E. Tcholakova
Research expert covering Fashion, Apparel, Footwear and Accessories industries, as well as non-food FMCG in the Nordics.
Apparel market in the U.S. - statistics & facts
From sportswear to business attire, discount to luxury, many different categories and segments make up the apparel market. Many of these categories are worth billions of dollars in their own right. In 2024, the revenue of the global apparel market reached 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars, and the industry is forecast to show positive growth. Revenue was estimated to rise to over two trillion dollars by 2029. Within this vast global market, the United States had the largest apparel market of any country in 2024.
With the rise of sales comes a rise in interest of the impact of buying clothing, as more Americans share concerns about fashion sustainability. Albeit less than 30 percent making an active effort to shop ethically made clothing, the majority would at least like to be informed about the process of how and where their clothes are made.
The U.S. apparel market as a whole
The revenue of the apparel market in the United States was valued at approximately 359 billion U.S. dollars as of 2024. Specialist store-based clothing retailing was valued at over 300 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, while e-commerce brought in almost 135 million U.S. dollars of revenue in the following year. As the internet increasingly influences social and economic activities, the e-commerce market for retail goods is expected to grow steadily. In contrast, employment within the United States' apparel manufacturing industry decreased rapidly over the past several decades as manufacturing sectors generally transitioned to other regions in search of cheaper labor.Fashion retail
Retail sales from women's clothing stores reached approximately 40.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, with the revenue of the women's apparel market in the United States reaching around 191.4 billion U.S. dollars. Over 2023, stores generally saw a slight decrease compared to 2022. Monthly clothing store sales came to approximately 25 billion dollars in October 2024, an increase of roughly two billion dollars from the same month in the previous year.With the rise of sales comes a rise in interest of the impact of buying clothing, as more Americans share concerns about fashion sustainability. Albeit less than 30 percent making an active effort to shop ethically made clothing, the majority would at least like to be informed about the process of how and where their clothes are made.
