Apparel industry hopes for revival in orders post tariff cut

The labour-intensive textile and apparel industry, whose exports to the U.S. constitute 28% of its international shipments, hopes for revival of orders and investments following reduction of tariffs to 18%.

Textile and garment exports dropped 30% and 31.4% in October and November 2025 respectively compared with the corresponding period in 2024 due to the tariff.

According to K.M. Subramanian, president of Tiruppur Exporters Association, almost 34% of knitted garment exports from Tiruppur is to the U.S. The exporters expect orders to pick up now and will start investing to build capacities.

Chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council, A. Sakthivel, said the 18% tariff is expected to give a strong boost to apparel exports and attract fresh investments across the value chain.

Vijay Agarwal, chairman of the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council, said the high volume home textiles/furnishings sector was one of the worst hit. The tariff cut will benefit the home textiles and apparel sector and orders will start picking up for the U.S. now, he added.