According to a report by the Miami Herald, Los Angeles surpassed South Florida as the leading importer of T-shirts. South Florida’s T-shirt imports are down 21.70 percent, while the nation as a whole boasts an increase of 2 percent.
Through the first seven months of this year, T-shirt imports reached $3.38 billion, with Los Angeles and South Florida accounting for $750.71 million and $688.96 million, respectively.
One reason for this drop in South Florida’s T-shirt import is the fact that the United States has shifted the countries they import from. The U.S. has moved towardimporting T-shirts from Asian countries such as China and Vietnam, which export their goods to Los Angeles. Central American countries such as Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala still export to both ports, but Honduran imports to South Florida are down $78.51 million, while they are only down $9.87 milion in Los Angeles.
China and Vietnam have supplied almost half of all T-shirt imports into the Los Angeles Customs district in 2014. Taking away imports from South Florida, 22.92 percent of those imports came from Central American nations.
