Invented in Central Asia, trousers have become an important part of daily wear for both men and women. As per Textile Excellence, currently India is the 13th largest trouser exporter in the world after China, Bangladesh and Vietnam. In 2019, India exported $1,872.90 million worth of trousers to the world. Most of it to the US, the largest export market for Indian made trousers. India mostly exported cotton trousers to the US, which formed 52 per cent of its total trouser exports during the year.

Cotton woven trousers dominate export basket

In cotton, India mostly exported woven cotton trousers for men, which grew 13.40 per cent to $ 503.03 million during. On the other hand, exports of knitted cotton trousers for men grew 15.23 per cent to $141.88 million in 2019 over the previous year. Export of women’s woven cotton trousers jumped 13.81 per cent to $228.09 million in 2019 over previous year, while exports of knit cotton trousers declined 8.01 per cent to $99.85 million.

Among other materials woven men’s trousers grew 17.47 per cent to $ 284.59 million while exports of knitted men’s trousers grew 15.56 per cent to $ 97.43 million. In women’s category, export of woven trousers made of other textile materials grew 12.16 per cent to $117.91 million in 2019 while knitted trousers grew 14.78 per cent to $75.95 million.

Trousers in synthetic fibers were the third most exported item in 2019 growing 8.89 per cent. In this segment, exports of woven trousers for women grew by 4.60 per cent to $137.64 million, while exports of knitted trousers grew 28.20 per cent to $23.05 million. For men, exports of synthetic fiber trousers grew 11.92 per cent to $99.81 million while that of knitted fiber trousers grew 7.72 per cent to $48.40 million in 2019.

Woolen trouser see miniscule growth

Exports of woolen trousers formed a miniscule portion of total trouser exports from in 2019. There exports declined 2.43 per cent to $15.27 million. In this segment, export of women’s woven trousers grew 44.57 per cent to $9.99 million while that of knitted trousers grew 800 per cent to $ 0.18 million. Exports of men’s woolen knitted trousers totaled $1.08 million in 2019 while knitted trousers totaled $4.02 million. Men’s trouser exports formed 63 per cent of the total trouser exports by India, while women’s trouser formed 37 per cent. Men’s trousers exports grew 13.91 per cent during the year while that of women grew 8.78 per cent.

US remains India’s largest export destination

The US was the largest market for Indian trousers during the year, with 25 per cent share of total exports. India’s trousers exports to the US grew 14 per cent during the year to $462.81 million; followed by UAE which grew at 12.23 per cent to $298.97 million. The country’s trouser imports of other textile materials grew by 15.18 per cent to $ 115.23 million.

UK was the third largest importer of trousers from India with import value of $140.38 million in 2019. However, import of woven men’s cotton trousers declined 15.54 per cent to $24.83 million.

India’s trouser exports to the Middle East countries like Saudi Arabia and Oman recorded significant growth in 2019. Saudi Arabia saw a 106.50 per cent growth to $77.2 million while Oman saw 4 per cent growth to $12.15 million.