Manufacture of wearing apparel
Activities
NACE division 14 · 7 activities| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacture of outerwear14210 | 1,069 | 79 | 3 | 1,146 |
| Manufacture of wearing apparel14299 | 538 | 47 | 1 | 477 |
| Manufacture of wearing apparel14100 | 129 | 25 | 0 | - |
| Manufacture of wearing apparel14240 | 99 | 3 | 1 | 33 |
| Manufacture of wearing apparel14220 | 90 | 5 | 0 | 504 |
| Manufacture of wearing apparel14291 | 68 | 6 | 0 | 48 |
| Manufacture of wearing apparel14230 | 51 | 2 | 0 | 290 |
Filed accounts
NACE division 14 · financial year 2025 · 416 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | - | - | 34.2% | 36.7% | 34.2% | 37.5% | 35.4% | 35.7% |
| Median net result | - | - | €6,211 | €6,933 | €4,349 | €5,003 | €3,064 | €4,654 |
| Filed late | 39.7% | 46.0% | 47.1% | 45.8% | 40.3% | 39.8% | 35.4% | - |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 14
74 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €53,800 | €41,400 to €76,100 | 39 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €57,200 | €48,600 to €68,300 | 23 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
Bankruptcies
Bankruptcies per year in division 14
| Per year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcies | 18 | 7 | 12 | 4 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 6 |
| Jobs lost | 78 | 11 | 15 | 21 | 28 | 23 | 11 | 6 | 18 | 27 | 24 | 7 |
2026 through June. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 22-06-2026 | BURO QUATTRO
BE 0421.830.432 |
| 13-04-2026 | Van Luchene, Valerie
BE 0717.909.767 · sole trader · Kortrijk |
| 18-02-2026 | Wardenburg
BE 0785.664.069 |
| 05-11-2025 | TONICKX
BE 0452.402.456 |
| 03-11-2025 | AFK COMPANY
BE 0742.678.718 |
| 17-09-2025 | NOUKIES
BE 0446.229.791 |
| 09-05-2025 | Talia
BE 0758.485.857 |
| 07-05-2025 | Kunoka
BE 0699.902.114 |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 543 of 2,022 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Brussels
- Wallonia
- Abroad
This sector's balance sheets on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE division 14 · staff from the latest accounts- 1 VAN DE VELDEWichelen 466 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 AAROVAOudenaarde 306 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 ANSELL HEALTHCARE EUROPEAnderlecht 210 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 SIOENArdooie 175 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 SIOEN FABRICSMouscron 119 FTEfinancial year 2025
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 162 companies- 109 Clothing and garment industry 91
- 215 White-collar workers in the clothing and garment industry 83
- 201 Independent retail 38
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 20
- 120 Textile industry 12
- 214 White-collar workers in the textile industry 11
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 7
- 148 Fur and pelts 3
Show the 12 others
- 128 Hides, leather and substitutes 2
- 302 Hotels and catering 2
- 107 Master tailors and dressmakers 1
- 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 1
- 126 Furnishing and woodworking 1
- 130 Printing, graphic arts and newspapers 1
- 144 Agriculture 1
- 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 1
- 210 White-collar workers in the steel industry 1
- 220 White-collar workers in the food industry 1
- 304 Performing arts 1
- 314 Hairdressing and beauty care 1
Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.
3 of the 449 companies in NACE division 14 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Australia (1), France (1) and Netherlands (1). Together they employ 236 of the division's 2,498 FTE: 9.5%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €34.1m awarded
- Federal transfers 342,193 amount as published
- Wallonia-Brussels Federation €96,354 paid
- EU budget €3.5m attributed share
- EU research €3.6m EU contribution
Insights on Clothing
Balance sheet and result. 21.4% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. The median net result of €5,029 is below Belgium's €16,539. Return on equity of 7.8% is below Belgium's 15.9%.
Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 2.5 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 70% of the 87 other NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.3% is above Belgium's 0.2%. By size, the median bankruptcy probability is 0.3% at under 10 FTE and 0.1% at 10 to 49 FTE.
Inflow and structure. 73.1% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. Brussels holds 18.9% of the seats, against 12.5% in Belgium.
Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 1,276 of the 2,498 FTE: 51.1%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 34.2% in financial year 2020 to 35.7% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €6,211 in financial year 2020 to €4,654 in financial year 2025. In 2024, Statbel counted 9 bankruptcies and 27 jobs lost, against 7 bankruptcies in 2016.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 05-11-2026 05:30.
Method and sources
Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 14 exists.
The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,275,887 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,448 registrations publish no activity.
Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline.