California Apparel News

Shoppers are no longer the rare birds they were in 2009.

This year, stores have been stocking more goods and consumers have been snapping them up.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, apparel and textile imports were on the upswing this year, skipping ahead 15 percent during the first 10 months of this year over the same period last year.

Of course, it wouldn’t be difficult to beat 2009, a dismal year when apparel and textile imports were down 13.5 percent to nearly $90 billion, compared with nearly $104 billion in 2008. For the first 10 months of this year, apparel and textile imports hovered around $87.5 billion.

It’s no secret that when it comes to supplying the United States with clothing and everything that goes into it, China comes out on top. China’s apparel and textile exports jumped nearly 22 percent during the first 10 months of this year, to $37.1 billion, with a surprising 65 percent increase in yarn exports.

One of the hardest-hit exporters was Hong Kong, which has seen much of its apparel-manufacturing industry move to China. Its total apparel and textile exports to U.S. consumers were off nearly 30 percent, with the apparel sector shrinking 37 percent.

On the export side, the United States saw a 20 percent uptick in apparel and textile shipments, totaling $15.7 billion during the first 10 months of this year, compared with $13.1 billion during the same period in 2009.

Yarn sales to Europe saw a healthy 53.5 percent growth, while fabric sales to that region showed a 25 percent increase.

Yarn sales to China were also in good territory, up 30 percent, while U.S. apparel sales to the Middle Kingdom, which have never been very strong, were down 14.5 percent.—Deborah Belgum

(For U.S. Textile and Apparel Imports and Exports charts, click here.)