Determinants of economic performance in the clothing industry – an EU data panel analysis

In a global economy, textile and clothing companies operate in a highly competitive international market, where numerous firms compete for consumer demand, characterised by frequent changes, depending on fashion. Therefore, increasing economic performance is essential to survive in such an environment. This piece of research has the objective to analyse the factors that determine performance expressed in the form of companies’ turnover, at sector level in the European Union region, trying to answer the question of which are the drivers influencing the turnover in the textile and clothing industry and how strong their influence is. In pursuing this, multiple linear regressions have been performed between turnover and its determinants. The findings show that turnover is strongly influenced by the number of employees, imports and exports and less influenced by consumers’ expenditure. These results may serve to underpin the macro policy decisions regarding the textile, clothing and footwear industry.