June is usually a warm-up month for apparel. In 12 years of US-inbound booking data covering HS chapter 61 (knit apparel) and HS chapter 62 (woven apparel), the calendar peak has landed in June exactly zero times. Every peak from 2019 through 2025 fell between July and October, when back-to-school and holiday inventory moves through the system.

June 2026 broke that pattern. Combined knit and woven bookings reached 21,434 TEU, the strongest June in the full series back to January 2014 and a higher total than any single month since July 2022. It already exceeds the full-year peak months of 2023 (18,104 TEU), 2024 (18,674 TEU), and 2025 (19,833 TEU), and 2026 still has its traditional peak window ahead of it.

Woven is doing the heavy lifting

The year-over-year comparison is stark. June 2025 came in at 11,965 TEU combined, which makes June 2026 a 79% increase. But the two chapters did not move together:

HS 61 knit apparel reached 11,643 TEU, up 55% from June 2025. HS 62 woven apparel reached 9,791 TEU, up 120% from June 2025 and the chapter's strongest month in at least two years, narrowly ahead of the 9,721 TEU it posted in September 2025.

That near-parity between the chapters is itself unusual. Knit has consistently outweighed woven in this trade, often by wide margins. In May and June of 2025, woven bookings ran below 4,600 TEU per month. Thirteen months later the chapter posted more than double that.

First-half 2026 is running 22% ahead

The June number is not an isolated spike. First-half 2026 bookings totaled 92,722 TEU against 76,015 TEU in the first half of 2025, a 22% increase. April 2026 (16,045 TEU) and May 2026 (15,326 TEU) each exceeded every month of the October 2025 to March 2026 stretch, so the ramp was already visible before June confirmed it.

A June peak would be historically early

Whether June 2026 stands as the year's peak is an open question, and the historical pattern argues it won't. Every year since 2019 has peaked in July or later. If the traditional July-to-October window produces even normal seasonal volume on top of this base, 2026 has a realistic path toward the series record of 26,218 TEU set in July 2019. June 2026 already sits at 82% of that mark.

The alternative reading is pull-forward: importers moving fall inventory earlier in the year, which would flatten the traditional peak rather than stack on top of it. The July and August booking data will settle which reading is right.

Where the volume came from

The June gain is concentrated, and it is concentrated in Southeast Asia. Two origins account for 64% of the year-over-year increase.

Vietnam is the largest single contributor. Combined knit and woven bookings from Vietnam reached 6,442 TEU, up 163% from 2,446 TEU in June 2025, which is 42% of the total year-over-year gain. Vietnam's share of US-inbound apparel bookings rose from 20% to 30% of the month in a single year.

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Cambodia posted the sharpest move in the dataset, driven almost entirely by woven. HS 62 bookings from Cambodia reached 1,858 TEU in June, against 63 TEU in June 2025 and under 130 TEU as recently as May 2026. Combined with steady knit growth, Cambodia contributed 22% of the year-over-year increase and now represents 13% of June volume, up from 5% a year earlier.

China grew in absolute terms, from 2,109 to 3,638 combined TEU, while its share of the month was essentially unchanged, 17.6% in June 2025 and 17.0% in June 2026. Total volume rose 79% and China's slice of it stayed the same size.

Bangladesh added 652 TEU year over year but lost share, sliding from 16% to 12% of the month. Indonesia was flat year over year at roughly 1,340 TEU, with a notable internal swing: knit bookings fell from 1,482 TEU in May 2026 to 403 TEU in June while woven rose.

What to watch from here

Three signals will define the second half. First, whether July bookings extend the ramp or confirm a pull-forward. Second, whether HS 62 holds its new level or reverts toward its 2025 range. Third, whether Cambodia's woven step-change and Vietnam's 30% share hold through peak season or read, in hindsight, as a one-quarter repositioning.

Booking data shows these moves weeks before vessels arrive. TradeView tracks US-inbound ocean bookings by HS chapter and origin as they're placed, which is how a record June shows up in the data before it shows up at the terminal.

Data: Vizion TradeView booking data, US-inbound ocean TEU, HS chapters 61 and 62, January 2014 through June 2026.

See the booking curve before it becomes the news

TradeView goes one level deeper than this post: consignee-level detail on which importers pulled volume forward, and when. The chapter totals show what moved. The consignee layer shows who moved it, and who moved early.

TradeView shows US-inbound ocean bookings by HS chapter, origin, and trade lane as they're placed, weeks ahead of arrival data. If June's numbers matter to your planning, see the live view and book a demo below.