Fashion
Portuguese textile exports prove resilient in the face of US-imposed tariffs
Published
October 13, 2025
Portuguese textile exports are withstanding the impact of the tariffs imposed by the United States, demonstrating the ability to remain focused on the most important markets and that they are “falling only marginally”, Ricardo Silva, CEO of Tintex Textiles and the new president of the Textile and Clothing Association of Portugal (ATP), told Jornal Económico.
He also confirmed that exports are down by less than 1%, showing that production in Portugal is maintaining its market positions, and delivering “a performance well above what is happening among competitors”, noted the new leader of the ATP, who was elected in the middle of last month for the 2025-2027 three-year term, succeeding Mário Jorge Machado of Adalberto Textile Solutions.
Based on the table provided by ATP, which has not yet been updated with the August figures, cumulative Portuguese exports between January and June fell, compared with the same period in 2024, by just 0.1%, from 3.362 billion euros to 3.357 billion—a reduction of 4.2 million euros. For the same period, clothing recorded the steepest decline, down around 1.5%.
By contrast, textile imports totalled 3.14 billion euros between January and June, about 6% more than the 2.95 billion recorded in the first six months of last year. Clothing is also the biggest contributor, with an increase of around 10%.
The North American market, a recent focus for Portuguese textiles, accounts for no more than 13% of exports, with the direct impact of tariffs being far lower than in other sectors, such as wine. However, the US consumer market offers added value, notably serving as a hub for neighbouring markets such as Canada and Mexico, the newspaper also notes, based on data provided by ATP.
According to Ricardo Silva, “Exports are in line with last year”, which runs counter to the industry’s worst expectations, particularly given that negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the US were not favourable to the sector, as the previous president of ATP, Mário Jorge Machado, who chairs the European confederation of textile industries Euratex, had already noted.
Mário Jorge Machado was recently in Paris, in the middle of last month, to take part in an exceptional meeting of European federations, aimed at confronting the ultra-fast fashion players, Shein and Temu, but also the effects of the US tariff war, which is prompting Asian production to be redirected to Europe. As he told FashionNetwork.com in an interview, European manufacturers continue to invest in improving production processes, such as “decarbonisation, innovation, sustainability, reducing water consumption and control/regulation of chemical substances”, and, faced with very low-priced non-European products (mainly from countries such as China, Laos or Vietnam), “the textile companies that play by the rules are the ones that disappear from the market.”
“We still believe in treaties, trade, free trade and fair trade. But we can’t play this game alone: if everyone else plays their cards under the table and only the Europeans play with their cards on the table, we will lose. So we can’t be naive. We have to defend our values and our industry.”
In this context, Euratex has already demanded from the EC that the same rules that govern the industrial production of European companies be imposed on foreign producers selling to the European market, so that there is no distortion of competition, as is happening, endangering the sector and those who work in it.
“We still believe in treaties, trade, free trade and fair trade. But we can’t play this game alone: if everyone else plays their cards under the table and only the Europeans play with their cards on the table, we will lose. So we can’t be naive. We have to defend our values and our industry,” warned the president of Euratex.
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Wholesale revenue dropped 12.8 per cent on a currency-adjusted basis to €4.9 billion, while direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales increased 3.4 per cent, lifting the DTC share to 32.4 per cent from 28.9 per cent.
Regionally, sales fell 6.9 per cent in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), 7.4 per cent in Asia-Pacific and 10 per cent in the Americas, with North America driving much of the decline.
Puma has reported sales of €7.3 billion (~$8.61 billion) in FY25, with currency-adjusted revenue down 8.1 per cent amid strategic reset actions.
Wholesale declined while DTC share increased.
Margins contracted and EBIT turned negative, leading to a net loss.
Q4 saw sharper declines across regions and categories.
Puma expects further sales softness and negative EBIT in FY26.
By product segment, footwear sales decreased 7.1 per cent, apparel declined 9.7 per cent and accessories fell 8.5 per cent, although selective growth was observed in running, training and premium sport style lines, Puma said in a press release.
Profitability weakened significantly during the year. Gross margin contracted 260 basis points to 45.0 per cent, impacted by promotional activity, inventory reserves, unfavourable mix and currency effects. Adjusted EBIT turned negative at €165.6 million, while reported EBIT declined to -€357.2 million after €191.6 million in one-off costs related mainly to the cost efficiency programme and goodwill impairments.
Loss from continuing operations widened to -€643.6 million, translating to earnings per share of -€4.37 versus €1.88 in the prior year.
From a balance sheet perspective, inventories rose 2.3 per cent to €2.06 billion as inventory takebacks from wholesale partners supported distribution clean-up. Working capital increased 20.2 per cent, while trade receivables and payables declined sharply in line with reduced sales and purchasing activity. Puma ended the year with additional financing capacity, including €1,202.2 million in unutilised credit lines.
Fourth quarter (Q4) performance reflected the peak impact of the strategic reset. Currency-adjusted sales declined 20.7 per cent to €1,564.9 million, with reported revenue down 27.2 per cent due to currency headwinds. The decline was driven by deliberate reductions in wholesale exposure, inventory clearance actions and lower promotional intensity.
Wholesale sales fell 27.7 per cent in Q4, while DTC revenue decreased 8.0 per cent, although DTC share increased to 41.1 per cent from 35.5 per cent. Regionally, sales dropped 12.6 per cent in Asia-Pacific, 22.2 per cent in the Americas and 24.3 per cent in EMEA.
Across product divisions, footwear sales declined 25.4 per cent, apparel fell 13.7 per cent and accessories dropped 18.2 per cent, with selective resilience in training and performance running categories.
Profitability deteriorated sharply. Gross margin declined to 40.2 per cent from 47.7 per cent due to promotions, inventory provisions and currency effects. Adjusted EBIT fell to -€228.8 million, while reported EBIT reached -€307.7 million following one-off costs linked to restructuring and impairment charges. The quarter ended with a loss from continuing operations of -€335 million.
Arthur Hoeld, CEO of Puma, said: “2025 was a reset year for us. We want to establish Puma as a top 3 sports brand globally, return to above-industry growth and generate healthy profits in the medium term. It is crucial to make the Puma brand less commercial and ensure we once again excite our consumers with attractive products, compelling storytelling and distribution in the right channels. I am satisfied with the progress we have made so far. We cleaned up most of our distribution by reducing promotions in our own channels and cutting our exposure to those wholesale channels that damage our brand’s desirability. To better position our product icons and our performance offering and tell more engaging product stories, we created the right structures inside our company. We also addressed operational inefficiencies and further optimised our cost base.”
Looking ahead, Puma expects currency-adjusted sales in fiscal 2026 to decline in the low- to mid-single-digit percentage range, with EBIT projected between -€50 million and -€150 million. Capital expenditure of around €200 million is planned as the company continues investments in brand repositioning and digital capabilities, added the release.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SG)
Nominal GDP, or GDP at current prices, is estimated to grow at 8.6 per cent to reach ₹345.47 trillion in FY26 against ₹318.07 trillion in 2024-25.
India’s real GDP is estimated to grow at 7.6 per cent to ₹322.58 trillion (~$3.54 billion) in FY26 compared to the first revised GDP estimate of ₹299.89 trillion for FY25 (7.1 per cent growth).
It released the new series of annual and quarterly national accounts estimates with FY23 base.
Real GVA is projected to grow at 7.7 per cent to reach ₹294.40 trillion in FY26 against ₹273.36 trillion in FY25.
Real gross value added (GVA) is projected to grow at 7.7 per cent to reach ₹294.40 trillion in FY26 against ₹273.36 trillion in FY25 (a 7.3-per cent growth rate).
Nominal GVA is estimated to grow at 8.7 per cent to hit ₹313.61 trillion during FY26, against ₹288.54 lakh crore in 2024-25.
Robust economic performance in FY26 is primarily on account of robust real growth observed in the second quarter (8.4 per cent) and third quarter (7.8 per cent).
The manufacturing sector has been the major driver of resilient performance of the economy the consecutive three fiscals after rebasing, a release from the ministry said.
Both private final consumption expenditure and grossed fixed capital formation exhibited more than 7-per cent growth rate in FY26.
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