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Textile and apparel industry data for 2023
- Textile and apparel supply chain revenue: 203.9 billion
(2023) - Exports (excluding cotton fiber): USD 909 million (2024)
- Imports (excluding cotton fiber): USD 6.6 billion (2024)
- Trade balance (excluding cotton fiber): -USD 5.7 billion (2024)
- Sector investments: 4.6 billion (2023)
- Average apparel production: 8.02 billion garments
(2023) - Average textile production: 2 million tons (2023)
- Workforce: 1.3 million direct employees (8 million including indirect jobs and income effects); 75% are women (2023)
- Number of formal companies: 25,300 nationwide (2023)
- 2nd largest employer in the manufacturing industry, trailing only food and beverages (combined)
- Among the world’s top five denim producers and consumers
- Among the world’s top four knitwear producers
- Accounts for 9.7% of jobs and 4.4% of revenue in the manufacturing industry (2023)
- São Paulo Fashion Week is among the world’s top five fashion weeks
- Home to over 100 fashion schools and colleges
- Brazil possesses the largest complete textile supply chain of the West: we are the only ones who still cover the entire chain—from fiber production (such as cotton farming) to fashion shows, including spinning, weaving, processing, garment manufacturing, and a strong retail sector
- Brazil is a global benchmark in beachwear, jeanswear, and homewear design, and has also seen growth in the fitness and lingerie segments
*Data updated in February 2025