Textiles and leather

Stratum 1 · First transformations

Textiles and leather

Turns natural and man-made fibres into yarn, fabric, home textiles and technical textiles, and turns hides into finished leather. The world made about 132 million tonnes of fibre in 2024: 59% polyester, 88% of it fossil-based, and 19% cotton (Textile Exchange). China is the largest producer and exporter, with India, the EU, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Turkey among the other big suppliers.¹

India. India's textile and apparel market is about US$ 174 billion, employs over 45 million people directly and India is the sixth-largest exporter with 3.91% of world trade; the government targets US$ 350 billion by 2030 and has approved seven PM MITRA parks (Ministry of Textiles). India grows about 24% of the world's cotton and makes about 13% of its leather (Ministry of Textiles, CLE).

Where ₹100 of textiles and leather output goes

Where ₹100 of textiles and leather output goes Every rupee of sales is paid out to someone along the chain. This splits ₹100 of output by who finally receives it, so you can see how exposed the industry is to commodity, chemical and energy prices. Commodities ₹12.0 Chemicals ₹3.4 Energy ₹13.1…

Price links with supplier industries

Price links with supplier industries How the industries this one buys from shape its prices: the share of its costs they make up, and how their prices have moved together. Tap a row for the charts. Hover or tap ? for what each measure means. Supplier industry Cost share Raw-material mix…

Follow one offering through the chain

Follow one offering through the chain 1 Example story · 6 steps · India A Welspun cotton towel from Anjar Follow a bath towel from an Indian cotton field to a store shelf in America. 1 / 6 · Fibre and hide supply Cotton picked and ginned 312 lakh bales of cotton, 2024-25 season Farmers in Gujarat…

Buys directly from

Buys directly from Water and sanitation Sells directly into Furniture Apparel and footwear Vehicles, ships, rail, aircraft Medical devices Healthcare services

Value chain, from upstream to the customer

Value chain, from upstream to the customer Criticality to the chain: 5 · Chokepoint 4 · Critical 3 · Important 2 · Supporting 1 · Commodity service Stage 1 Fibre and hide supply Cotton growers and ginners 3 · Important Farmers grow seed cotton and ginners separate lint from seed, press it into…

What the whole chain draws on

What the whole chain draws on Every commodity, chemical and energy tile named by the enterprises above; ×n shows how many of them depend on it. Open any tile for its full detail. Commodities (14) H₂O Water ×6 Ct Cotton ×4 NaCl Salt ×2 N Nitrogen (ammonia) K Potash Tm Timber S Sulfur St Steel Al…

Chokepoints and risks

Chokepoints and risks Polyester is 59% of world fibre and 88% of it fossil-based, so fibre costs track crude oil and PTA cycles 1 . Recycled fibre is only 7.6% of output, and less than 1% comes from recycled textiles, leaving the chain exposed to EU and brand circularity rules 1 . Water and…

Sources

Sources Materials Market Report 2025 Textile Exchange, 2025 Indian textile sector: overview and schemes Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Textiles, 2025 White House says India to face temporary 10 per cent tariff after new US order All India Radio News (Prasar Bharati), 2026 Indian Leather…

Relationship cards

• Apparel and footwear: Garments and shoes are cut and sewn from fabric and leather, so the textile mills are the apparel industry's main supplier: about ₹34 of every ₹100 of Indian apparel output goes to textiles and leather, and both sides share the same export markets, US tariff risk and government schemes. (researched)
• Crude oil: Polyester, made from oil-derived PTA and MEG, was 59% of the world's fibre in 2024, so crude prices feed straight into the cost of most textiles and decide how cheap synthetic fibre is against cotton. (researched)
• Natural gas: Textile dyeing, printing and finishing need large amounts of low-temperature heat, and in clusters such as Surat much of it comes from piped gas, so gas prices and supply shocks pass quickly into processing charges, and high gas prices push units back to coal. (researched)
• Water: Textiles and leather use water at every stage, from irrigating cotton to dye baths and hide soaking, and return it loaded with dyes, salts and chemicals. In India, court-enforced zero liquid discharge in Tiruppur and the tanning clusters turned effluent rules into a cost and siting factor for the whole chain. (researched)
• Plastic and rubber products: Textiles and leather buys from Plastic and rubber products; plastic and rubber products buys from Textiles and leather; plastic and rubber products depends on textiles and leather; textiles and leather depends on plastic and rubber products.
• Aerospace and defence: Aerospace and defence buys from Textiles and leather; aerospace and defence depends on textiles and leather.
• Furniture: Furniture buys from Textiles and leather; furniture depends on textiles and leather.
• Healthcare services: Healthcare services buys from Textiles and leather; healthcare services depends on textiles and leather.
• Hospitality and tourism: Hospitality and tourism buys from Textiles and leather; hospitality and tourism depends on textiles and leather.
• Household and personal care: Household and personal care buys from Textiles and leather; household and personal care depends on textiles and leather.
• Machinery and equipment: Textiles and leather buys from Machinery and equipment; textiles and leather depends on machinery and equipment.
• Medical devices: Medical devices buys from Textiles and leather; medical devices depends on textiles and leather.
• Metal products: Textiles and leather buys from Metal products; textiles and leather depends on metal products.
• Paper and packaging: Textiles and leather buys from Paper and packaging; textiles and leather depends on paper and packaging.
• Software and IT services: Textiles and leather buys from Software and IT services; textiles and leather depends on software and IT services.
• Transport and logistics: Textiles and leather buys from Transport and logistics; textiles and leather depends on transport and logistics.
• Vehicles, ships, rail, aircraft: Vehicles, ships, rail, aircraft buys from Textiles and leather; vehicles, ships, rail, aircraft depends on textiles and leather.
• Water and sanitation: Textiles and leather buys from Water and sanitation; textiles and leather depends on water and sanitation.
• Wood products: Textiles and leather buys from Wood products; textiles and leather depends on wood products.
• Acetic acid: Textiles and leather depends on acetic acid.
• Adhesives and sealants: Textiles and leather depends on adhesives and sealants.
• Aluminium: Textiles and leather depends on aluminium.
• Beef: Textiles and leather depends on beef.
• Benzene: Textiles and leather depends on benzene.
• Boilers, furnaces and stoves: Textiles and leather depends on boilers, furnaces and stoves.
• Caprolactam: Textiles and leather depends on caprolactam.
• Caustic soda: Textiles and leather depends on caustic soda.
• Chromium: Textiles and leather depends on chromium.
• Combined heat and power: Textiles and leather depends on combined heat and power.
• Copper: Textiles and leather depends on copper.
• Cotton: Textiles and leather depends on cotton.
• Distribution grids, mini-grids and interconnectors: Textiles and leather depends on distribution grids, mini-grids and interconnectors.
• Dyes: Textiles and leather depends on dyes.
• Electric motors and drives: Textiles and leather depends on electric motors and drives.
• Energy in farming: Textiles and leather depends on energy in farming.
• Fatty acids: Textiles and leather depends on fatty acids.
• Flame retardants: Textiles and leather depends on flame retardants.
• Herbicides: Textiles and leather depends on herbicides.
• Hydrogen peroxide: Textiles and leather depends on hydrogen peroxide.
• Insecticides: Textiles and leather depends on insecticides.
• Lime: Textiles and leather depends on lime.
• Monoethylene glycol: Textiles and leather depends on monoethylene glycol.
• Nitric acid: Textiles and leather depends on nitric acid.
• Nitrogen (ammonia): Textiles and leather depends on nitrogen (ammonia).
• Nylon (PA6, PA66): Textiles and leather depends on nylon (PA6, PA66).
• PET resin: Textiles and leather depends on PET resin.
• Polyester fibre: Textiles and leather depends on polyester fibre.
• Polymer additives: Textiles and leather depends on polymer additives.
• Polypropylene: Textiles and leather depends on polypropylene.
• Potash: Textiles and leather depends on potash.
• Purified terephthalic acid: Textiles and leather depends on purified terephthalic acid.
• Salt: Textiles and leather depends on salt.
• Ship propulsion: Textiles and leather depends on ship propulsion.
• Soda ash: Textiles and leather depends on soda ash.
• Solar photovoltaics: Textiles and leather depends on solar photovoltaics.
• Starch and cellulose derivatives: Textiles and leather depends on starch and cellulose derivatives.
• Steel: Textiles and leather depends on steel.
• Sulfur: Textiles and leather depends on sulfur.
• Sulphuric acid: Textiles and leather depends on sulphuric acid.
• Surfactants: Textiles and leather depends on surfactants.
• Thermal coal: Textiles and leather depends on thermal coal.
• Timber: Textiles and leather depends on timber.
• Viscose fibre: Textiles and leather depends on viscose fibre.
• Waste heat for drying, water and food: Textiles and leather depends on waste heat for drying, water and food.
• Water treatment chemicals: Textiles and leather depends on water treatment chemicals.