In a month where US men’s shirt imports witnessed a sharp overall decline, India stood out by nearly doubling its export value to the United States in May 2025.
As per latest trade data released by OTEXA and analysed by Apparel Resources, India shipped men’s shirts worth US $ 65.93 million, up from US $ 33.60 million in the same month last year – marking a remarkable 96.2% year-on-year growth.
Interestingly, this surge in value came despite a 14.6% drop in shipment volumes, indicating a notable rise in average price per dozen, possibly due to higher-end or value-added products making their way into the American market.
Overall, the US imported 1.89 million dozen men’s shirts in May 2025, compared to 2.42 million dozen in May 2024 – a 21.8% year-on-year decline. In terms of value, total men’s shirt imports fell by 13.1%, from US $ 204.16 million to US $ 177.39 million.
India’s sharp rise in export value may have been catalysed by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff threats made in April 2025. The warning, which rattled global sourcing networks, likely pushed US buyers to hedge their bets by shifting urgent or high-value orders to safer and more stable partners like India.
Most traditional sourcing destinations struggled to maintain their performance. Bangladesh, the top supplier by volume in 2024, saw its shipments shrink to US $ 25.78 million, down 34.7%, with volumes falling 38.5% to 3.85 lakh dozen.
China witnessed an even steeper fall, with export value plummeting 63.3% to just US $ 6.81 million, and volumes dropping 70.6%, amid continued trade tensions and tariff-related disruptions.
Vietnam, on the other hand, managed to grow marginally in value terms, up 2.7% to US $ 37.17 million, while significantly increasing its volumes by 22.7%, reaching 4.14 lakh dozen – the highest among all countries. Indonesia’s performance remained relatively stable, with a slight 4.2% decline in value but a 7.8% increase in volume, suggesting continued appeal among US buyers for competitively priced goods.
Trump’s tariff warning may have opened the door wider for India but the lag in volume suggests this shift is still in the early stages, potentially influenced by lead times, supply constraints or strategic category-level sourcing rather than a full-scale rerouting of bulk orders.
The coming months will reveal whether this was a one-off spike or the beginning of a more permanent trade shift toward India.
