Customs General Administration statistics show that in the first seven months of this year, China's cumulative textile and apparel exports reached $174.75 billion, up 2.4% year-on-year, with growth accelerating by 1.0 percentage point compared with the first half. In RMB terms, exports over the same period totaled 1.2 trillion yuan, down 1.5% year-on-year, but the decline narrowed by 0.7 percentage points from the first half.

By category, in USD terms, textile exports were $85.34 billion, up 3.9% year-on-year, with growth continuing to expand; apparel exports were $89.40 billion, up 0.9% year-on-year, turning cumulative growth positive. In RMB terms, textile exports were 590.55 billion yuan, up slightly by 0.1% year-on-year; apparel exports were 617.88 billion yuan, down 2.9% year-on-year.

July's performance was particularly notable: national textile and apparel exports reached $28.80 billion, up 7.6% year-on-year, the highest monthly growth rate so far this year. Among these, textile exports were $12.35 billion, up 6.4%; apparel exports were $16.45 billion, up 8.5%. Industry analysts believe that the continued decline in international brand inventory levels and the gradual release of overseas restocking demand drove a recovery in purchases of textile intermediate goods and finished apparel, which was the main support for the relatively rapid export growth that month.

Looking at major markets in the first half of the year, China's textile and apparel exports to the United States grew 12.5% year-on-year, exports to the EU were basically flat, while exports to ASEAN, Japan, South Korea and other markets declined somewhat. The global trade environment remains complex, with factors such as trade policy adjustments and geopolitical conflicts intertwined, and the outlook for demand recovery in international markets remains highly uncertain. Facing this situation, domestic textile and apparel enterprises have proactively adapted to changes in the external environment, their market responsiveness has continued to strengthen, and the industry's foreign trade resilience has become more evident.

For practitioners in the used clothing and second-hand apparel sector, the return to positive cumulative growth in apparel exports and the restart of the overseas restocking cycle mean that orders and capacity in the upstream textile and apparel supply chain are stabilizing. To a certain extent, this will affect new clothing supply prices and the pace of brand inventory clearance, and in turn influence the category structure and costs of second-hand apparel supply.

Source: Textile and apparel exports nationwide maintained growth from January to July · Originally published on 2026-08-20