India vs Pakistan for Textiles and Sports Goods: Category by Category

Updated: 7 Oct 2026

India vs Pakistan for Textiles and Sports Goods: Category by Category comparison dimensions
Dimension

In October 2024 a gym owner posted on a jiu-jitsu forum about an order from Pakistan. He'd asked for rash guards in four sizes. What arrived was "40 rash guards that are not of 4 distinct sizes, but rather ranged over a continuous spectrum" (r/bjj, Oct 2024 (opens in a new tab)). In the same thread he described many of the "manufacturers" who cold-message gyms as "sole guys with a phone and some connections who can run down the street and negotiate". And yet another buyer in the thread said "9/10 it worked out for me", and kept buying.

That thread captures why foreign buyers go to Pakistan, and what they put up with when they do. Small runs, fast answers, makers who know combat sports and towels inside out. Then the sizing and the middlemen. India gets asked the same questions and has its own failure modes. This page sets the two side by side by category, because that's how the trade actually splits. Neither country wins everything, and in some categories India isn't really in the race. We publish no prices, and per-kilo comparisons are ratios only.

SourcingFrom Intelligence

Pakistan owns European home textiles. India owns the American ones. In 2025 Pakistan supplied 48.8% of the EU's and 53.6% of the UK's bed, bath and kitchen linen (HS 6302), against India's 10.1% and 11.5%. In the US it flips: India 37.4%, Pakistan 20.1%. (Our analysis of UN Comtrade, importer records, pulled 7 Oct 2026)
Pakistan's knit tops come in far cheaper per kilo, India's T-shirts sell more. On sweatshirts and knit tops (HS 6110), Pakistan's EU value per kilo was 0.70 of India's, and 0.59 in the UK. But India supplied more T-shirts than Pakistan in all three big markets: 8.0% vs 2.8% in the EU, 6.9% vs 4.0% in the UK, 7.0% vs 2.5% in the US. (UN Comtrade, 2025, our arithmetic · Verified figures, Indicative reading)
Sports goods split by sport. Pakistan supplied 37.6% of the EU's inflatable balls (mostly footballs) and 25.4% of its sports gloves, against India's 2.7% and 2.5%. But in the UK's "other balls" line, which takes in cricket balls, India (10.0%) and Pakistan (10.6%) were level. (UN Comtrade, 2025)

What we don't know yet

Measured minimum orders and lead times for either country. We have forum accounts, not a survey.
The exact EU rate each country pays on each line. We read the schemes, not the TARIC lines.
Any official source on Jalandhar's sports goods trade.

The Scoreboard

Here's 2025 in one table. Each cell is that country's share of the market's imports, from the importer's own customs records.

Category (HS)	EU: India / Pakistan	UK: India / Pakistan	US: India / Pakistan
Bed, bath and kitchen linen (6302)	10.1% / 48.8%	11.5% / 53.6%	37.4% / 20.1%
Cotton terry towels (6302.60)	15.4% / 43.4%	25.7% / 44.9%	43.3% / 25.5%
T-shirts (6109)	8.0% / 2.8%	6.9% / 4.0%	7.0% / 2.5%
Sweatshirts and knit tops (6110)	2.5% / 4.2%	1.7% / 6.1%	3.5% / 3.9%
Footballs and other inflatable balls (9506.62)	2.7% / 37.6%	10.7% / 24.2%	0.9% / 13.4%
Sports gloves (4203.21)	2.5% / 25.4%	6.3% / 24.7%	0.8% / 2.6%

Three patterns stand out. Pakistan is the European home-textile supplier and India is the American one. Pakistan wins knit tops and fleece on cost, India wins T-shirts. And on footballs and sports gloves, Pakistan leads India everywhere we looked, though China leads the ball lines overall.

Home Textiles: The Border Decides

Why does Pakistan lead in Europe and India in the US? Duty is most of the answer. Pakistan is one of the EU's GSP+ countries, which gives it zero duty on most textile lines (European Commission, GSP+ (opens in a new tab)), and the Commission says current GSP+ countries keep their preferences through a transition to the end of 2028 (GSP Q&A (opens in a new tab)). India lost its EU preference on home textiles from January 2026 to the end of 2028 (Regulation (EU) 2025/1909 (opens in a new tab)). In the UK, Pakistan has paid 0% under the developing-countries scheme's top tier since 2023. India only reached 0% on 15 July 2026, under the UK-India deal (UK Trade Tariff (opens in a new tab)). In the US, neither has a preference, and both pay the same 10% Section 301 duty on top of the normal rate (91 FR 47318 (opens in a new tab)).

So for a UK buyer, the old reason to prefer Pakistan on towels and sheets disappeared this summer. The 2025 shares were built under the old duty. If you buy home textiles for the UK, it's worth sampling Indian mills now in the same weight band. Our bed linen from India page names the clusters. For the EU, Pakistan keeps the duty edge until at least 2028, and for the US, India is already the default. The Türkiye angle on towels is on India vs Turkey for home textiles.

Apparel: Small Runs And Cheap Fleece Go To Pakistan

The forum record on small runs is consistent. Buyers starting a streetwear or gym brand, with orders under a few hundred pieces, tend to name Pakistan, China and Portugal before India. A 2018 post put Pakistani minimums at "about 30-50 for cut and sew pieces", and an Indian supplier-side voice in 2024 agreed that India "doesn't have many manufacturers looking at high quality on smaller quantities" (r/streetwearstartup, 2018 (opens in a new tab) and 2024 (opens in a new tab)). A consultant in the same 2024 thread replied, "Yes, you can certainly achieve the same quality in India." Both things are true. The low-minimum makers are easier to find in Pakistan, and India's best knit mills are set up for longer runs.

The customs data agrees on price. Pakistan's sweatshirts and knit tops came into the EU at 0.70 of India's value per kilo in 2025, and into the UK at 0.59. Pakistan supplied more of those lines than India in all three markets. On plain T-shirts India sold more everywhere. If your range is fleece and gym tops at an entry price, Pakistan is a natural first call. If it's T-shirts, babywear or printed knits, India's Tiruppur cluster is where most export knits are made.

On duty for apparel the two are close in the UK (both 0% now) and the US (both 10% extra). In the EU, Pakistan has GSP+, and India kept its standard GSP rate on knitted and woven apparel when home textiles lost it, which narrows but doesn't close the gap. Check your exact code with your customs broker.

Sports Goods: Sialkot, Meerut And The Sport You Sell

Here the split is by sport, not by country.

Combat sports, gloves and martial-arts uniforms are a Sialkot trade. Practitioners say "Pakistan makes most leather combat sports gear now. They're good at it and get it done cheap" (r/MuayThai, Sept 2024 (opens in a new tab)), and one buyer noted that an Australian brand's gear "says Designed in Thailand but is Made in Pakistan" (r/MuayThai, Sept 2024 (opens in a new tab)). In our forum logs India is almost never named for this category. The customs data backs it: Pakistan supplied a quarter of EU and UK sports-glove imports in 2025.

Footballs follow the same pattern. Pakistan supplied 37.6% of the EU's inflatable balls and 24.2% of the UK's. Pakistan's state news agency, citing the national statistics bureau, put football exports at US$229.8 million for 2024-25 (APP (opens in a new tab)). India's share in the UK was 10.7%, a real presence but a distant second.

Cricket is where India competes head on. UK imports of "other balls", the line that includes cricket balls, came 10.0% from India and 10.6% from Pakistan in 2025. Bats are an Indian strength, with a known weak spot. UK and Australian players complain that Indian sellers overstate willow grade, and one counted "23 grains, varying shades - and it clearly has knots in it. Nowhere near grade 1" (r/Cricket, Nov 2025 (opens in a new tab)). In the same thread a buyer suggested Sialkot instead: "they'll most likely set correct". The answer isn't to switch country. It's to write grain count, willow type and weight tolerance into the order, as we set out for Meerut.

The Same Two Risks, Both Sides Of The Border

The gym owner's sizing problem and the cricket buyer's grading problem are the same problem. Samples are made with care, and bulk is made at speed. "Even if the samples look good, the larger order can come out poor," another jiu-jitsu buyer wrote of Sialkot (r/bjj, July 2026 (opens in a new tab)). One Australian buyer's Meerut bat arrived 105 g heavier than quoted, for much the same reason. The fix is the same in both countries: a size or weight tolerance in the order, a check on the bulk before it ships, and a clear answer to whether you're talking to the factory or to someone who places your order with one. Our manufacturer vs trading company page has the questions, and they work in Sialkot as well as Jalandhar.

If you're running orders in both countries and want someone to check the bulk against the sample before it leaves, that's execution, and it's what SourcingSync (opens in a new tab) does.

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Checking whether a supplier is the factory, and inspecting bulk before it ships, in either country, is execution, not knowledge. This is complex. Let us help you.

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Back To The Forty Rash Guards

The gym owner didn't say he'd never buy from Pakistan again, and the buyer who said "9/10 it worked out" was in the same thread. That's the honest picture of both countries. Pakistan is the stronger choice for European home textiles, entry-price fleece, combat gear and footballs. India is stronger for T-shirts, for the US market and, since July, it meets Pakistan on equal duty in the UK. Cricket is a fair fight. Whichever you choose, the forty rash guards are the lesson. Write the sizes down, check the bulk, and know who's actually sewing.