US consumer expenditure on clothing and footwear fell by 1.1% in 2008 and continued to decline in the first half of 2009 as the recession took hold. Reflecting the downturn, there was a 10.6% fall in the volume of US textile and clothing imports in the first seven months of 2009. Exports fell too as demand in foreign markets weakened. In textiles, exports plummeted by 24.1% as shipments to the USA's two biggest markets, Canada and Mexico, fell sharply. In clothing, exports declined by 6.8%, again due to lower sales in Canada and Mexico-although shipments to Japan and Saudi Arabia grew strongly. As a result of these trends, US textile and clothing output dropped significantly in the first few months of 200

Employment was also hit and stood 15.0% lower in September 2009 than a year earlier. In Argentina, textile output rose by 1.5% in 2008 but dropped by 13.2% in the first half of 2009. Foreign sales followed much the same pattern. In 2008 textile and clothing exports rose by 4.9%, but in the first quarter of 2009 they plunged by 38.0%.

The industry in Brazil suffered a similar fate as textile and clothing exports plummeted by 23.3% in the first seven months of 2009 after rising by 2.6% in 2008. Textile output fell in the first four months of 2009 and clothing fared even worse.

In Colombia the textile industry has fared much better than clothing. Although export growth has slowed, sales of textiles rose by 25.8% in the first half of 2009. But clothing exports plunged by 54.5%, having been dragged down by a slump in demand for Colombian garments in Ecuador, Mexico, the USA, and Venezuela.

In Mexico the industry continued to struggle as US importers shifted orders to China and other low cost Asian countries. In the first half of 2009 alone, Mexican textile and clothing exports declined by 17.5% after falling by 6.2% in 2008.