China, Vietnam and Bangladesh continue to be the largest apparel exporters to the United States. During January to April 2017 apparels exported from these three countries constituted around 59 per cent of total apparel imports by the US.

China was in the first place with a 37.18 per cent share of total US apparel imports. Vietnam was in second place with a 14.10 per cent share. Bangladesh remained in the third position with a 7.7 per cent of total US apparel imports.

However, China and Bangladesh fell in value terms significantly on a year-on-year basis. China recorded a downfall of 3.45 per cent in values whereas Bangladesh noted a 6.30 per cent drop. On the other hand Vietnam continued its robust performance in value-wise apparel exports to the US as it was up by a massive 8.16 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

There is a change in the attitude of US consumers, who now prefer spending more on electronic gadgets compared to clothes. The US election has also impacted retail sales negatively. Global apparel exports to the US declined 6.44 per cent year-on-year in 2016.

All nine out of ten top apparel exporting nations of the world experienced negative growth in shipment to the US in 2016. Only Vietnam's apparel exports increased 0.30 per cent year-on-year in 2016.