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Design of textile patterns, clothing, jewellery, furniture and decorative items

Current registrations 1,997division 74: 31,178
Starters, 12 months 23611.8 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 73.5 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 27234 employers · latest accounts
Median age 6.1 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 82.0%1,637 of 1,997 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 74111 · financial year 2025 · 343 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
30.2%
division 46.4% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€3,521
division €10,103 · Belgium €16,520
Median equity
€37,117
division €51,883 · Belgium €98,421
Loss-making
37.7%
division 28.8% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
27.1%
division 13.7% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
12.7%
division 20.7% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.38
division 1.72 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
45.4%
financial year 2024, 335 filings · division 38.1% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
5.8%
of 380 companies with annual accounts · division 4.6% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 32.6%28.6%28.0%31.9%34.7%30.2%
Median net result €4,974€6,298€4,693€5,144€5,329€3,521

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
17
0.85% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
21
10.5 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
24-08-2026 Boyen, Stephane Jacques
BE 0729.383.481 · sole trader · Tienen
28-05-2026 LABORATORIUM 4337
BE 0867.262.944
06-05-2026 Studio Moonshot
BE 0707.645.484
01-04-2026 Anton Bros
BE 0777.534.875
13-02-2026 Bouwwerken Van Dijck
BE 0766.633.758
15-12-2025 HITCH
BE 0786.832.623
26-11-2025 NATHALIE VERLINDEN
BE 0859.694.172
24-09-2025 No. 10
BE 0660.825.762

Every bankruptcy in division 74, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 517 of 1,997 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 400 · 77.4%
  • Brussels 58 · 11.2%
  • Wallonia 57 · 11.0%
  • Abroad 2 · 0.4%
fewer moremax 196

Largest employers

NACE 74111 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 Vuye Flexible PackagingOudenaarde 54.7 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 My Jewellery BelgiëAntwerp 43.6 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 NS DEVELOPMENTMechelen 16.5 FTEfinancial year 2018
  4. 4 BMPROJECTSWillebroek 13.8 FTEfinancial year 2018
  5. 5 KLAFOUTISFléron 11.4 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 68 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 34
  • 201 Independent retail 18
  • 215 White-collar workers in the clothing and garment industry 12
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 10
  • 109 Clothing and garment industry 9
  • 126 Furnishing and woodworking 4
  • 120 Textile industry 3
  • 124 Construction 3
Show the 4 others
  • 214 White-collar workers in the textile industry 3
  • 130 Printing, graphic arts and newspapers 2
  • 113 Ceramics industry 1
  • 128 Hides, leather and substitutes 1

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

Division 74: Other professional activities

Related activities

4 other activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Graphic design and visual communication74120 6,268 778 13 332
Interior design74130 1,443 203 6 118
Other specialised design activities74140 1,219 124 4 479
Other professional, scientific and technical activities74112 470 50 2 210

Bankruptcies per year in division 74

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies636382497263527478878577
Jobs lost101101143931209584100153120121107

2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 74

336 employers
Median
€63,200
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€51,400 to €80,900
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
49 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €59,200 €48,000 to €74,000 241
10 to 49 FTE €72,900 €60,000 to €97,800 80

Running bankruptcies in the sector

NACE division 74
Number
139
Half have run longer than
17 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
27%
Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 108,562 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 28% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn. After five years, 20% were still open. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 51 months).

This counts companies with this main activity in the register on 6 November 2026. The outcome itself is not measured by sector. The activity of a company that leaves the register after its bankruptcy is too often not kept to compare closed cases fairly.

Outcome by court and division

19 of the 8,769 companies in NACE division 74 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: United Kingdom (6), Netherlands (6) and France (3). Together they employ 376 of the division's 4,005 FTE: 9.4%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €74.1m awarded 1,201 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Onderzoeksproject
  • Federal transfers 147.3m amount as published 11 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Dotatie aan Sciensano
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €1.4m paid 38 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Aides pluriannuelles dans le domaine des arts plastiques
  • EU budget €155.1m attributed share 46 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Horizon Europe
  • EU research €180.7m EU contribution 46 recipients · 2008 to 2027 · largest: Horizon Europe

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Design of textile patterns, clothing, jewellery, furniture and decorative items

Balance sheet and result. 27.1% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. The median net result of €3,521 is below Belgium's €16,520. 37.7% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium.

Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 3.5 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 55% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.3% is above Belgium's 0.2%.

Inflow and structure. 74.1% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 11.8 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is more than in 87% of the 87 NACE divisions. Half of the companies are younger than 6.1 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium.

Staff and filing. 45.4% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 140 of the 272 FTE: 51.4%.

Direction. Median solvency fell from 32.6% in financial year 2020 to 30.2% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €4,974 in financial year 2020 to €3,521 in financial year 2025.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 06-11-2026 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 74111 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 1,276,581 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 698,987 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. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.