The old sourcing map is breaking
For years, Europe’s apparel sourcing story was read as a manufacturing-country race. China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Turkey, India and Cambodia competed on scale, cost and category strength. That reading is now too narrow.
CBI’s latest market update showed that the EU imported €***.* billion (~$***.** billion), of apparel in ****. But developing-country suppliers accounted for **.* per cent of EU clothing import value, down from **.* per cent in ****. Their EU apparel exports stood at €**.* billion (~$**.** billion), below the €**.* billion (~$***.** billion), peak of ****. Crucially, CBI noted that a large share of intra-EU apparel trade consists of re-exports of garments originally produced elsewhere.
That is the Prime-worthy point. Europe is not simply reshoring apparel. It is rerouting control.
