Apparel Accessories and Other Apparel Manufacturing (U.S., NAICS 3159)

A NAICS industry group (4-digit) in the U.S. taxonomy. NAICS = North American Industry Classification System, the standard the U.S., Canada, and Mexico use to define industries.

1. Overview

This industry group covers the U.S. factories that make the small, finishing pieces of a wardrobe — hats and caps, gloves and mittens, belts, neckties and bow ties, plus a catch-all of other apparel items and trimmings.[1] It is the "everything else" corner of U.S. apparel manufacturing, what is left after the big garment categories (shirts, pants, dresses, knitwear) are carved out.

This 4-digit industry group is effectively identical to its single child, NAICS 31599 (and, one level deeper, 315990). At this point the taxonomy does not branch: the group contains exactly one industry, and that child carries all the detail. This page is a short pass-through — it explains why the level equals its one child, gives the ground-truth federal figures reported at this level, and then points you to the full 31599 primer.

2. What's inside — and why this level equals its one child

A NAICS 4-digit "industry group" can contain several 5-digit "industries." This one contains just a single child:

Because there is only one child, the 4-digit industry group (3159) and the 5-digit industry (31599) describe the same set of establishments and report the same statistics. There is nothing to aggregate — 3159 is 31599. For scope details (what belongs here versus adjacent codes such as apparel knitting mills, cut-and-sew contractors, and leather-goods handbags), the ownership mix, and the "jobber" (design-and-outsource) business model, see the 31599 primer.

3. Size (this level's rollup figures)

Federal statistics reported for NAICS 3159 (our ground-truth figures; identical to the single child):

Two federal series, two answers — and both are shrinking. For 2022 the Economic Census puts shipments at $1.20 billion while BLS sectoral output puts it at $1.10 billion; the two programs measure and deflate the industry differently, so treat the domestic base as roughly $1.0–1.2 billion rather than a single number. The direction is unambiguous in the series that has been updated since: BLS output fell to $961.5 million by 2025 and headcount on the broadest definition (including self-employed) fell from 17,000 to 14,800 over the same stretch.[3][5]

Undercount caveat. That $1.0–1.2 billion counts only what is manufactured in U.S. establishments, and it understates the economic footprint of the accessory category in three ways: (1) imports dominate what Americans actually buy, so domestic manufacturing captures a small slice of accessory spending;[6] (2) the category's biggest names (branded headwear and men's-accessory licensors) design and market at scale but source production offshore, so their revenue largely does not land in this manufacturing code;[7][8] and (3) tiny and individual operators — custom milliners, one-person glove and hat makers, craft sellers — are frequently nonemployer businesses excluded from the employer-firm counts above. Treat these figures as a floor on the domestic base, not a measure of the market.

4. Investable universe (where value concentrates)

With a single child, value concentrates exactly where it does in the 31599 primer: there is no pure-play publicly traded U.S. apparel-accessory manufacturer. Public-market exposure is indirect, through large, diversified apparel and fashion houses that market accessories but manufacture offshore — Ralph Lauren, for instance, sources 96% of product value outside the U.S.[9] The category's defining businesses are almost entirely private: branded headwear makers such as New Era, which after its 2024 acquisition of '47 holds licences across all five major North American team-sport leagues;[7][10] men's-accessory licensing platforms like Randa;[8] "Made in USA" and military-spec glove shops; and industrial work-glove suppliers. See the 31599 primer for the full company map (tickers and named private owners).

5. How the money works

This is a labor-intensive, thin-margin manufacturing business with modest fixed capital (sewing machines, cutting tables, presses) — no regulated rate base, no recurring-fee model. BLS put labor's share of total production cost at 36.2% in 2022, and the recent trend is unfavorable: the labor-productivity index fell from 77.7 in 2022 to 73.2 in 2024 while unit labor costs rose 12% over the same period.[11][12] That squeeze is the single most important economic fact at this level — a labor-heavy cost structure getting less efficient, in an industry that cannot pass costs through. Domestic survivors compete on speed, small-batch runs, custom and private-label work, and quality rather than price, since they cannot beat Asian imports on labor cost. The highest-value niches sit at the brand and license layer (headwear royalties, men's-accessory licensing) and in "Made in USA" / government-spec channels. The economics are covered in full in the 31599 primer.

6. Demand drivers

The same drivers as the child: fashion and style cycles (ties down, streetwear headwear up); licensed sports and entertainment (team caps); cold-weather seasonality for gloves and winter hats; corporate, promotional, and uniform demand; the industrial economy for work gloves; and overall discretionary consumer spending — U.S. households averaged $2,001 of apparel-and-services expenditure in 2024, down 2.0% from 2023.[13] Reshoring sentiment and defense procurement support the domestic niche specifically, and the suspension of de minimis duty-free treatment (effective August 2025) raises the landed cost of direct-to-consumer foreign shipments, potentially favoring domestic and conventional wholesale channels.[14] Detail is in the 31599 primer.

7. Regulation

Accessories carry the same consumer-product and trade obligations as garments — flammability and children's-product rules from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC); fiber-content, country-of-origin, and care labeling from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC); tariff and forced-labor enforcement at Customs and Border Protection (CBP); and the Berry Amendment, which requires the Department of Defense to buy 100% U.S.-made textiles and clothing (a compliance burden and a competitive moat for domestic makers).[15][16] A newer obligation is state-level: California's textile extended-producer-responsibility program, with regulations taking effect no earlier than July 2028, will add fees, reporting, and product-accounting requirements for brands and other statutory "producers" selling in that state.[17] Full treatment is in the 31599 primer.

8. Consolidation

Domestically the industry is fragmented and unconcentrated. At this level the four largest firms account for 19.1% of receipts, the top eight for 27.6%, the top 20 for 43.3%, and the top 50 for 63.1%; the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI, a standard concentration measure regulators use) is 151.4 — far below the ~1,500 level antitrust regulators treat as "moderately concentrated."[4] The concentration that exists sits at the brand and license layer, not the factory — New Era's purchase of '47 consolidated licensed headwear, not domestic sewing capacity.[7][10] The dominant structural force over decades has been import substitution (offshore production hollowing out the domestic base), not merger activity; broader U.S. apparel manufacturing output fell about 17% in 2025 by one industry index.[18] See the 31599 primer for named deals.

9. Risks

The same risk set as the single child: import competition that caps domestic pricing power; tariff and trade-policy volatility, which cuts both ways for domestic makers (Section 301 duties on Chinese goods add roughly 7.5–25% on top of already-high most-favored-nation apparel rates, and 2025 escalation raised costs broadly);[19] forced-labor and supply-chain compliance under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), with CBP detaining 6,636 shipments in the first half of 2025 alone and the entity list expanded to 144 names;[20] fashion and inventory risk in a fast-turning category; thin margins with little cushion for the labor-cost inflation described above; customer concentration; and consumer cyclicality. For the few public plays, accessories are a minor slice of much larger, largely import-based businesses. Detail and figures are in the 31599 primer.

10. How to invest, and the outlook

Because 3159 equals 31599, the investment picture is the child's: no pure-play. Public-market investors approximate exposure through diversified apparel and fashion names (accessories are one line inside a much larger, largely import-based business, not a domestic-manufacturing bet); reserve any judgment on their yields or valuation multiples for company-level analysis. Private investors are closer to the real category — branded accessory makers and licensing platforms, Berry-compliant niche manufacturers, industrial work-glove suppliers, and contract/private-label shops. The most attractive, most defensible corner is licensed headwear, where the economics are royalties rather than sewing. For the full how-to-invest section, forward-looking drivers, and bottom line, read the 31599 primer.

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Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau, "2022 NAICS Definition — 315990 Apparel Accessories and Other Apparel Manufacturing," 2022. https://www.census.gov/naics/?input=315990&year=2022
2. U.S. Census Bureau, "County Business Patterns (NAICS 315990)," 2023. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html
3. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "All Workers — NAICS 315990," via FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IPUEN315990W200000000
4. U.S. Census Bureau, "2022 Economic Census — Concentration Ratios and Selected Statistics (NAICS 315990)," 2022. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census.html
5. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Sectoral Output — NAICS 315990," via FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IPUEN315990T300000000
6. First Research (Dun & Bradstreet), "Apparel Accessories Manufacturing Industry Profile," 2024. https://www.firstresearch.com/industry-research/Apparel-Accessories-Manufacturing.html
7. PR Newswire / National Sporting Goods Association, "New Era Completes Acquisition of '47," 2024. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-era-completes-acquisition-of-47-302218138.html
8. PitchBook, "Randa Apparel & Accessories — Company Profile," 2026. https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/10044-55
9. Ralph Lauren Corporation, SEC Form 10-K (Fiscal 2025), 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1037038/000103703825000011/rl-20250329.htm
10. Sports Business Journal, "NHL, New Era Reach Global Licensing Deal," 2024. https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/07/09/nhl-new-era-global-licensing-deal/
11. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Labor Share — NAICS 315990," via FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/data/IPUEN315990L030000000
12. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Unit Labor Cost — NAICS 315990," via FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IPUEN315990U100000000
13. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Consumer Expenditures — 2024," 2025. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cesan.nr0.htm
14. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, "De Minimis Guidance," 2025. https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1050
15. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, "Requirements for Textiles and Apparel / Flammable Fabrics Act," and Foley & Lardner, "What Apparel Companies Need to Know About the CPSC," 2024. https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Business-Guidance/Flammable-Fabrics-Act
16. U.S. Made Supply / U.S. Department of Defense, "The Berry Amendment (10 U.S.C. 4862)," 2024. https://usmadesupply.com/resources/building-codes-standards/domestic-procurement/berry-amendment
17. CalRecycle, "Textile Extended Producer Responsibility Program," 2026. https://calrecycle.ca.gov/epr/textiles/
18. WWD / Sourcing Journal (Kearney Reshoring Index), "U.S. Apparel Manufacturing Fell 17% in 2025," 2025. https://wwd.com/sourcing-journal/trade/kearney-reshoring-index-usa-domestic-apparel-manufacturing-1238945612/
19. White & Case LLP, "United States Finalizes Section 301 Tariff Increases on Imports from China," 2024. https://www.whitecase.com/insight-alert/united-states-finalizes-section-301-tariff-increases-imports-china
20. U.S. Customs and Border Protection / DHS, "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Enforcement Statistics and 2025 Strategy Update," 2025. https://www.cbp.gov/trade/forced-labor/UFLPA