The EU 25's clothing, textiles and manmade fibre industries had a combined turnover of €201.9 billion in 2006, according to Euratex - the European Apparel and Textile Organisation. Of this figure, textiles accounted for around €114 billion, clothing for €77.8 billion and manmade fibres for a further €10.1 billion.

The EU 25's exports were worth €38.7 billion while imports were worth €81.1 billion. Leading importers of textiles to the EU 25 were China (21.9%), Turkey (15.1%) and India (10.4%), while the leading export destinations for EU textiles were the US (12.3%), Romania (10%) and Turkey (7.3%).

China was also the leading exporter of clothing from Europe (31.4%) followed by Turkey (14.9%) and Romania (6.7%). Leading EU-produced clothing destinations were Switzerland (17.1%), the USA (13.7%) and Russia (11.3%). Investment by the industries amounted to €5 billion last year and the number of people employed was over 2.1 million.