US fourth largest exporter of textiles, garments and fibres

To celebrate National Manufacturing Day, held on October 7, and the comeback of the industry, the US National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) announced that fibre, textile and apparel exports reached a volume of almost 28 billion US dollars in 2015, making the country the fourth largest exporter of such products in the world.

Of those 28 billion US dollars, exports of cotton and wool fibre account for 4 billion US dollars, yarns for 4.9 billion US dollars, fabrics for 9 billion US dollars, apparel for 6.1 billion US dollars and sewn products for 3.7 billion US dollars. The top five export markets for the US are Mexico, Canada, Honduras, China and UK with 6.5 billion, 5.2 billion, 1.5 billion, 1 billion and 700 million US dollars, respectively.

“The U.S. textile industry is proud to celebrate National Manufacturing Day. Textiles are everywhere, positively impacting and improving our daily lives. From getting dressed in the morning to pulling up the covers at night and innumerable places in between, Americans touch, use, and rely on textile products twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. To meet that demand, the US textile industry is continually reinvesting and innovating to make the most amazing textiles in the world,” commented NCTO president & CEO Augustine Tantillo.

In 2015, the US textile and apparel industry supply chain employed more than 579,300, including 116,400 people making yarns and fabrics; 116,400 making textile products; 136,800 making apparel products; 25,600 making artificial and synthetic fibers and filaments and 184,100 working in the cotton and wool growing sectors.

Similar to “We Make Amazing”, “Made in Europe”, “Make in India” and other initiatives around the world, the textile and garment industry is no exception when it comes to the trend of promoting homegrown businesses and manufacturing efforts. Consumers too seem to increasingly want to know where certain products were made and often prefer locally made ones to imported products.

Illustrations: via NCTO; source: US Dept. of Commerce & US International Trade Commission