Clothing Manufacturer Revenue Benchmark

Average Clothing Manufacturer Revenue per Year 2022 Economic Census

The 2022 Economic Census counts every cut and sew apparel manufacturer with paid employees, meaning companies that make garments from purchased fabric in their own plants or through contractors they direct, and publishes their combined annual receipts. Dividing that total by the number of manufacturers gives the average annual revenue per employer establishment shown below.

≈$3,199,000 /year

Average annual gross revenue per employer establishment

How this is calculated: about $5.5 billion in combined annual receipts divided by 1,713 employer establishments works out to an average annual revenue of $3,199,000 per employer establishment.

Scope: Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing (except Contractors), NAICS 315250. The category covers manufacturers making garments from purchased fabric, whether in their own plants or through contractors they direct. Sewing contractors working on fabric owned by others are counted separately, as are clothing stores. Classified separately in group 3152: 315210 Cut and Sew Apparel Contractors. Nothing outside that code is counted on this page.

Source US Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, Summary Statistics (ECNBASIC): ESTAB, RCPTOT and PAYANN by NAICS · Vintage 2022 Economic Census · Calculation BusinessNES · Accessed September 2026

Employer Establishments at Year Five Smaller cohort

Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing, NAICS 3152, the 2018 starting count compared with the count of five-year-old establishments in 2023.

Across the 2014 to 2018 cohorts, five-year results ranged from 25.0 to 34.2 percent. This benchmark covers Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing, NAICS 3152, as a whole, and this category accounts for 1,713 of the 3,835 employer establishments in it. A count by age is not a survival rate, because the figures compare two headcounts rather than follow one set of businesses.

Payroll as a Share of Revenue Official data

Payroll divided by receipts, both as published for the same year.

Payroll share of receipts, Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing (except Contractors), United States, 2022 Economic Census.

Approximately 22.0 percent of every revenue dollar goes to annual payroll, a modest share because fabric and trim carry a large part of each garment and because many manufacturers direct contractors whose sewing labor sits outside this payroll.

Payroll here excludes benefits, employer taxes and owner compensation, and it excludes fabric, trim, payments to sewing contractors and the discounts given to retailers, which together carry most of the cost of a garment.

Business Scale and Ownership Structure Official data

How large the average establishment is, and whether the population is independent operators or multi-site companies.

Scale and ownership, Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing (except Contractors), United States, 2022 Economic Census.

The average establishment employed about 17.0 people, and the industry averaged 1.0 employer establishments per firm, which confirms that multi-establishment ownership exists in the published population without showing how establishments are distributed across firms. As an illustration, that headcount could be a design, cutting and sewing crew, or a small core team directing contractors.

These are arithmetic industry averages. They state the size of the average establishment and show that multi-establishment ownership exists. They do not show the distribution of business sizes and they do not measure market concentration.

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Data Source Notice

This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.

Figures above are from the 2022 Economic Census reference year, released by the Census Bureau in 2024 and 2025; markets have moved since.

Questions Worth Asking BusinessNES analysis

Clothing Manufacturer: what fabric, contractors and the fashion calendar do to a maker's average.

Before you rely on this benchmark

• Own plant or contractors? A manufacturer sewing in its own plant carries payroll, equipment and space, while one directing contractors pays per piece and scales up and down with orders. The category holds both models, and the choice is the main reason payroll shares differ between makers.
• Own brand or private label? Selling under the company's own brand brings marketing costs and retail margins, while private label work for retailers brings volume at negotiated prices. The mix behind a manufacturer's receipts decides its margin and its dependence on a few buyers.
• How large are the runs? Small runs cost more per garment in cutting, setup and sourcing, and minimum orders from fabric mills shape what a small maker can offer. Run size is a central economic variable that revenue cannot reveal.
• What does fabric cost? Fabric and trim prices move with fiber markets, currencies and tariffs, and a season's garments are priced before the fabric is bought, so material risk is built into every collection.
• How does the fashion calendar work? Seasonal collections mean design, sampling and production months ahead of sales, with cash tied up and unsold stock discounted at season end. The share of production sold at full price decides the result.
• Where does the maker compete? Imported apparel sets a low price reference for basic garments, so domestic makers often compete on speed, small runs, quality or a made-in-USA story. A maker's position in that spectrum shapes its revenue more than its plant does.