Euratex is pressing Brussels and national governments to move from policy discussion to rapid intervention after Europe’s textile and apparel industry recorded a third consecutive year of negative performance. In its latest Economic Update, the trade body said 2025 delivered declines across the main measures of sector health output, revenue and employment extending a downturn that has been building since 2024.
According to Euratex, the current EU textile sector decline has its roots in last year’s weakening market conditions, when turnover fell as demand softened, low-priced imports intensified competitive pressure and global shipment volumes contracted. Sales slipped again in 2025, the association said, although it noted a modest stabilisation at the end of the year, with fourth-quarter turnover levelling off and exports showing some improvement.
Production trends remain a core concern. Euratex reported that EU textile and clothing output has been moving lower since mid-2022, with weak demand cited as the dominant constraint on activity. Labour availability is also limiting performance, the organisation said, pointing to shortages that continue to restrict production capacity and complicate planning.
Jobs and skills are under strain as well. Euratex said conditions worsened in the fourth quarter of 2025 as businesses restructured while operating costs stayed elevated and hiring remained difficult. The group reported that headcount across the textile and apparel value chain declined versus both the previous quarter and the previous year.
Euratex argues the slowdown is increasingly structural rather than cyclical, warning that European producers are losing competitiveness on multiple fronts. It singled out high energy prices, subdued consumer spending, growing import pressure from Asian markets and intensifying competition from online platforms. It also highlighted the cumulative impact of expanding regulatory obligations on EU manufacturers, which it says increases cost and complexity compared with non-EU rivals.
While acknowledging that policymakers are preparing initiatives such as the Industrial Accelerator Act, reforms to the Union Customs Code and proposals linked to the Energy Union, Euratex said the timelines for those measures are out of step with the speed of the industry’s deterioration. The association called for quicker action to reduce energy costs, simplify requirements, tighten market surveillance and ensure a fairer competitive environment—steps it believes are necessary to slow the EU textile sector decline and protect industrial capacity.
Euratex also emphasised that textiles and apparel are strategic beyond fashion retail. The sector supplies materials and products for healthcare, defence, transport, construction and agriculture, and plays a role in circularity through repair, reuse and recycling. Continued contraction, it warned, could ripple through those dependent value chains.
Euratex president Mario Jorge Machado urged decision-makers to treat the issue as urgent industrial policy. “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.”
