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Brussels – The latest EURATEX data shows a third consecutive year of decline in production, turnover and employment, raising fresh concerns for Europe’s knitting, hosiery and wider textile manufacturing supply chain.
According to the organisation’s 2026 Economic Update for the textile and clothing sectors, all main indicators remained negative between 2023 and 2025, with mills and garment makers facing weaker order books and ongoing pressure on margins.
While the data covers the textile and apparel industry as a whole, the trends directly affect Europe’s circular knitting, warp knitting and hosiery clusters supplying yarn-dyed fabrics, seamless garments and technical textiles.
EURATEX identifies several structural factors behind the downturn, including persistently high energy costs, subdued consumer demand in key markets, intensified import pressure from Asia, and what it describes as unfair competition from online platforms.
For knitting and hosiery manufacturers running energy-intensive finishing and dyeing processes alongside high-speed circular or warp knitting lines, elevated power prices continue to erode cost competitiveness against non-EU producers.
The association also points to an increasingly complex regulatory framework, which is adding administrative and compliance costs for EU-based producers while many competitors operate under lighter regimes. For machinery builders and brand owners, this environment is influencing investment decisions on new knitting equipment, digitalisation and automation projects, as companies reassess their European footprint.
In response, the EU is preparing a range of policy initiatives, including an Industrial Accelerator Act, reforms to the Union Customs Code and measures under the Energy Union. However, EURATEX stresses that many companies, particularly small and medium-sized mills, cannot wait for long legislative timetables and require more rapid relief on energy and regulatory costs to maintain production capacity.
The federation argues that textiles form a strategic industrial ecosystem for Europe, extending well beyond fashion applications into critical value chains such as healthcare, defence, mobility, construction and agriculture.
Knitted medical textiles, protective hosiery, spacer fabrics and other technical knitted structures are among the products supplying these sectors, often relying on short lead times and close sourcing to European end-users.
EURATEX president Mario Jorge Machado warned that ongoing plant closures risk undermining this broader industrial base, increasing dependency on imports and potentially raising the carbon footprint of textile consumption. “If Europe is serious about maintaining its manufacturing base, it must act faster and more decisively. Every week, textile companies are closing. Production moves elsewhere, dependency increases, and the carbon footprint grows,” he said.
The Brussels-based body, which represents an industry of around 200,000 companies employing 1.2 million workers and generating turnover of more than €166 billion, is calling on the European Commission and Member States to take concrete measures by the end of 2026.
For knitting and hosiery specialists, future competitiveness will hinge on a mix of targeted policy support, continued investment in advanced machinery and automation, and the ability to align with emerging EU rules on circularity and sustainable supply chains.
