Under the double influence of global trade dynamics and the economic environment, China’s clothing exports showed a complex and variable trend. In the eight months before 2023, despite many challenges, China’s clothing exports still showed a robust side, overallining stability. According to statistics, China’s total clothing exports were $1071,1 billion between January and August 2023, down 9.4% compared to the same period last year. Especially in August this year, clothing exports were $161,7 billion, down 12.7% compared to the same period last year, but the decline was reduced by 18.7% compared to July. This suggests that although the decline trend continues, the decline is gradually narrowing.

The relevant officials of the China Textile Importer and Exporter Chamber of Commerce and Exporters Clothing Division expressed optimism about this, expecting that China's clothing exports will further shrink in the fourth quarter of this year.In the process, China's clothing export companies are facing a dual task: on the one hand, it is necessary to solidify the share of traditional developed markets, and on the other hand, to strengthen "internal work", that is, improve the response speed of the supply chain and the integration capacity of the value chain, while actively exploring regional markets including developing countries and ASEAN.

Analysing the changes in the structure of export products, the data revealed some interesting dynamics. The export decline of Tissue clothing was smaller than that of Tissue clothing, and its average export price was also higher than that of Tissue clothing. During the period 1-8 of 2023, Tissue clothing exports amounted to $462.9 billion, down by 7.2 percent, down by 5 percent, down by 2.3 percent. Tissue clothing exports fell by $47 billion, down by 11.9 percent, down by 6.3 percent, down by 5.9 percent. Exports of Tissue accessories fell by 10.6 percent, down by 2.6 percent.

Especially noteworthy is the fact that chemical fiber clothing has become a major advantage of China's exports, its export scale has far surpassed cotton clothing, and the decline has also been lower than cotton clothing.

In specific clothing categories, the exports of vest clothing suites and towels/cravings/handbags grew comparatively by 0.3% and 10.5% respectively. However, the exports of other major clothing categories such as coats, sports clothing showed a different degree of decline, in which the exports of coats/coldproof clothing, shirts, underwear/sleevers, sports clothes, baby clothes showed a double-digit decline.

In terms of market layout, China’s clothing exports are undergoing structural adjustments.The impact of the international trade environment has led to the continued decline of exports to traditional markets such as the United States, the European Union and Japan, while exports to emerging markets such as ASEAN, Central Asia and Africa have shown a continued growth trend.These emerging markets are becoming new highlights of China’s clothing export growth.

According to data from 1st to 8th of 2023, China's clothing exports to developed economies amounted to $564,7 billion, down by 16.7 percent compared to the same period, while in terms of emerging markets, China's clothing exports to ASEAN amounted to $103,2 billion, up by 4.7 percent compared, to Vietnam and Singapore, which achieved a staggering growth of 77.2 percent and 33.5 percent respectively.

In the future, China’s outlook for clothing exports will depend on a number of factors, including global economic conditions, trade policies and changes in demand at home and abroad.