China's U.S. Apparel Shipments Fell 34% in the First Seven Months of 2026, Arklavo Finds

Arklavo has published a free 2026 report on U.S. apparel supply chains. Official OTEXA trade data through July shows U.S. apparel imports down 8.28% year over year, and China's shipments down 34.11% in value, enough to account arithmetically for 5.17 of those 8.28 points on its own. Cambodia and Indonesia grew while Bangladesh, India and Mexico fell, Vietnam now supplies 22.39% of the value, and the sourcing picture changes sharply by garment category.

WILMINGTON, Del., September 16, 2026. Arklavo today released U.S. Apparel Supply Chains: The 2026 Import Concentration Report, an open-access analysis of where American apparel imports originate and how that pattern differs for the specific shirts and trousers a uniform program buys. It is built on the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) Annual Data export of September 14, 2026, and every figure can be regenerated from that file with the calculation scripts published alongside the report at arklavo.com/blogs/custom-apparel-guide/apparel-supply-chains.

U.S. apparel imports in OTEXA's total-apparel category reached $41.835 billion in January through July 2026, compared with $45.610 billion in the same seven months of 2025, a decrease of 8.28%. China's value fell by $2.358 billion, or 34.11%, and its share fell 4.27 percentage points to 10.89%. India's decline contributed a further 1.86 points to the aggregate fall. Vietnam supplied 22.39% of the 2026 value, followed by Bangladesh at 11.14% and China at 10.89%; together the three accounted for 44.41%. The values are nominal import values, not retail sales or garment counts. They come from the Annual Data explorer export of September 14, 2026; other published summaries of the same July release use a slightly different 2025 base and show a decline near 8.6%, a difference the report documents in its version note.

"China lost a third of its U.S. apparel value in seven months, and that one move accounts for most of the national decline," said an Arklavo spokesperson. "The rest of the story is who picked up the volume and who did not, and that is where the report goes next."

Who Absorbed the Shift

The movement was not a simple transfer from one origin to another. Among the leading origins, Cambodia's value rose 10.89% and Indonesia's rose 3.10%, while Bangladesh fell 6.25%, India fell 25.65% and Mexico fell 9.69%. Vietnam, the largest origin, fell 0.68%. The report publishes the full by-country table for both seven-month periods so readers can trace every change.

Vietnam Gained Share While Shipping Less

Vietnam's share rose 1.71 percentage points between the matched periods even though its import value fell. It gained share because the market shrank faster than it did. The top-three share fell from 46.73% to 44.41% and the all-origin concentration index also declined, so the market became less concentrated even as its leader grew. And while 190 origins recorded positive values in the 2026 period, the distribution was as concentrated as roughly 10.73 equally sized suppliers.

"A country can gain share while shipping less, and a market can have 190 origins while behaving like ten," the spokesperson said. "Those are the facts that disappear when a headline just says imports are up or down."

The Picture Changes by Garment

The report's original contribution is a concentration comparison across twelve predefined shirt and trouser categories. The leading origin's share ranged from 13.65% for men's and boys' cotton knit shirts to 39.24% for women's and girls' man-made-fiber trousers and shorts. Men's cotton knit-shirt trade is spread across many origins; women's man-made-fiber trouser trade is concentrated in a few. A national total therefore says little about the exposure of an individual uniform program, which buys specific categories.

"A business buying polos does not import 'apparel.' It imports a specific category from a specific factory," the spokesperson said. "The report shows how different the picture looks one level down, and it publishes the table so anyone can look."

Scope

This is a reproducible secondary analysis of U.S. general-import values by reported origin, covering OTEXA category 1 and twelve specified commodity categories. It does not estimate domestic supply, exports, consumption, factory counts or the effect of any policy.

What the Report Contains

The report includes a worked exposure scenario for one example order and a reconciliation of its figures with established industry publications so readers can compare like with like. Its practical guidance to buyers fits in a sentence: assess exposure at the category, supplier and order level, not from a national average.

Where to Get the Report

The full report is free to read in its entirety at arklavo.com/blogs/custom-apparel-guide/apparel-supply-chains. The concentration table, the by-country data for both January to July periods and the calculation scripts are available for free download from the same page, and a PDF edition is available on request through the page. Charts are available as PNG and SVG files with a suggested citation.

About Arklavo

Arklavo is a United States custom branded apparel company founded in 2023 and headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. The self-funded company supplies custom polos, tees, hoodies, hats, jackets, aprons and workwear to more than 13,000 businesses across corporate, healthcare, hospitality, education, sports, trades and retail, with no minimum order, in the United States and internationally. Arklavo also publishes open-access research on the apparel industry, with every dataset and calculation released alongside each report. Learn more at arklavo.com.

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