Italian Textile & Apparel Data Released by SMI for 2012

Sistema Moda Italia (SMI or Italian Fashion System) has released the 2012 figures related to the Italian textile and apparel sector.
 
According to the data, the turnover of Italian textile and clothing sector registered €51.09 billion, showing a decline of 3.2 percent over 2011.
 
The value of textile and garment sector output also dropped by 2 percent year-on-year to €35.52 billion during last year.
 
In 2012, Italy exported textiles and apparel worth €26.685 billion, showing a fall of 0.8 percent year-on-year.
 
Italy’s textiles and garment imports decreased by 11.8 percent year-on-year to €17.938 billion during the same period. Thus, Italy’s textiles and clothing balance of trade was €8.747 billion, which is a significant rise of 33.2 percent over 2011.
 
Meanwhile, the number of companies operating in Italian textile and garment sector has declined by 3.5 percent to 50,039 at the end of 2012.
 
However, the number of employees working in the textile and clothing sector decreased by 5.3 percent to about 423,300, as per SMI data.
 
Italian textiles are known for their excellent quality the world over. The Italian textile and apparel industry is diversified in the sense that it has both companies operating in the upstream supply chain, such as spinning, weaving and finishers, and companies operating in downstream innerwear, apparel and household linen.
 
Even in terms of processes, the Italian textile chain is complete in terms of processed fibers, as cotton processing enterprises coexist with companies active in the processing of artificial and synthetic fibres.