Publish Date: October 2026
Updated Tariff & Recession Risk Analysis and Forecasts
The 2026 Clothing Manufacturing Market Report covers the $7.8 billion industry which in the US operates primarily in specialized segments where proximity, flexibility, quality control, or brand narrative create competitive advantages against offshore production. Market structure encompasses contract manufacturers serving designer brands alongside integrated operations producing proprietary lines for specialized channels. Consumer preferences increasingly support domestically-produced garments featuring quality construction, sustainable materials, ethical labor practices, and transparent supply chains that command premium pricing. Manufacturers face significant challenges balancing production efficiency, labor availability, rapid style changes, and tariff considerations affecting both material imports and competitive positioning against garment imports. Industry leaders establish advantages through advanced manufacturing technologies improving efficiency, flexible production systems enabling smaller runs, strategic co-location with design functions enhancing responsiveness, and transparent practices highlighting domestic production values in a sector where both operational agility and increasingly sustainability credentials determine competitive positioning across diverse apparel categories.
Clothing Manufacturing Industry Description
Clothing Manufacturing transforms fabrics into garments through cutting and sewing operations. Companies convert flat textiles into three-dimensional apparel items through pattern-based cutting, component assembly, and finishing processes. Manufacturing processes include fabric spreading, cutting using dies or computerized equipment, sewing through progressive bundle or modular manufacturing systems, pressing, finishing, and packaging operations. These businesses serve retail and wholesale markets. The industry continuously improves production efficiency, quality control, and increasingly focuses on quick-response manufacturing, automation of routine operations, and specialized capabilities that maintain competitiveness through speed, flexibility, and value-added operations that complement global sourcing strategies.
NAICS Code: 3152
Number of Companies: 4,637
Number of Plants / Facilities: 4,599
Total Employees: 65,763
Market Size: $7.8 billion
TARIFF IMPACT (Summer 2025 – Download Report for Updated Analysis)
This report has in-depth analysis on the recent US tariff changes on material costs, quantifying import dependencies, tariff exposure rates, and key source countries for the clothing manufacturing sector.
Estimated Tariff Cost: $520 million
Relative Tariff Impact: SEVERE
Clothing Manufacturing Report Format
The 2026 U.S. Clothing Manufacturing Market Report is 63 pages of deep insights into the trends, dynamics, and forecasts shaping the industry. You can use this market report to develop a comprehensive fact base on the industry for business strategy, planning, forecasting, benchmarking, industry analysis, valuations, identifying organizational inefficiencies, financial analysis, and more.
This report covers more than 100 statistical data sets with historical trend data from 2017 to 2025, and 2026 and 2030 forecasts. The report includes market size & growth, 26 expense categories, dozens of financial metrics, extensive forecasts, plant inventory analysis, 31 balance sheet benchmarks, numerous industry segmentations, industry concentration analysis, production material costs, profitability analysis, state benchmarks, plant utilization, workforce composition, inflation statistics, wage analysis, employee productivity benchmarks, and numerous other data sets.
Below are a few page images from the report and check out the table of contents for a complete overview.
Report Table of Contents
Evaluate the table of contents to understand the extensive statistical data sets in this report and why thousands of executives, consultants, bankers, accountants, and other professionals trust Kentley Insights for their market research needs.
For this report, the core data is sourced from comprehensive business, operational, and economic surveys conducted by government and private institutions and filled out by a statistically significant number of companies in the clothing manufacturing sector. Our analysts develop the forecasts utilizing econometric models based on historical statistical analysis, industry trends and dynamics, macroeconomic analysis & forecasts.
1-2 – Market Report Overview & Contents
3 – Market Overview
– Data Sources & Methodology
– Sector Definition & Examples
– Market Commentary
4 – Report Synopsis – Revenue & Growth
5 – Report Synopsis – Costs & Profitability
SECTION ONE
REVENUE & GROWTH
7 – Market Size Details
– Industry Revenues, Companies, & Facilities
– Analysis 2017-2025
– 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
8 – Growth Benchmarks
– Sales per Company and Plant
– Analysis 2017-2025
– 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
9 – Product Lines Revenue
10 – BCG Matrix – Income vs. Revenue Growth
11 – Total Industry Sales by Month & Year (2021-2025)
12 – Inventory Value by Month & Year (2021-2025)
13 – Months of Inventory (2021-2025)
14 – Sector Revenue by Segments
– Business Concentration, Size, & Structure
15 – Market Size by State
– Market Size and Rankings
16 – Market Size as a % of State GDP
17 – Sales as a % of State Manufacturing
18 – Market Segmentation by Business Size
19 – Market Segmentation by Business Size
– Business Size Segments – 1-4, 5-9, 10-20, 21-50, 51-100, 101-250, & 250+ employees
– Companies, Facilities, Sales, Employees & Payroll
20 – Segmentation by Concentration (Top 50 Companies)
– Concentration Segments – Top 4, 5-8, 9-20, & 21-50 companies
– Companies, Facilities, Sales, Employees & Payroll
21 – Market Share of Top 50 Companies
22 – Subsector Market Share of Top 50 Companies
23 – Segmentation by Business Structure
– Business Structure Segments – C-Corporations, S-Corporations, Partnerships, & Sole Proprietorships
– Companies, Facilities, Sales, Employees & Payroll
24 – Revenue per Company by State
25 – Revenue per Company by Segments
26 – Revenue per Facility by State
27 – Revenue per Facility by Segment
28 – Subsector Market Size & Growth
29 – Subsector Sales per Company & Plant
30 – 5-Year Consolidation Analysis
31 – Employment Consolidation Analysis
32 – Subsector Consolidation Analysis
– Number of Companies & Facilities
33 – Subsector Consolidation Analysis
– Facilities & Employees per Company
COST, CAPITAL & FINANCIALS
35 – Profitability & Financial Ratio Analysis
Page 36 – Balance Sheet Metrics
– Assets and Liabilities indexed to industry revenue at 100
– 16 Current & Non-Current Assets Categories
– 15 Short-term, Long-term Liabilities, & Net Worth
37 – OPEX
– Industry OPEX Analysis
– 2017-2025 Trends, 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
38 – OPEX by Company & Plant
– OPEX per Company & Plant
– 2017-2025 Trends, 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
Page 39 – OPEX Detail
– 6 Employee Expense Categories
– 8 Cost of Material Categories
– 6 Buildings and Equipment Categories
– 8 Other Operating Expense Categories
-Inventory Breakdown: finished goods, work-in-progress, materials and supplies
40 – Production Material Costs & Tariff Analysis
– Top Production Material Costs Breakdown
– Industry & Material Tariff Analysis – % of costs, import %, tariff costs, source countries
41 – Producer Pricing Index
– 2017-2025 Trends, 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
– Monthly PPI Figures for the Past 4 Years
42 – Plant Utilization & Hours
– Plant Utilization Rate
– Plant Operational Hours per Week
– 2022-2025 Historical Figures by Quarter
43 – Reasons for Non-Full Production
– 7 Categories Quarterly Survey Results for Past 2 Years
44 – Productivity & Employment
– Revenue per Employee
– Total Number of Employees
– Employees per Company
– 2017-2025 Trends, 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
45 – Employee Productivity by Segments
46 – Employee Productivity by State
47 –Subsector Sales & Payroll per Employee
48 – Payroll
– Payroll per Employee, Company, & Plant
– 2017-2025 Trends, 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
49 – Payroll per Company by Segments
50 – Payroll per Plant by Segments
51 – Payroll per Employee by Segments
52 – Payroll per Employee by State
53 – Employee Composition
– % of Employees for 27 Job Categories
54 – Job Categorization Pay Ranges
– Pay Bands – Bottom 10% & 25%, Mean, Top 25% & 10%
55 – Top 20 Jobs Breakdown
56 – Top 20 Jobs Pay
– Pay Bands
57 – Employees per Company by Segments
58 – Employees per Plant by Segments
59 – Facilities per Company by Segments
60 – Total Employment by State
61 – Population to Every Employee by State
62 – Employees per Facility by State
63 – Overview of Kentley Insights
Download a Sample Report
Below is a free sample report download. The 2026 Clothing Manufacturing Market Report has the same layout and data sets as the sample report.
Product Lines, Materials, and Jobs Covered in Report
PRODUCT LINES
Women’s, girls’, and infants’ cut and sew apparel manufacturing
Cut and sew apparel contractors
Men’s and boys’ cut and sew apparel manufacturing
MATERIAL COST CATEGORIES
Woven textile fabrics, including broadwoven and narrow fabrics
Materials, ingredients, containers, and supplies, nsk
Nonwoven textile fabrics, including knits, felts, etc.
Cost of all other materials and components, parts, containers, and supplies consumed
Other misc. textile products, including paddings and upholstery filling, batting, and wadding; and trimmings and findings
Fasteners, buttons, needles, zippers, and pins
Yarns, excluding acrylic
Leather and tanned and finished hides, including furs
Acrylic yarns
INDUSTRY JOBS ANALYZED
Sewing Machine Operators
Laborers and Material Movers, Hand
Designers
Tailors, Dressmakers, and Sewers
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers
Miscellaneous Textile, Apparel, and Furnishings Workers
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks
General and Operations Managers
Textile Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Customer Service Representatives
Miscellaneous Production Workers
Office Clerks, General
Cutting Workers
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials
Retail Salespersons
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
About Kentley Insights
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