Trade: Imports, Exports, and the Gap

UK clothing imports totalled £14.61 billion in 2024, down 7.06% from £15.72 billion in 2023 (Source: ONS via Fibre2Fashion). UK clothing exports were £3.77 billion in 2023, down from £3.93 billion in 2022 and a post-pandemic peak of £4.26 billion in 2021.

The UK imports roughly four to five times more clothing by value than it exports. That gap has narrowed from the 2022 restocking peak, but it isn’t closing structurally — it reflects decades of offshore migration.

Where the Tailwinds Actually Are

Consumer demand for provenance is measurable and rising. Made in Britain’s 2024 Buying British Survey found 56% of UK consumers now recognise the Made in Britain trademark, up from 50% the year before.

There’s a real price premium for British-made goods internationally. Barclays’ Brand Britain research found around a third of consumers globally have knowingly paid a premium for British-made products, rising to 60%+ in China, India, and the UAE — an opportunity Barclays estimated at roughly £3.5 billion in additional annual export revenue.

The nearshoring case is real, but it’s driven by tariffs now, not shipping routes. McKinsey and Business of Fashion’s State of Fashion 2026 identifies trade and tariff turbulence — cited by 76% of fashion executives as the defining issue of the year — as the dominant force reshaping sourcing decisions, ahead of the supply-chain disruption narratives of earlier years.

Common Misreadings of This Data

Treating “fashion industry” and “clothing manufacturing” as the same market. It happens because both figures get quoted in the same press releases. The fix: always check whether a stat covers the full value chain or SIC C14.000 specifically before comparing it to anything else.

Reading the sector’s aggregate contraction as universal. A -2.5% CAGR is a blended average. The fix: separate commodity-volume manufacturers (contracting hard) from premium, certified, or short-run manufacturers (growing selectively) before drawing conclusions about any one factory.

Assuming falling energy prices mean the pressure is over. Prices have eased from the 2023 peak but remain 75% above 2021. The fix: model costs against the 2021 baseline, not the 2023 peak, when assessing manufacturer viability.

Citing the Barclays or IBISWorld findings as government statistics. Both are private analyst research, not official data. The fix: label sources correctly in your own reporting — it matters for credibility and for accuracy.

What This Means for Sourcing Decisions

The commodity end of UK manufacturing will keep contracting. The premium end — ethical certification, Made in Britain credentials, capacity for small-to-medium runs — has real, structural demand behind it. We see this directly in the brands approaching us: the ones asking about our manufacturing capacity and processes are increasingly the ones prioritising transparency and shorter lead times over the lowest unit cost.

That’s not a sentimental preference. It’s a rational response to tariff volatility and consumer demand data that’s been building for several years running.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Big Is the UK Clothing Manufacturing Sector?

UK domestic clothing manufacturing (SIC C14.000) has an estimated revenue base of approximately £2.6 billion in 2026, according to IBISWorld’s January 2026 analysis. This is distinct from the wider UK fashion and textile industry, which contributes £62 billion to GDP across all activities including retail and wholesale.

Is UK Clothing Manufacturing Growing or Declining?

In aggregate, UK clothing manufacturing revenue has contracted at roughly 2.5% a year since 2021, driven by wage and energy cost inflation and import competition. Within that, a premium segment serving brands with ethical credentials and short lead-time requirements is growing selectively — the sector is bifurcating, not declining uniformly.

What Is Driving Up UK Manufacturing Costs?

The National Living Wage has risen 42.6% since April 2021, reaching £12.71/hour in April 2026, and industrial electricity prices remain 75% above their 2021 baseline despite easing from the 2023 peak. These two pressures together are the dominant driver of UK manufacturing’s revenue contraction.

What Is the UK Clothing Trade Gap?

The UK imported £14.61 billion in clothing in 2024 against exports of roughly £3.3 billion, a trade gap of around £11.3 billion. This reflects decades of offshore production migration and has narrowed only slightly from the 2022 peak, when imports reached £21.20 billion.

Are Consumers Willing to Pay More for British-Made Clothing?

Yes — Barclays’ Brand Britain research found around a third of consumers globally have knowingly paid a premium for British-made goods, rising above 60% in China, India, and the UAE, with an estimated £3.5 billion annual export revenue opportunity attached to it.

Reading This Data Correctly Going Forward

The headline number always needs a second question attached: does this figure describe the fashion industry, or UK clothing manufacturing specifically? Getting that distinction right is the difference between an accurate sourcing decision and an expensive one — which is exactly what the Complete Guide to Clothing Manufacturers in UK walks through in full.

If you want to talk through where your product actually sits in this landscape, find out more about how we work before you commit to a sourcing strategy.