Italian Fashion Insolvencies Rose 19% in 2025 as Margins and Cash Tighten, Allianz Trade Says

Insolvencies in Italy's textile and clothing industry rose 19% in 2025, while both the number and the value of credit claims increased, according to an analysis by Allianz Trade published on the opening day of Milan Fashion Week 2026. The report, covered by Be Bankers and based on material circulated by the Agi news agency, describes a sector entering a phase of greater selection and maturity, with mounting pressure on margins and liquidity and a widening gap between companies that convert sales into cash and those that do not.

Allianz Trade, the credit insurance arm of the Allianz group, sets that deterioration against an industry that remains one of the pillars of Italian manufacturing. The figures cited for 2025 are:

• Turnover of 58.39 billion euros
• More than 37,000 companies
• Around 372,000 employees, roughly 9.5% of the manufacturing workforce
• Foreign sales of almost 37 billion euros, with an export propensity above 63%

Export strength meets a slower market

Exports remain one of the sector's main strengths: with an export propensity above 63%, close to two thirds of output is sold abroad. That exposure cuts both ways. According to Allianz Trade, the strong growth of the two post-pandemic years has given way to a more complex scenario, with international demand slowing and the luxury market showing signs of reduced dynamism.

Competition is also intensifying from low-cost digital platforms, ultra-fast fashion and the second-hand market. Consumers are buying less frequently and increasingly rewarding quality, durability and sustainability. At global level, the insurer links the pressure to trade tensions tied to wars and tariffs, which are redrawing textile supply chains, while higher production costs feed through to margins and payment terms and, ultimately, to insolvencies.

Cash conversion separates the field

In a market that has become more selective, financial management carries growing weight. Allianz Trade reports an increase in working capital requirements and greater difficulty in turning turnover into liquidity quickly. Signs of deterioration are also visible in credit risk indicators, alongside the rise in the number and the amount of claims recorded in the sector.

“In the current phase it is not enough to grow in terms of turnover. From a credit risk point of view we are seeing a growing difference between companies that manage to transform revenue into liquidity and companies that, while maintaining significant volumes, show greater strain on working capital. Managing collections, inventories and customer portfolio concentration has become a decisive factor of resilience,” said Andrea Resteghini, credit underwriter at Allianz Trade.

Technical fabrics offer steadier demand

The more favourable outlook concerns technical and industrial fabrics destined for sectors such as defence, healthcare, automotive and construction, where demand is more stable than in traditional fashion. Allianz Trade points to artificial intelligence, technical textiles and sustainability as the leading levers of development for the industry.

Sustainability, traceability and circularity are becoming increasingly relevant both for the competitiveness of individual firms and for access to markets. For suppliers and buyers along the chain, the practical consequence of the 2025 figures is a tighter credit environment: with claims rising in frequency and amount, insurers and lenders are differentiating between companies on the basis of cash generation rather than reported sales, and concentration on a small number of customers is being priced as a risk in its own right.