Kenya’s Textile & Apparel Sector
Kenya’s textile and apparel industry finds itself at a defining moment. While the sector continues to achieve record export performance, attract new investment, and create thousands of jobs, it is also confronting one of its most significant strategic challenges in recent years: balancing continued access to the United States market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) with the urgent need to diversify into new global markets.
The industry’s performance in 2025 demonstrated both its resilience and its potential. Textile and apparel exports reached a record KSh 66.9 billion, up from KSh 60.5 billion in 2024, reflecting strong international demand for Kenyan-made garments. Over the past five years, Kenyan manufacturers exported more than 518 million textile and
