In its latest Economic Update, the industry body reported declines across all key indicators, including production, turnover, and employment throughout 2025.
The update traced the current difficulties back to 2024, when turnover dropped amid weak demand, stronger competition from low-cost imports and lower global shipment volumes.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Euratex reported that year-on-year sales fell again in 2025, although the final quarter brought limited improvement, with turnover stabilising and exports increasing.
Alongside weaker sales, the data showed that EU textile and clothing production has been falling since mid-2022. Euratex identified a lack of demand as the main factor holding back output and wider business activity, with labour shortages also weighing on production and prospects.
Employment also remained under strain, with the organisation saying that the sector faced pressure in the fourth quarter of 2025 as companies restructured, costs stayed high, and skill shortages persisted.
It noted that the workforce declined across the textile and apparel value chain compared with both the previous quarter and the previous year.
Against that backdrop, Euratex said the sector continues to lose competitiveness across Europe. It attributed the trend to high energy costs, subdued consumer demand, increasing import pressure from Asian markets, competition from online platforms and the cumulative effect of expanding regulatory requirements on European producers.
In its update, Euratex stated that while EU policy-makers are preparing measures including the Industrial Accelerator Act, proposed reforms to the Union Customs Code and initiatives under the Energy Union, the policy timetable does not match the pace of the downturn. It urged faster steps to reduce energy costs, simplify regulatory requirements, strengthen market surveillance, and ensure fair competition for European manufacturers.
Euratex also pointed to the role of textiles and apparel beyond consumer markets, noting that the sector supplies healthcare, defence, transport, construction, and agriculture, and supports circularity through reuse and recycling. The organisation warned that continued decline could affect those value chains.
Euratex president Mario Jorge Machado added: “If Europe is serious about maintaining its manufacturing base, it must act faster and more decisively. Every week, textile companies are closing. Production moves elsewhere, dependency increases, and the carbon footprint grows. That is the opposite of what Europe wants to achieve.”
