This report showcases the state of the textile sector and its development, exploring the challenges and opportunities in the global supply chain, including benefits to local economies, administrative burdens, and the transformative potential of sustainability innovation.
The European textile sector is a large sector in the EU, producing almost 1 per cent of EU GDP when including the full value chain.
The European Commission has identified textiles as a priority sector in need of actions to ensure circularity and decarbonisation and has therefore introduced initiatives and regulation that affect the sector’s operations.
EuroCommerce believes that fostering a nuanced understanding of the global textile value chain is essential for productive public discourse and effective
policy design.
On this backdrop, EuroCommerce asked Copenhagen Economics to provide an external perspective on the functioning of the European textile sector’s global value chains and to answer the question How does the European textile sector’s global value chain operate, and why?
In this report, we focus on textile products spanning apparel, footwear, and home textiles.
The European textile sector’s value chain is complex, with industrial operations taking place across several industries and, as many other sectors, it has become increasingly international. However, most of the sector’s added value is created within Europe.
The sector must overcome several obstacles, such as the rapid shift in legislation, which brings uncertainty to the involved stakeholders. However, European companies remain globally competitive in several highly productive parts of the value chain and the sector has important opportunities in innovative parts of the value chain.