Serbia’s textile and garment industry is ideally placed for short lead-time smaller production runs in response to shifting fashion trends. Moreover, proximity to both fashion centers as Paris, Milan or Rome, as well as to major retail markets lends sensitivity to market trends, speed to market, and reduced transportation costs.

This position is based in a long history of success in the outward processing market.

Today, there are more than 1,185 textile and garment companies in Serbia. The majority (77%) are private small and medium enterprises. Some 16% of companies are still in social ownership.
These are the largest firms, are mainly vertically organized, and generally find themselves ill prepared to compete with the new private firms.

Local observers estimate that there are up to 2,000 unregistered micro garment companies – mostly operating as home businesses.

The largest trading partner in textile and garments for 2003 was the EU countries (exports – 74.2%, imports – 54.8%) followed by East European transition countries and then other countries and former SFRY republics.

According to official data, twelve firms accounted for 23.37% of total textile and garment exports and 9.2% of total textile and garment imports in 2003. This illustrates the highly fractured nature of production – with many small and medium sized private firms.

Table 1 - 2003 Textile and Garment imports and exports by firm - '000 US$

Source: “Textile industry in Serbia” Jefferson Institute www.jeffersoninst.org

The key focus points of the Serbian Textile Industry are:

• Higher Quality
• Lower Costs
• Rapid Response
• Manufacturing from 5,000 to over 180,000 pieces per month
• Cut-Make, Cut-Make-Trim and Full Package Services contract manufacturing

For more information, contact us at: info@fashioninserbia.com