Some sports clothing has been manufactured in Romania in the past, especially for Italian brands, but it’s not sure whether this is still the case. According to Just Style, Romania’s apparel industry is suffering from problems in both its supply chain and its export market. The flow of raw materials from China and Romanian exports to Italy have been all but choked off, the apparel and textile trade publication reports. According to Diana Iliescu, a project director at Lara Consulting in Bucharest who spoke with Just Style, “750 factories in the textile industry have disappeared from statistics in Romania” since the start of the pandemic. To make matters worse, she said, “many of the employees of the closed factories have not found another related job in the sector and were forced to re-qualify for other positions in other industries.”
Romania’s Federation of Employers of Textiles, Clothing and Leather (FEPAIUS) warned in mid-2020 that orders, especially from Italy, would likely suffer a steep decline, eliminating some 30 percent of apparel and textile exports and limiting the remaining operations to about 20 percent of capacity. The EU’s office of statistics, Eurostat, pegs Romania’s decline in apparel production (-27% from 2019 to 2020) as the third-worst among the 27 member states. Only Italy (-32.7%) and Greece (-32%) fared worse, with Spain (-26.9%) right behind. The EU’s average decline was 24 percent.
According to Iliescu, Romania’s government has provided employee allowances amounting to 75 percent of average gross earnings, postponements of local taxes and duties, postponements of rents and utility payments for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and paid time off for parents caring for children. Further subsidies are due for the winter.
