US apparel imports continued to slide during May, with shipment quantities falling 28.2% compared to the previous year, owing to headwinds in the US economy and weakening consumer confidence.

It marks the third consecutive month of falling US apparel imports with a 40.2% year-on-year fall in March and a 33.9% fall in apparel shipments in April.

In value terms, US apparel imports fell 25.9% year on year.

“The shrinking US apparel import volume reflected the headwinds in the US economy and consumers’ hesitancy to purchase clothing amid financial uncertainties. Recent economic indicators also present a mixed picture of the US economy’s growth trajectory,” Dr Sheng Lu, associate professor in the Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies at the University of Delaware, told Just Style.

“For example, the US consumer confidence index slightly increased from 68.0 in March to 69.6 in April 2023 (January 2019=100). However, the index fell 64.9 in May 2023, reflecting consumers’ confidence about their household financial prospects is far from solid. Nevertheless, since summer is traditionally a peak season for clothing sales, followed by events like back-to-school shopping, there remains hope that US apparel imports may experience a slight recovery at some point in the second half of the year.”

Imports of textiles were 6,806.1 MSME in May 2023, down 13.9% from May 2022.

Looking at the numbers from a year-to-date lens, imports of textiles were 26.8bn SME, a decline of 19.1% year-on-year.

Apparel imports for the year-to-date May 2023 were 9.6bn SME, down 30.5 percent year-on-year while imports of textiles and apparel were 36.4bn SME, a decline of 22.4%.

Year-to-date apparel imports from the Top 10 suppliers to the US

• China booked a fall of 31.4% from 4.40bn SME to 3.01bn SME.
• Vietnam saw shipment volumes fall 33.5% from 2.28bn SME to 1.51bn SME.
• Bangladesh saw volumes decline from 1.47bn SME to 1.02bn SME.
• Shipment volumes from India also fell from 746m SME to 540m SME.
• And Indonesia booked a decline of 33.5% to 443m SME from 667m SME a year earlier.
• Cambodia saw shipment volumes fall from 630m SME to 349m SME.
• Honduras booked a fall in shipment volumes from 370m SME to 275m SME.
• Mexico also saw a decline, though less significant than the others, to 314m SME from 356m SME.
• Pakistan saw shipment volumes fall to 275m SME from 446m SME.

What the numbers tell us

“Trade data also suggests US fashion companies actively explore new nearshoring opportunities from the Western Hemisphere,” Lu points out.

“For example, measured in value, about 17.6% of US apparel imports came from Western Hemisphere countries in the first five months of 2023, up from 15.8% in 2023. That being said, US imports from Mexico and CAFTA-DR members still fell by 7.5% and 16.8% in 2023 from a year ago, given the overall business environment. It will be interesting to see whether CAFTA-DR and Mexico can further enhance their market shares as the US import demand recovers.”

Meanwhile, measured in value, US yarn exports to CAFTA-DR fell significantly by 24.2% YoY in the first five months of 2023, which sharply contrasts with the 5.7% growth observed in US yarn exports to the rest of the world during the same period, he says.

Lu explains it is unclear whether recently increased investments in building CAFTA-DR countries’ local yarn manufacturing capability reduced the demand for US-made yarns. It can be expected that the debate on how best to promote the western hemisphere apparel production and sourcing and develop an integrated regional supply chain that can also promote textiles Made in the USA will continue.

Additionally, trade data indicates apparel sourcing orders continue to move from China to its competitors in Asia as US fashion companies are eager to “de-risk” and diversity their sourcing base, Lu notes.

He concludes: “In the first five months of 2023, US apparel imports from China fell to a new low of 18.3%. However, US apparel imports from the five largest Asian suppliers other than China (namely Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, and Cambodia) reached a new high of 44.3%, compared with 37.1% in 2019 before the pandemic.”

By Just Style