The apparel and home décor industries are diverse and dynamic. At any given time, consumer demand and technological innovations are driving the growth of new and established businesses. All the while, there is a continued drive for better productivity and a reduced environmental impact. A number of key trends are ultimately impacting the adoption of digital technologies in the manufacturing processes for garments and home décor products. These include:

To put all of these trends into perspective, we must first examine the textile industry as a whole. The global textile mill business was valued at about $667 billion in 2016 and is expected to increase by 5% over the next five years. According to Marketing Research, the industry was comprised of 83% fabrics and 17% yarn in 2016.

In taking a closer look at this industry, it becomes evident that shiftsare moving the center of balance between the producing countries (see the World Trade Organization data in Figure 1).China and the European Unionare the leaders in textile exports. Although the EU28 region is expected to hold its ground with 1.1% growth in 2016, countries like China and India will decline by almost 3% and 6.5% respectively. Meanwhile, emerging regions like Pakistan and Vietnam are seeing growth in excess of 9%.