Duties, US jeans in the crosshairs of EU countermeasures. But all produce in the Far East

The share of US-made denim imported into the European Union is negligible: 19.3 million euro in value in 2024. Approximately half of this import goes to Italy: 10.8 million euro in 2024 (including fabrics), of which over 7 million euro worth of imported women's trousers according to data from Confindustria Moda-Federazione Tessile Abbigliamento.

Alberto Candiani, owner of Candiani Denim, a company that produces high-quality denim fabrics and was founded by Luigi Candiani on the outskirts of Milan in 1938, confirms the irrelevance of US production in today's denimwear scenario. Today Candiani is an international company - with its own research and development centre in California, the cradle of denim - supplying fabrics to premium and luxury denimwear brands. "To the United States we owe 35% of our turnover, but there are only four customers who produce in the USA, for a turnover of about four million euro,' says the entrepreneur. 'The others buy the fabric from us and then make the garments in the Far East: Pakistan, China, Bangladesh. The finished products sold in Europe, then, do not pass through the USA, so the impact would be very minimal'. Candiani points out a further contradiction: 'The few high-end brands that are left in the USA will have an increase in the cost of the fabric, which they buy in Italy, and also in the cost of the finished product that they export to Europe'.

To date, Candiani Denim fabrics (a company also known for its research into sustainability, ed.) are subject to import duties in the USA ranging from 12 to over 20 per cent depending on the composition of the fabric. From 9 April, theoretically, the 20 per cent imposed by Trump will be added to these percentages. And this is not the only negative effect of the US government's move: 'Our main customers are, as already mentioned, Americans who produce in the Far East, in those markets that Trump has hit with duties of up to 39 per cent. The fear is that, in order not to move production, they will save on fabric'. According to Candiani, it is practically impossible for the big stars and stripes brands to relocate to the US, as Trump would like: 'They have lost their skills. Some are thinking of relocating to countries in the Mediterranean belt that have been hit by the lowest duties, at 10%, such as Egypt and Turkey. And they are asking us for help to find possible suppliers locally'.

Fabio Adami Dalla Val, show manager of Denim Première Vision, a trade fair dedicated to denim scheduled to take place in Milan on 21 and 22 May 2025, also confirms the lack of centrality of the United States in the updated geography of jeans: "The leading exporter of denim, both fabric and finished product, to Europe and also the United States is Bangladesh, followed by China, Turkey and Pakistan - explains Adami Dalla Val -. In the United States there are no longer either large fabric productions or large manufacturing companies, so much so that the American cotton from which denim is made is mainly exported, and it is unthinkable that they would be able to cover even the volumes purchased in the USA by bringing the factories back. They would not even make it in ten years'. According to Adami Dalla Val, faced with a counter-duty of 25 per cent, the US denim brands would 'bring the goods into Europe directly from the producer countries, i.e. without applying duties, via the subsidiaries they already have in Europe'. At Denim Première Vision there will be 80 companies from 18 countries: "After 2 April we had no cancellations," explains the show manager, "but the companies were already facing a complex period: the denim market, which is expected to reach 95 billion dollars at sell-out in 2030, was already in difficulty. Some brands, including American ones, are putting projects on hold, in Italy and also elsewhere, in the Far East for example, but I think it is only a temporary move'.