In 2024, despite global economic challenges, Türkiye’s denim fabric exports rose by 12.2%, reaching a total of $273 million. Egypt was the largest importer, accounting for $63 million, or 23.1% of the total exports. Tunisia followed with $57 million (21%), and Morocco ranked third with $31 million (11%). Denim remains a key product for the Turkish textile industry, with Türkiye positioning itself as the world’s third-largest producer of denim clothing, following China and India. The country is known for its premium denim products, backed by cutting-edge technology, a strong logistics network, and high-quality, flexible, and efficient production capacity, making it a preferred supplier for global denim brands.
Leading exported denim product: Denim Pants and Shorts for Women and Girls
The Istanbul Apparel Exporters’ Association (IHKIB) has released its ‘January-June 2024 Denim Export Report’, revealing that Türkiye achieved approximately $10.8 billion in ready-to-wear and garment exports during the first half of 2024. Of this total, 6.8%, or $729 million, came from denim clothing.
A closer look at denim clothing exports shows that denim pants and shorts for women and girls were the top exported products, totaling $409.2 million in the January-June 2024 period. This was a slight decline of 1% compared to the same period the previous year, and it made up 56.1% of total denim clothing exports. The second-largest product category was men’s and boys’ denim pants and shorts, with exports valued at $238.2 million, a 14.4% decline year-over-year. This category accounted for 32.7% of total denim clothing exports.
Turkiye’s largest market for denim exports: Netherlands
Between January and June 2024, Türkiye’s denim clothing exports to its largest market, the Netherlands, totaled $154 million, marking a strong 48.8% increase compared to the same period in 2023. Meanwhile, Germany ranked second, with $109 million in denim exports, a 12.9% decline year-over-year. Spain followed closely in third with $108 million in exports, experiencing a 38.3% drop. Among the top 10 export destinations, Spain saw the largest decrease in exports, while Sweden experienced the most significant growth, with a 114.5% increase in denim exports.
69.4% of total denim exports were made to EU Countries in the January-June Period of 2024
Turkiye’s largest and most important market for denim clothing exports continues to be the European Union. In the January- June period of 2024, 69.4% of Turkiye’s total denim clothing exports were made to EU countries. Exports to the EU decreased by 3% in the January- June period of 2024 compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 525 million dollars. The leading EU countries in Turkiye’s denim exports are the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Denmark and France, respectively. When the top 15 EU countries with the highest denim exports were examined, it was seen that exports decreased to seven countries and increased to eight in the January- June period of 2024. The country with the biggest increase in exports during this period was Croatia, with an increase of 144.4%, while the country with the biggest decrease was Bulgaria, with 48.8%.
Denim clothing export unit price increased by 3.1% since 2019
As of January- June 2024, Turkiye’s export unit price in the ready-to-wear and garment sector was recorded as $15.4/kg, while this figure increased to $22.7/kg in denim clothing. This figure was also recorded as the highest export unit price in denim clothing in the last five years, and the denim clothing export unit price increased by 3.1% in the 5-year period since 2019.
Global denim market to reach $179.7 billion in 2030
According to Vantage Market Research’s research; The global denim jeans market reached a market size of 128.3 billion dollars by the end of 2022. The market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 4.3% between 2023 and 2030, reaching a size of 179.7 billion dollars by the end of 2030.
According to various reports, the European Union has the largest market share in the world denim clothing market with 40%, while the world’s largest denim market on a country basis is the USA. While the global market size for denim jeans in 2022 is estimated to be 3,145 million units, this figure is expected to increase to 3,460 million units by the end of 2026. On a product basis, men’s denim jeans products have the largest share in the market.
More than 50% of the world’s denim clothing production is carried out in Asia, with China, India, Turkiye, Pakistan and Bangladesh being the largest producing countries. Among these countries; China is traditionally known for producing basic denim in large volumes, while Turkiye is positioned in the global market with its premium products, India with its product range between the mid-segment and premium segments, and Bangladesh and Pakistan with their affordable products.
US denim market to rise to 611 million units by 2026
The denim jeans market size in the USA, the world’s largest denim market, was at 560 million units in 2022, and this figure is expected to rise to 611 million units by the end of 2026.
According to the US data based on 10-tariff statistical positions, a total of approximately 1.5 billion dollars worth of denim clothing was imported in the January- June period of 2024, while the country from which the most denim clothing was imported was Mexico. In the January- June period of 2024, $299 million worth of denim clothing products were imported from Mexico, while Mexico’s share in total denim clothing imports was 20.5%. Turkiye ranked eighth among the countries from which the US imports the most denim clothing. According to OTEXA data, in the January-June period of 2024, $34 million worth of imports were made from Turkiye, a 6.8% decrease compared to the previous year, while Turkiye’s share in US denim clothing imports was calculated as 2.4%.
When we look at US denim clothing imports in terms of sub-product groups, we see that the most imported products are denim pants. Men’s denim pants are in first place with a share of 45.1%, while women’s denim pants are in second place with a share of 41.3%, and boys’ and girls’ denim pants follow these two sub-product groups with shares of 4.6% and 3.8%, respectively.
