Apparel Knitting Mills in the US Industry Market Research Report from IBISWorld has Been Updated
Companies in the domestic Apparel Knitting Mills industry do very little actual apparel knitting. Instead, they take on high-value designing and branding activities to earn profit while relying on low-cost imports from Asia and South America for the production of the apparel itself. While the industry's major players have sustained operations successfully, aggregate revenue has declined at an average annual rate of 17.0 percent over the five years to 2012 to total $528.5 million. Revenue has continued to shrink over 2012, falling 5.9 percent from 2011. The economic recession delivered an additional blow to America's apparel knitting mills. "Consumers, low on disposable income and discouraged from making discretionary purchases like clothing, limited their demand for knit apparel," says IBISWorld industry analyst Nikoleta Panteva. "This drop in demand trickled back to the manufacturing sector, pushing revenue down even further."