Fashion plays a very important role in the Spanish business sector. The Fashion and Garment industry is the only sector which provides direct employment to more than 200,000 people in the country. This figure represents 7% of all employment in the industrial sector. This sector generates 4% of the country’s industrial product. In 2006, the fashion and Garment Industry sector, containing the manufacture of clothes, accessories and footwear, generated a consumption of 17,750 million euros, and production worth 8,625 million euros.

Just like in other parts of the world, the sector in Spain is facing a restructuring process as a result of globalisation: competition from Southeast Asia and from other countries which have joined the EU has increased considerably.

The sector is becoming more concentrated and the number of companies is decreasing. The trend is vertical integration of production-distribution, enforcing the value of the brand, carried out at an international level.

In the following report, we offer a complete analysis of the current situation of the Fashion and Garment sector in Spain with special emphasis on Madrid, the main trends and outlooks, the advantages of investing in the fashion sector and the legal and institutional framework

+ Photo courtesy of IFEMA. Sebastián Marjanov.