Fabric Mills NAICS 3132

Nov 10, 2025 - Textile Sales Up in Q2

• Textile mills and textile product mills' sales and after-tax profits were on the rise in Q2 2025; fabric mills are included in the textile mills industry, according to data from the Census Bureau. Sales for textile mills and textile product mills were up 9.6% in Q2 2025 compared to a year ago, according to the Census Bureau. After-tax profits for textile mills and textile product mills were up 34.2% in Q2 2025 compared to a year ago. Producer prices for fabric mills rose 1.7% in August 2025 compared to a year ago, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Employment by fabric mills declined 1.4% in July 2025 compared to a year ago.
• The textile mills industry, which includes fabric mills, is one of a dozen manufacturing industries reporting contraction in October’s Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. Textile mills reported a decline in new orders, a decrease in production, lower employment, slower supplier deliveries, lower inventories, lower order backlogs, and higher prices for raw materials in October. Additional manufacturing industries reporting contraction during the period were Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; Furniture & Related Products; Paper Products; Printing & Related Support Activities; Wood Products; Petroleum & Coal Products; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Chemical Products; Machinery; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; and Computer & Electronic Products. Industries reporting growth were Primary Metals; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Transportation Equipment; Plastics & Rubber Products; Fabricated Metal Products; and Nonmetallic Mineral Products. Overall, economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted for the eighth consecutive month in October, with the Manufacturing PMI registering 48.7%.

• The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) supports the end of the de minimis exemption, which went into effect in August 2025. An expansive bill signed into law in July by President Trump included a provision to eliminate the de minimis exemption, which had allowed imports under $800 to enter the US duty and tax free. NCTO CEO Kim Glas said the elimination of the loophole will “help rebalance the playing field for the domestic textile industry, which has seen the closure of 28 plants over the past 23 months.” The regulations establish a civil penalty for violators, with $5,000 for the first violation and $10,000 per subsequent offense. Earlier this year, Trump had suspended the de minimis exemption for imports from China. The number of shipments entering the US using the exemption in the last four years increased from 637 million to over 1 billion per year.
• A newly released report by the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) analyzes the cost components and carbon footprint of key textile manufacturing stages in 15 major production regions, according to Textile Value Chain. The ITMF’s International Production Cost Comparison (IPCC) report focused on 2023 data. For example, producing one meter of cotton woven fabric in a continuous open width process averaged USD 0.94 in 2023 (excluding raw material), with costs ranging from USD 0.70 in Bangladesh to USD 1.54 in Italy. Countries with the highest labor costs were Italy, the US, and Korea, while the lowest labor costs were in Indonesia, Egypt, and Bangladesh. The report showed energy costs were highest in Central America, Italy, and Mexico, while lowest in Pakistan and Egypt. Examining the carbon footprint of producing one meter of finished cotton fabric using continuous open width finishing, India had the highest emissions while Brazil recorded the lowest emissions.