Global Apparel Export Statistics 2026: Top Clothing Exporting Countries (WTO Data)

Last updated: 15 October 2026. Compiled by Vikash, co-founder of Vee Threads, a hand-embroidery studio run by women artisans in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. Every figure links to its official source. Free to cite with a link back to this page.

Quick answer: China is the world's largest clothing exporter, shipping $165.24 billion of apparel in 2024, followed by Bangladesh ($38.48 billion) and Vietnam ($33.94 billion), according to WTO data. Global apparel exports reached $557.5 billion that year. In 2025, China's share slipped to 27.35% and Vietnam closed to within $1.31 billion of Bangladesh. India ranks fifth at about $16.4 billion.

Key highlights

• World apparel exports grew 7.08% to $557.5 billion in 2024 (WTO data via Fibre2Fashion).
• China held 29.64% of world apparel exports in 2024, down from 31.64% in 2023 (same source), and 27.35% in 2025, down from 31.71% in 2021 (WTO data via The Business Standard).
• Bangladesh exported $38.82 billion in 2025, up only 0.89%, while Vietnam grew 10.53% to $37.51 billion (same source).
• China, Türkiye and the United States were the only major exporters to post declines in 2025.
• China's share of world textile exports (yarn, fabric) rose to 43.3% in 2024 even as its garment share fell, according to Dr Sheng Lu's analysis of WTO data.
• India's apparel exports were about $16.3 billion in calendar 2025, under 4% of world trade (ICRA).

China is still huge, but sliding

Four points of world share in four years sounds small. On a market of about $560 billion, that's over $20 billion a year in orders placed somewhere else (our estimate). Most of it went to Vietnam and Bangladesh, not India.

But read the textile number again. China's share of fabric and yarn exports went up, to 43.3%. A lot of the clothing labelled "Made in Vietnam" or "Made in Bangladesh" is sewn from Chinese fabric. China didn't leave the supply chain. It moved upstream.

The Bangladesh vs Vietnam race

If Vietnam repeats its 2025 growth and Bangladesh stays flat, Vietnam passes Bangladesh in 2026. That's a projection, not a forecast. But it's the most watched number in sourcing right now.

Where India stands

India sells more textiles than apparel. Its garment share has hovered near 3% for a decade. Overall, India was the 6th largest exporter of textiles and apparel combined in 2024, with 4.1% of world trade (PIB).

US tariffs complicated 2025. Duties on many Indian goods hit 50% from August 2025 before the US removed the extra 25% in February 2026 and announced an 18% reciprocal rate covering textiles and apparel (KPMG). Rates have shifted again since, so check the current US tariff schedule for your HS code.

Where India does win is the hand-finished end: embroidery, block print, natural fibres. Vietnam and Bangladesh compete on volume. A hand-stitched dinosaur on a cotton tee isn't competing on volume.

Methodology and sources

All values are WTO merchandise trade statistics for apparel (clothing), as reported by trade publications that published the WTO tables. Shares and gaps marked as ours are Vee Threads arithmetic. Different databases define "apparel" slightly differently, so figures from other sources may not match exactly.

• Fibre2Fashion: China top apparel exporter in 2024 (WTO data)
• The Business Standard: Bangladesh posts 0.89% apparel export growth in 2025 (WTO data)
• Sheng Lu, University of Delaware: textile and apparel trade by value added (October 2025)
• WTO: Global value chain profile, textiles and clothing (2024)
• ICRA: India apparel exports outlook
• PIB: Year End Review 2025, Ministry of Textiles
• KPMG: US removes additional tariffs on India (February 2026)

Vee Threads (2026). Global Apparel Export Statistics 2026. https://veethreads.com/blogs/news/global-apparel-export-statistics

<a href="https://veethreads.com/blogs/news/global-apparel-export-statistics">Global apparel export statistics (Vee Threads)</a>

More in our fashion data series: Indian textile and apparel industry statistics, handloom and handicraft artisan statistics, cotton production statistics and textile waste statistics.

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