Publish Date: August 2026
Updated Tariff & Recession Risk Analysis and Forecasts
The 2026 Specialty Knitted Apparel Production Market Report covers the $250 million industry which represents niche domestic manufacturing of specialized knit garments beyond mainstream classification, with competitive positioning focused on technical expertise, specialized capabilities, and premium market segments. Market structure features manufacturers with specialized technical knowledge serving particular apparel niches requiring distinctive characteristics or production flexibility. Consumer preferences increasingly emphasize performance attributes, sustainable materials, distinctive design features, and domestic production credentials that command significant price premiums. Manufacturers face complex challenges balancing technical expertise requirements, material engineering complexity, limited production scale, and tariff implications affecting both material imports and competitive positioning against imports. Successful companies differentiate through specialized production techniques creating distinctive garment characteristics, technical expertise optimizing performance, flexible manufacturing systems enabling customization, and transparent supply chain practices highlighting ethical production values in a niche segment where technical capabilities, design expertise, and increasingly sustainability credentials determine competitive positioning.
Specialty Knitted Apparel Production Industry Description
Specialty Knitted Apparel Production manufactures knitted garments beyond basic underwear and hosiery, including sweaters, dresses, and performance activewear. Companies create fashion-oriented and technical knitted garments through specialized manufacturing processes that leverage the comfort and flexibility of knit structures. Manufacturing processes include specialized knitting techniques like fully-fashioned and integral knitting, cutting and sewing of knitted fabrics, and finishing operations tailored to stretch materials. These businesses serve fashion retail and performance apparel markets. The industry continuously improves design capabilities, production efficiency, and increasingly focuses on seamless construction, body-mapping technology with variable knit structures, and technical performance features that enhance comfort, mobility, and functionality in both fashion and performance applications.
NAICS Code: 31519
Number of Companies: 92
Number of Plants / Facilities: 92
Total Employees: 2,136
Market Size: $0.2 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 specialty knitted apparel production sector.
Estimated Tariff Cost: $20 million
Relative Tariff Impact: SEVERE
Specialty Knitted Apparel Production Report Format
The 2026 U.S. Specialty Knitted Apparel Production 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.
The report has over 100 industry statistical data sets with historicals (2017-2025), trend analysis, and forecasts for 2026 and the next 5 years. The report includes sales & expense trends, in-depth OPEX analysis on 26 categories, financial ratio benchmarks, forecasts on 100+ data sets, plant inventory analysis, detailed breakdown of 31 balance sheet items, segmentation by business size and structure, competitive intensity analysis, material costs analysis, profit margin analysis, state benchmarks, plant utilization, organizational breakdown, inflation statistics, employee pay analysis, revenue per employee trends, 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 appreciate why thousands of professionals, bankers, consultants, accountants, and other executives rely on Kentley Insights for data-rich industry insights.
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 specialty knitted apparel production 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 Specialty Knitted Apparel Production Market Report has the same layout and data sets as the sample report.
Product Lines, Materials, and Jobs Covered in Report
PRODUCT LINES
Shirts, dress and sport (including polo, tank tops, sweat and t-shirts and unisex sweatshirts and t-shirts), knit, men’s and boys’, made in knitting mills
Sweaters, women’s, girls’, and infants’, made in knitting mills
Shirts and blouses (including polo, tank tops, sweat and t-shirts), knit, women’s, girls’, and infants’, made in knitting mills
Apparel products (excluding outerwear, gloves and mittens, underwear, and nightwear), other types (hats, mufflers, scarves, etc.), made in knitting mills
Underwear, nightwear, and robes, men’s and boys’, knit, made in knitting mills
Other apparel knitting mills, nsk, total
Gloves and mittens, made in knitting mills
Contract receipts for knitting only or knitting and finishing knitting mill apparel products, excluding underwear and nightwear
Outerwear (excluding sweaters, shirts and blouses), knit, made in knitting mills
Sweaters, men’s and boys’, made in knitting mills
MATERIAL COST CATEGORIES
Materials, ingredients, containers, and supplies, nsk
Yarns, excluding acrylic
Cost of all other materials and components, parts, containers, and supplies consumed
Acrylic yarns
INDUSTRY JOBS ANALYZED
Textile Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Laborers and Material Movers, Hand
Industrial Machinery Installation, Repair, and Maintenance Workers
Sewing Machine Operators
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
Miscellaneous Textile, Apparel, and Furnishings Workers
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers
Miscellaneous Production Workers
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
General and Operations Managers
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
Office Clerks, General
Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
Designers
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
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