- Title: Behind fashion week glamour, Argentina's textile backbone buckles
- Date: 16th March 2026
- Summary: SAN MARTIN, BUENOS AIRES PROVINCE, ARGENTINA (MARCH 4, 2026) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF AMESUD TEXTILE FACTORY OPERATING VARIOUS OF AMESUD TEXTILE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DAVID KIM, WORKING IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF AMESUD, DAVID KIM, SAYING: "We've lived through many crises in this country, but this is the wo
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: Argentina China Shein Temu clothing fashion fashion designers
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, ARGENTINA / INTERNET
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, ARGENTINA / INTERNET
- Country: Argentina
- Topics: South America / Central America,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001389313032026RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Buenos Aires Fashion Week bustles with models showing off the creations of local designers, some well known and some hoping to break through in one of Latin America's most influential fashion capitals.
This year, though, the glamour on the runway contrasts sharply with the turmoil behind it: Argentina's textile and apparel sector is entering one of its worst downturns in decades, battered by ultra-cheap imports - many from Chinese fast-fashion platforms - that are flooding the market.
President Javier Milei's market-opening agenda, aimed at deregulating trade, driving competition and lowering prices, has accelerated this shift. Last year, his government cut clothing and footwear tariffs from 35% to 20% and has relaxed rules on cross-border e-commerce orders, lifting in 2024 the duty-free threshold for courier shipments to $400.
Milei's policies have helped rein in inflation, stabilize prices and boost economic activity, primarily in agriculture.
But, when combined with cheaper imports, the measures have triggered an economic contraction and deepening pain for domestic industries like textiles.
"I think consumption has decreased a lot; that's the problem, because people don't have as much money to spend on clothes or luxuries," said bridal gown designer Valentina Schuchner as she made last minute preparations on her collection this month for fashion week, known as BAFWEEK.
Schuchner, 29, said she feels fortunate to be presenting her collection at BAFWEEK for the fourth time. But she lamented that other local brands are disappearing around her.
A spokesman for Milei's trade ministry declined to comment for this story.
Argentina's clothing industry chamber said door-to-door imports shipped directly from other countries to consumers' homes quadrupled last year. China has been a particular beneficiary - its share of textile and clothing imports has surged from roughly 55% in 2022 to 70% in 2025, driven heavily by Shein and Temu, according to industry group Fundacion Pro Tejer.
For domestic manufacturers, it is hard to compete. Argentina's textile sector has cut 16% of its workforce since 2023, shrinking from about 121,000 employees to 102,000 by the end of last year, according to industry data published in February.
At the family-run Amesud textile plant in the industrial zone of San Martin outside Buenos Aires, chief executive David Kim said the factory is running at just 30% capacity.
After investing $10 million in imported machinery over the past decade to meet the demand of clients including Nike, Puma and local kids' clothing brand Mimo & Co., much of the equipment now sits idle.
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