After ending 2024 down 2.1%, Italy’s childrenswear sector is expected to end 2025 with turnover of just over 3 billion euros, a decline of 3.2%, according to preliminary estimates by Confindustria Moda‘s Economic and Statistical Research Office. The value of production is expected to fall by 4.8% year on year.
In foreign trade, childrenswear exports are forecast to decline by 3.2%, bringing the total value of overseas sales to 1.5 billion euros and accounting for 48.9% of sector turnover. By contrast, imports are expected to grow by 1.8%, taking the total to almost 2.6 billion euros.
With regard to foreign markets, the analysis can be limited to babywear, which, according to Istat, fell by 3.9% in the first nine months of 2025 to 112.7 million euros. This negative trend affected both EU (-1.2%) and non-EU (-5.9%) markets.
During the period under review, the United Arab Emirates confirmed its position as the leading destination for babywear, posting growth of 18.1% to 10.3 million euros, equivalent to 9.2% of total exports. Despite a 2.3% contraction, Spain climbs to second place and accounts for 9.1%, while France takes third place with growth of 1.3%. The US, a strategic market for babywear, slips to fourth following a marked 17.0% decline, to 8.6 million euros and a 7.6% share. The UK and Germany, the fifth and sixth destination markets respectively, also contracted, but at very different rates: the UK recorded a modest 3.6% decline, with a value of 6.8 million euros, while Germany suffered a more pronounced 16% loss, with turnover of 4.8 million euros, corresponding to 4.3% of total exports for the segment.
Conversely, China, in seventh place, shows moderate growth (+4.5%) to 4.6 million euros, followed by Russia and Poland, with particularly strong increases of 35.3% and 63% respectively. Sales to Israel also rose sharply, up 131.2% to 3.9 million euros, taking its share to 3.5%.
Among other European markets, Portugal and Bulgaria, the eleventh and twelfth, both show increases of 1.9% and 0.3% respectively; while Greece and the Netherlands, in fourteenth and fifteenth positions, show declines of 12.3% and 14.5%, respectively. In the Middle East, in addition to the aforementioned Emirates, Qatar (2.9 million euros, +8.9%) and Saudi Arabia (2.2 million euros, +25.6%) stand out, strengthening their overall contribution.
Finally, with shares of less than 2%, Belgium and Romania show significant growth, with increases of 52.3% and 12.6%, respectively, while Croatia and Japan register smaller negative changes of 7.8% and 0.5%, respectively.
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