The garment and textile industry in Thailand is undergoing a significant structural shift as of the first quarter of 2026. According to data from the sourcing intelligence tool TexPro, the nation’s total textile imports fell by 7.1 percent year-on-year, dropping to $562.56 million from $605.47 million in the same period of 2025. While the overall import volume has dipped, the internal composition of these imports reveals a growing reliance on processed textile inputs rather than raw materials.
The garment sector in Bangladesh is facing a tumultuous period as a wave of factory closures continues to sweep across the country. Most recently, Unique Designers and Unique Washing & Dyeing, located in the Board Bazar neighborhood of Gazipur, announced their permanent closure. This decision has left at least 1,800 workers unemployed. While the owners have committed to settling all outstanding wages and legal benefits by July 27, these closures are reflective of a much larger, ongoing trend.
Bangladesh is setting its sights on a significant new milestone in the global fashion industry. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has revealed an optimistic projection, suggesting that the nation has the genuine potential to reach 100 billion U.S. dollars in apparel exports by the end of 2030. This ambitious figure is viewed not merely as a formal target on paper, but as a realistic possibility, driven by the steadily increasing global demand for apparel and the normalization of supply chains following recent disruptions.
The textile and apparel sector in Vietnam is currently facing a new set of challenges that extend far beyond traditional metrics of price, speed, and production capacity. The European Union’s Digital Product Passport (DPP) is fundamentally transforming product data into a mandatory requirement for market access. This pressure is immediate for Vietnam, given that the country’s textile and apparel export basket was valued at US$ 53.33 billion in 2025, with apparel alone accounting for US$ 43.57 billion.
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