In 2025, EU apparel imports reached $223 billion, up 9.3% from 2019; in the first half of 2026, import volumes rose another 4% year-on-year. At the same time, EU yarn and fabric exports fell by about 10%, and in the first quarter of 2026, textile and apparel output and employment both declined, with the upstream textile segment continuing to weaken.

Key Points

  • In 2025, EU apparel imports rose from about $204 billion in 2019 to $223 billion, an increase of 9.3%; apparel exports grew 8.5% to about $150 billion, and home textile imports grew 5.1% to $20 billion (TexPro data, covering total trade of the 27 member states).
  • In the first half of 2026, EU apparel imports rose 4% year-on-year, but yarn and fabric exports fell by about 10%, and both textile and apparel output and employment declined in the first quarter.
  • The EU ban on destruction of unsold clothing, extended producer responsibility (EPR), and the digital product passport (DPP) timetable are being rolled out gradually, turning circularity, traceability, and product data management from policy topics into daily operational requirements.

Trade Scale Contrasts with Upstream Weakness
According to TexPro statistics, apparel imports by the EU-27 rose from about $204 billion in 2019 to $223 billion in 2025, a cumulative increase of 9.3% over six years. Over the same period, apparel exports grew 8.5% to about $150 billion; home textile imports grew 5.1% to $20 billion. Imports have continued to expand, but the export momentum of upstream textiles has weakened markedly—yarn and fabric exports fell by about 10%.

Entering 2026, the trend has not reversed. In the first half of the year, EU apparel imports were 4% higher year-on-year, but output and employment data for the textile and apparel industry continued to decline in the first quarter, further widening the divergence within the industry: end demand remains, while manufacturing and exports are contracting.

Policy Pressure Forces a Skills Rebuild
Behind the large trade volume, the transformation of Europe's textile and apparel industry is colliding head-on with a harsher industrial reality. The implementation timetables for rules such as the EU ban on destruction of unsold clothing, extended producer responsibility (EPR), and the digital product passport (DPP) are moving forward. These requirements no longer remain at the level of policy discussion, but are gradually translating into matters that companies must handle in daily operations.

Circularity, traceability, and product data management have thus shifted from conceptual topics to operational needs, placing direct demands on a workforce with the corresponding skills. The judgment cited in the article is that whether Europe's textile industry transforms is no longer the question; the real question is whether companies can build the skills system supporting that transformation fast enough.

Implications for the Industry
For exporters and second-hand clothing traders targeting the EU market, the continued growth in import scale means market capacity remains, but compliance thresholds are rising. Rules such as EPR and DPP require data verifiability, material traceability, and compliant disposal across the product life cycle, which will translate at the order level into requirements for supply chain information transparency and documentation readiness. The decline in upstream exports and the contraction in employment show that whoever builds skills and compliance capacity first will have a better chance of staying on EU procurement lists.

Source: EU apparel imports reach $223 bn as textile skills pressure mounts · Originally published on 2026-10-06