Skip to main content
BoF Logo

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

The Business of Fashion
Global Markets

Trump’s 50% Tariff Sows Fear Inside Indian Apparel Hub

Factories that invested in anticipation of a boom in orders are saddled with debt and unsold inventory.
A Gokaldas Exports apparel factory in India.
India’s $174 billion textile industry is among the largest sources of exports for the country. (Courtesy)
By
BoF PROFESSIONAL

When president Donald Trump first unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April, R.K. Sivasubramaniam, managing director at Raft Garments, had cause for optimism. His factory in the city of Tiruppur, India’s knitwear capital, makes millions of pairs of underwear that he sells for $1 apiece, with about half the output going to the US. Judging by the poster board Trump displayed in the Rose Garden, Indian exporters faced a tax well below that of rivals in Vietnam and Bangladesh.

Please sign in to ensure you can read our agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice. Or get in touch at support@businessoffashion.com if you experience difficulties.

Further Reading

© 2026 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions

More from Global Markets
A guide to unlocking opportunity in emerging and frontier fashion markets.

How Mexico’s Independent Women Fashion Designers Are Rethinking Growth

At Soho House Mexico City, Mexican fashion designers Carla Fernández, Bárbara Sánchez-Kane and Camila Banzo joined BoF’s Yasmine Dahlberg to speak candidly about identity, innovation and what it takes to build an independent fashion business in Mexico — as part of both Women’s History Month and the House’s ongoing Women Shaping the Future initiative.

view more
Latest News & Analysis
Unrivalled, world class journalism across fashion, luxury and beauty industries.

The Industry That Eats Its Young

Small fashion labels have always been shortchanged by their wholesale partners. A wave of high-profile bankruptcies has turned a structural injustice into an existential crisis. There is a better way to do business, writes Imran Amed.

The Zara-Fication of John Galliano

Fashion’s enfant terrible is trading exclusivity for the mass market. Is it the ultimate fashion coup, or the final surrender of prestige?

The Impact of War on Fashion’s Supply Chain

Textile hubs are already feeling the cascading risks of the conflict in Iran as Washington ramps up forced labour probes to revive tariffs, while decarbonisation in fashion’s factories might finally have a standard to go off of.

VIEW MORE

The Business of Fashion

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
CONNECT WITH US ON
© 2026 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy and Accessibility Statement.