The author has concerned himself with the key factors of the textile industry. From the point of view of the branch specifi cs of the textile industry, these factors are considered to be the number of units, the number of employed individuals, the gross value added, work productivity, exports, imports and the balance. The development of these key factors has been investigated on the basis of their year-on-year growth, the average growth coeffi cient and their mutual dependency as designated by the Pearson correlation coeffi cient. Given the specifi c characteristics of the textile industry which faces a high degree of competition and has a pro-export focus, the key factors have been analysed from several points of view, such as the point of view of the employees, i.e. the number of units and the number of employed individuals, the sustainability of these key factors in the past (using the average growth coeffi cient) and the stability shown by these units in a year-on-year comparison. This is followed by the area of performance, i.e. an investigation into the gross value added and work productivity and the sustainability and stability of these performance factors in the past. The factors involved with the openness of the textile industry in relation to imports and exports, i.e. not only how stable and sustainable these factors are, but also what infl uence they have on the performance indicators, have also been subsequently investigated. The following conclusions have been reached on the basis of the aforementioned indicators; all of the investigated variables have displayed growth with the exception of the number of employed individuals, so it is therefore possible to consider them to be sustainable, while exports and imports have a fundamental infl uence on the performance of the branch which is measurable by means of the value added and the work productivity.