California Apparel News

Shoppers were being cautious with their pocketbooks this year as apparel and textile imports dropped 1 percent during the first 10 months of 2012 compared with last year.

From January to October, the United States imported $96.2 billion in goods, a 1 percent drop from the same period last year.

China was still the biggest apparel and textile maker for the United States. More than 40 percent of imported clothing and fabric bought by U.S. consumers came from the Asian giant, which is still considered the apparel factory to the world.

Imports from Vietnam, now the No. 2 apparel provider to the United States, jumped 6.1 percent during the first 10 months of the year to $6.5 billion. The Southeast Asian country began to aggressively develop its apparel industry after joining the World Trade Organization in 2007. Apparel is now the No. 1 export of Vietnam with an estimated value this year of $15 billion.

India still ranked as the No. 3 provider of apparel and textiles to the United States. It shipped nearly $5.4 billion in clothes during the first 10 months of this year, down 2 percent from $5.5 billion during the same period in 2011.

Bangladesh, which is the world’s second-largest maker of apparel, has been in the news lately for a horrific apparel factory fire that killed 112 people outside of Dhaka.Bangladesh ranks as the fifth-largest apparel provider to the United States.

Still, its apparel exports to the United States were down 1.86 percent during the first 10 months of this year to $3.97 billion.Other major apparel providers to the United States include Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan and Honduras.— Deborah Belgum