Which country is a top clothes manufacturer? Biggest clothing manufacturers in the world.

The fashion sector is performing a major role in every country’s economic  development and expected to grow exponentially further in the 2020’s.

Newer and younger consumers are demanding almost instant online  shopping and never seen before product variety, what is both a challenge  and a major opportunity for clothing manufacturers. That is why the need  for fast garment product is growing day by day. 

However, as a result of this excessive demand, all players face a  sustainability responsibility and have to ensure the planet is less harmed  as possible. 

With the increased online demand and innovative business models,  countries worldwide are ramping up their productions and making their  local companies more competitive in a global scale. In this article, we will  talk about some of the best garment industries in the world.  

High Quality Sustainable Countries:

When a brand is looking for a high-quality product with a low moq, a local  factory is always advisable! So, we selected below the best countries for  high quality production! 

Portugal

Portugal’s central location and infrastructure means that exports can be  sent to Europe and the Americas very easily. Production times are much faster and shipping costs much lower than Asian countries.  The government offers several incentives and funds to the export clothing  industry in Portugal meaning that factories are more competitive and can  provide costumers better products. Both Major Retailers and Startup  Brands take advantage of this and manufacture their clothes in Portugal.  The country is specially popular and competitive with European buyers  when it comes to high quality products with the lowest MQS worldwide for  fully custom products. It’s for sure one of the strongest and most  sustainable textile industries worldwide.  

Italy

The Italian textile industry is the leading luxury apparel & textile  manufacturing hub in the world. Italy covers the entire range of textiles,  with cotton, linen, silk, and wool. The Italian textile industry is mostly  export focused. It has a more solid industrial structure with innovative  technologies and branded textiles and accessories. Italy is very strong  when it comes to branded products such as the best accessory and zipper  brands or highly innovative textile materials, ranging from coated canvas  to highly advanced fabris. The highly industrialised north of the country  plays a vital role as a textile hub, being one of the most advance world wide on this type of items. 

High-Volume Countries: 

When a brand gets to a certain point, the manufacturing capacity they  require might only be achievable on the high volume countries however  lower costs and higher outputs, might come at the expense of  sustainability and ethical manufacturing.  

Bangladesh

In recent decades, Bangladesh has risen as a powerhouse for low cost  apparel manufacturing. The country’s strengths are cheap labor cost and  vast workforce. Where a monthly salary is roughly 6 times less than in China.

Low Prices and High Production capacity have attracted many major  global retail brands to Bangladesh. The country is a leading textile  exporter in this market segment. Also, the vertical capacities of  Bangladesh, which helps global brands to enjoy scale gains as vertical  suppliers that control the entire process are common in the country. The  textile industry of Bangladesh is growing rapidly due to china’s rising costs  and huge workforce available.

Turkey

Despite China’s domination, Turkey has been a huge part of the Europe  clothing import market for a long time. They typically offer higher-quality  fabrics and slightly lower prices to per example Portugal with a higher  production capacity.  

Their supply chain infrastructure is vast and can offer embroidered  products, custom orders, and lower quantity orders in relatively fast lead  times. Their workforce is also highly skilled, manufacturing everything  from quality cotton to designer denim. However, don’t get caught with  turkey’s aggressive marketing, as for small moqs, their prices get get very  high, specially with export savvy companies preying on western buyers.  Communication issues with suppliers and instability are also risk factors  when considering a production partnership in the country.  

China

China is still the biggest manufacturer of textiles and clothing. It has the  largest workforce with over 200 million workers. So price and quality are  two points that China can offer that other countries are not yet able to  rival, whether is one or the other but not both. China also has the  infrastructure and knowledge to keep being significant player. But be  aware that China’s wages are increasing in the manufacturing industry and  predictions say that prices might be close to those of turkey per example. 

How we can help?

ASBX Is a next-generation Portugal Clothing manufacturer for high quality  streetwear with LOW MOQs. We are currently Portugals #1 manufacturer  for supplying medium / high quality startups. We work with over 1500  brands and SME’s in 55 countries worldwide. If you would like to start a  fashion brand or manufacturer a suitable streetwear product , we would  be delighted to hear from you!

Article by ASBX