By Farooq Awan

Pakistan’s non-knit apparel exports climbed 3.9% to a record $4.3 billion in FY2025-26, driven by strong growth in men’s and women’s cotton trousers despite weaker exports in some other major clothing categories.

According to the Pakistan Textile Council’s Annual Export Performance Report: Pakistan’s Textile & Apparel Exports FY26, available with Wealth Pakistan, exports under Chapter 62 — covering non-knit or woven apparel — increased from around $4.13 billion in FY2024-25 to $4.295 billion in FY2025-26.

The report identifies non-knit apparel as the strongest-performing value-added textile category during the year, helping support Pakistan’s overall textile and apparel exports at a time when the country’s total exports contracted.

A major contributor to the increase was cotton trousers. Exports of men’s and boys’ cotton trousers rose 19% to $785 million, making them one of the largest products in the non-knit apparel export basket.

Growth was even stronger in the women’s segment. Exports of women’s and girls’ cotton trousers surged 54% to $392 million, showing particularly strong international demand for the category.

The report attributes the gains in trousers to product quality, range diversity and vertical integration, indicating that manufacturers able to combine different stages of production and offer a broader product range are benefiting from changing buyer requirements.

The performance was not uniform across all apparel products. Some major non-knit clothing lines declined during the year, meaning the overall 3.9% increase was driven substantially by gains in stronger-performing categories, particularly trousers.

The United States emerged as an important market behind the trouser growth. Pakistan’s overall textile and apparel exports to the US increased to $4.853 billion in FY2025-26 from $4.768 billion a year earlier, with seven of the top 10 products recording growth.

Within the US market, exports of one major category of men’s and boys’ cotton trousers increased 42.2% from $147 million to $209 million, while women’s and girls’ cotton trousers surged 75.8% from $87 million to $153 million.

These gains helped offset a sharp decline in another major clothing line — cotton ensembles for men and boys — whose exports to the US fell 23.8% to $490 million from $643 million.

The European Union, Pakistan’s largest textile market, presented a more mixed picture. Exports of a major category of men’s and boys’ cotton trousers to the EU increased 5% to $411 million, while cotton ensembles declined 15.4% to $783 million.

The strong performance of non-knit apparel also reinforces the broader shift taking place in Pakistan’s textile export structure. Value-added apparel and home textile products accounted for 83.2% of textile exports in FY2025-26, up from 77% in FY2021-22, while the share of raw materials and intermediates declined to 16.8%.

With non-knit apparel reaching a record $4.3 billion and key trouser categories posting double-digit growth, the segment emerged as one of the strongest contributors to Pakistan’s value-added textile export performance during FY2025-26.

Credit: INP-WealthPk