According to the recent Euratex data, the textile & clothing industry, which is among the largest industrial segment in the European Union (EU), accounts for some 6 per cent of employment in the manufacturing sector and a 3.2 per cent of total merchandises’ exports. 

Data suggests that the sector spans a broad range of fields, from traditional segments right through to the newer segments of technical textiles which are setting the pace of innovation. It covers a great number of activities from the transformation of raw materials into fibres into yarns and fabrics that in turn enter into the production of a wide variety of products such as non-woven, trims, felt, cordage, carpets, home textiles and garments. Textiles’ applications are concentrated areas of apparel, home furnishing and industry.

In 2012, the EU textile and clothing industry reached a turnover of €165.3 billion, while the Community Extra-EU exports reached €42.1 billion or 26 per cent of the global sales. Euratex (The European Apparel and Textile Organisation) is a European organisation based in Brussels, Belgium. It represents the European textile and clothing industry, and its main objective is to create an environment within the European Union to the manufacture textile and clothing products.

Euratex.eu