Textile Pipeline - USA

The USA held onto its apparel industry longer than many of the advanced Western European economies. Into the early 1990s the US apparel industry held onto a large share of the domestic market. The American Apparel and Footwear Association reports that in 1992 domestically produced apparel accounted for 54% of US consumption. Ten years later it had fallen to 20%, and in 2014 was 2.7%. Free Trade Agreements with Mexico and particularly with Central America (CAFTA) have extended the life of the US textile supply chain into apparel by including a Yarn forward requirement. Despite the dramatic fall off in the domestic apparel industry, there are other segments of the fibre industry that remain viable, such as carpet, nonwovens and rPET staple into fibrefill. The report looks at the drivers in the various segments of the industry.