Italy’s textile machinery industry closed 2025 with a sharp contraction in output and exports, as geopolitical instability, protectionist trade measures and weak industrial investment weighed on demand, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers (ACIMIT) said following its General Assembly in Milan this week.
Domestic production fell 9% year-on-year to roughly 1.94 billion euros, while exports dropped 8% to 1.675 billion euros, according to figures based on Italy’s national statistics agency ISTAT presented at the assembly, held at the Shareholders’ Hall of Palazzo Edison. Home sales slid 14% to 266 million euros, even as imports rose 14%, a trend ACIMIT said reflected modest growth in domestic consumption that has not yet been enough to spur a genuine rebound in national investment.
The decline hit several of Italy’s traditional export markets, including North America and Turkey, with the latter proving especially difficult. Asia, however, remained the sector’s leading destination, absorbing 40% of total exports worth 667 million euros, followed by the European Union at 24% and non-EU Europe at 11%.
ACIMIT President Marco Salvadè said the 2025 results needed to be read against an unusually fragmented global economic backdrop rather than as a standalone signal of weakness. He said the sector continues to compete internationally on technological quality and customized, high-value-added solutions, and called on Italian institutions to provide stable, accessible incentives for innovation and digitalization.
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“The path to revival goes through innovation, sustainable transition, and preparation for the great milestone of ITMA 2027,” Salvadè said, referring to the world’s largest textile machinery exhibition, scheduled for September 16-22, 2027, in Hanover, Germany.
Sustainability remains the sector’s central competitive pillar, ACIMIT said. Italian manufacturers continue to invest in energy-efficient machinery and advanced automation designed to cut customer companies’ resource consumption while lowering their production costs. Salvadè described the ecological transition as no longer an optional feature but a defining differentiator in international markets, adding that the industry’s priority now is deepening ties with schools and research institutions to draw young talent into the sector.
ACIMIT framed the 2026-2027 period as a stretch of preparation and relaunch ahead of ITMA 2027, and said it has already stepped up internationalization efforts in coordination with the Italian Trade Agency (ICE) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Those efforts include a recent double-city workshop in Bangladesh, where Salvadè said Italian machinery sales to the country grew 17% in 2025, calling Bangladesh’s textile industry an important partner as manufacturers look to generate immediate technological upgrades and steer local producers toward more sustainable production models.
The assembly’s data presentation was followed by a public discussion titled “Competing in a Changing World,” moderated by Luca Orlando, a journalist and correspondent for Il Sole 24 Ore. Speakers included Marco Fortis, vice president of the Edison Foundation, and Paolo Magri, chairman of the ISPI Scientific Committee, who offered macroeconomic and geopolitical context. Luca Sburlati, president of Confindustria Moda, and Dirk Vantyghem, director general of Euratex, broadened the discussion to supply-chain and European market challenges.
Founded in 1945, ACIMIT is a non-profit body representing about 200 Italian textile machinery manufacturers, accounting for 85% of the sector’s turnover, worth a combined 2.1 billion euros. Roughly 86% of that output is exported to 130 countries. The association’s members produce machinery spanning spinning, weaving, knitting, finishing and other textile processes.
Industry speakers said Italy’s ability to operate as a cohesive system, paired with a continued focus on flexibility, innovation and quality, remains decisive in maintaining the global leadership of Italian-made textile machinery, even as manufacturers navigate a more volatile trade environment heading into 2027.