often includes garments, textiles and footwear, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics measures NAICS 315000 apparel manufacturing, and the EPA measures discarded textiles in municipal solid waste.
Key Apparel Industry Statistics
The following figures summarize the most useful measures across those defined populations and periods:
- In 2022, textiles and clothing represented 3.7% of world merchandise exports worldwide.
- In 2022, Asia accounted for 70.6% of world textiles and clothing exports.
- From 2017 to 2022, Asia’s share of world textiles and clothing exports increased by 11.2 percentage points.
- In 2022, about 80% of Asia’s textiles and clothing exports were regional.
- In 2022, China supplied more than 40% of the value added in global textiles and clothing exports.
- In 2022, foreign value added represented 64% of Viet Nam’s textiles and clothing exports.
- In 2022, foreign value added represented 58% of Cambodia’s textiles and clothing exports.
- In 2019, Asia’s garment, textiles and footwear sectors employed approximately 60 million workers.
- From 2015 to 2019, Myanmar’s GTF employment rose from about 660,000 to nearly 1.2 million workers.
- From 2015 to 2019, informal employment in Myanmar’s GTF sector increased from 94% to 96%.
- From 2012 to 2019, real average monthly GTF wages in Cambodia grew 11.7% annually.
- From 2010 to 2019, real average monthly GTF wages in Viet Nam grew 6.9% annually.
- In May 2023, U.S. apparel manufacturing employed 90,080 workers across all occupations.
- In May 2023, sales managers in U.S. apparel manufacturing had a $161,470 annual mean wage.
- In 2018, U.S. textile generation in municipal solid waste was 17.03 million tons.
- In 2018, the recycling rate for clothing and footwear textiles in the United States was 13%.
- In 2018, U.S. landfills received 11.30 million tons of MSW textiles.
Contents
- Global apparel industry scale and export statistics
- Apparel supply-chain and value-added data
- Asian apparel employment statistics and structural trends
- Apparel wages and productivity trends in Asia
- U.S. apparel manufacturing jobs, occupations and wages
- U.S. apparel and textile waste statistics
Global Apparel Industry Scale and Export Statistics
The WTO’s 2022 textiles-and-clothing profile is broader than apparel-only: it includes textile manufacture and wearing apparel. Within that scope, textiles and clothing represented 3.7% of world merchandise exports in 2022, while the industry’s exports generated 36.4% of their value added within the sector.
The WTO also attributes parts of export value added to connected industries. Services supplied 34.7% of the value added in world textiles and clothing exports, agriculture supplied 10.9%, and chemicals supplied 5.6% in 2022.
Regional trade shows the concentration of this industry in Asia:
| Region or measure | 2022 result | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Asia | 70.6% | Share of world textiles and clothing exports |
| Europe | 21.1% | Share of world textiles and clothing exports |
| Asia’s regional exports | About 80% | Share of Asia’s textiles and clothing exports |
| Europe’s regional value added | 65% | Share of export value added |
Asia’s share of world textiles and clothing exports increased by 11.2 percentage points from 2017 to 2022. The regional-export figure describes where exports went, not the share of production that was domestic.
Source: WTO Global Value Chains Sectoral Profiles: Textiles and Clothing Industry. These are WTO estimates and trade-in-value-added measures, not gross export values; the sector scope is broader than apparel.
Apparel Supply-Chain and Value-Added Data
Trade statistics can conceal how much value is created domestically versus supplied from abroad. For 2022, the WTO estimated that China’s domestic content was 89.1% of its textiles and clothing exports, while China’s value added represented more than 40% of the value added contained in global textiles and clothing exports.
Selected domestic and foreign-content measures are shown below:
| Economy | 2022 measure | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| China | 89.1% domestic content | Share of export value |
| India | 83.2% domestic content | Share of export value |
| United States | 85.4% domestic value added | Share of export value |
| Mexico | 65.8% domestic value added | Share of export value |
| Brazil | 82.9% domestic content | Share of export value |
| Viet Nam | 64% foreign value added | Share of total export value |
| Cambodia | 58% foreign value added | Share of total export value |
| Singapore | 50% foreign value added | Share of total export value |
| Indonesia | 49% foreign value added | Share of total export value |
China and India increased domestic capacity by more than 9% on average from 2017 to 2022. That is a reported threshold for the two economies together, not an exact country-by-country rate.
Domestic value-added content is not the same as a domestic share of every physical input. These WTO TiVA estimates describe value embodied in exports, so unlike measures should not be read as a single ranking of manufacturing self-sufficiency.
Source: WTO Global Value Chains Sectoral Profiles: Textiles and Clothing Industry.
Asian Apparel Employment Statistics and Structural Trends
The ILO’s Asian garment-sector analysis uses a broader GTF definition covering garment, textiles and footwear, so its employment figures are not apparel-only. In 2019, those sectors employed approximately 60 million workers in Asia, which accounted for approximately 55% of global textiles and clothing exports.
Myanmar illustrates rapid expansion alongside informality. Its GTF employment nearly doubled from about 660,000 workers in 2015 to nearly 1.2 million in 2019, while wearing apparel’s share of GTF employment increased by approximately 25 percentage points.
The structure of Myanmar’s employment growth was also important:
- Informal employment increased from 94% of Myanmar’s GTF employment in 2015 to 96% in 2019.
- Informal employment in household-sector GTF work represented more than 60% of net GTF job growth from 2015 to 2019.
- Home-based work represented another 37% of net job growth among Myanmar wage and salaried GTF workers during 2015–2019.
Pakistan’s data show a different structural pattern. Textiles represented 36% of Pakistan’s GTF employment in 2019, while the share of employees in large enterprises—defined here as enterprises with 100 or more employees—declined by as much as 16 percentage points in textiles from 2010 to 2018.
For the same Pakistan period, the share of employees in large enterprises rose by 5 percentage points in wearing apparel and by 13 percentage points in footwear. The ILO notes comparability caveats, and country periods and survey sources differ.
Apparel Wages and Productivity Trends in Asia
The ILO reports real average monthly wage growth for the broader GTF sector or specified sub-sectors. These are annual growth rates over different country periods, so they should not be treated as directly comparable wage levels.
| Geography and sector | Period | Real average monthly wage growth |
|---|---|---|
| Cambodia, GTF | 2012–2019 | 11.7% annually |
| Cambodia, wearing apparel, men | 2012–2019 | 10.1% annually |
| Cambodia, wearing apparel, women | 2012–2019 | 12.4% annually |
| Indonesia, GTF | 2010–2015 | 2.9% annually |
| Myanmar, GTF | 2015–2019 | 8.1% annually |
| Pakistan, GTF | 2010–2018 | 2.8% annually |
| Philippines, GTF | 2010–2019 | 1.2% annually |
| Sri Lanka, GTF | 2010–2018 | 5.6% annually |
| Thailand, GTF | 2014–2019 | 1.6% annually |
| Viet Nam, GTF | 2010–2019 | 6.9% annually |
Cambodia’s wearing-apparel wage growth was 10.1% annually for men and 12.4% for women from 2012 to 2019. The overall Cambodia GTF estimate was 11.7% annually, while Viet Nam’s broader GTF estimate was 6.9% annually from 2010 to 2019.
The source compiles country information from labour-force surveys and related national and Asian Development Bank data. Its GTF scope includes textiles and footwear, and the periods differ by country.
U.S. Apparel Manufacturing Jobs, Occupations and Wages
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ May 2023 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates for NAICS 315000 counted 90,080 workers across all occupations in apparel manufacturing. The OEWS employer survey excludes self-employed workers, and annual wage figures are means rather than medians.
Management occupations accounted for 6,080 jobs, or 6.75% of industry employment. The largest listed management groups and their annual mean wages were:
| Occupation | Employment | Annual mean wage |
|---|---|---|
| Top executives | 3,120 | $119,990 |
| General and operations managers | 3,050 | $112,890 |
| Marketing and sales managers | 990 | $155,980 |
| Marketing managers | 310 | $143,910 |
| Sales managers | 680 | $161,470 |
| Operations specialties managers | 1,790 | $120,390 |
| Financial managers | 200 | $184,450 |
| Industrial production managers | 990 | $102,940 |
| Chief executives | 70 | $422,890 |
The chief-executive estimate is small, and BLS flags the hourly median as top-coded. That occupation’s mean should therefore be read with the source’s uncertainty and reporting qualifications.
U.S. Apparel and Textile Waste Statistics
EPA textile statistics cover discarded clothing plus other textile goods in U.S. municipal solid waste, not apparel alone. Reused garments are not included until they enter the waste stream.
In 2018, U.S. textile generation was 17.03 million tons, equal to 5.8% of total municipal solid waste generation. The historical series rose from 1.76 million tons in 1960 to 17.03 million tons in 2018; the figures are not adjusted here for population or reuse.
The main 2018 pathways were:
| Waste pathway | Quantity or share | EPA definition |
|---|---|---|
| Textile generation | 17.03 million tons | U.S. municipal solid waste |
| Textile recycling | 2.51 million tons | Material-specific estimate |
| Recycling rate, all textiles | 14.7% | Share of textile generation |
| Recycling rate, clothing and footwear | 13% | Clothing and footwear textiles |
| Combustion with energy recovery | 3.22 million tons | Combustion pathway |
| Share of MSW combusted with energy recovery | 9.3% | Textiles’ share of that stream |
| Landfilled MSW textiles | 11.30 million tons | Textiles in U.S. landfills |
| Share of MSW landfilled | 7.7% | Textiles’ share of all MSW landfilled |
The 13% clothing-and-footwear recycling rate differs from the 14.7% all-textiles rate because the populations are different. The 15.8% rate for sheets and pillowcases is a separate textile subcategory, not an apparel measure.
Source: Textiles: Material-Specific Data.