While the global textile industry grapples with demand fragmentation and inventory pressure, data from Keqiao offers a different narrative: in the first half of this year, the 'International Textile Capital' achieved a regional GDP of 122 billion yuan, up 7.0% year-on-year; exports from January to July reached 110.34 billion yuan, growing 16%; and the China Textile City's total transaction value hit 268.36 billion yuan, up 9.1%. Against a backdrop of external uncertainties, these figures are no accident but a concentrated release of long-term investments in digitalization and market globalization.
Event Background
The 9th World Textile Merchandising Conference (WTMC) is officially scheduled for November 6, 2026, in Keqiao, Shaoxing. Under the theme 'Interweaving Connectivity, Smartly Enabling a New Global Textile Future,' the event aligns with the opening year of China's 15th Five-Year Plan. Notably, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee has designated textiles as a key industry for 'optimization and upgrading,' positioning the conference as a platform for policy implementation and industrial advancement.
The agenda centers on three pillars: digital transformation, green low-carbon development, and open cooperation. Organizers have invited representatives from over 60 textile-focused countries and regions, with experts from China, the US, UK, France, Germany, and Italy discussing new growth drivers. A major deliverable will be the '2027 World Textile Industry Trend Outlook,' expected to serve as a reference for global textile investment and trade in the coming two years.
Industry Impact
Digitalization is no longer optional; it is a new threshold for supply chain competitiveness. Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, noted at the press conference that AI is shifting from point solutions to full-chain reshaping, and industry layout logic is moving from efficiency-first to a balance of security and resilience. This means the era of pure capacity competition is over; companies that can integrate AI across design, production, marketing, and logistics will gain a decisive edge in the next round of consolidation.
For buyers, green low-carbon is evolving from a concept to a hard constraint. The conference emphasizes carbon footprint tracing, low-carbon production control, and circular resource utilization, signaling that future orders will increasingly be linked to carbon data. As a global textile hub, Keqiao's Light Textile City Group has committed to 'market branding and intelligent transactions,' which helps reduce cross-border procurement trust costs and allows international buyers to identify compliant suppliers more efficiently.
Keqiao's 'Three World-Class' goals—world-class market, world-class industrial base, and world-class sci-tech innovation platform—provide a clear roadmap for regional industrial upgrading. Through 'market+' integrated formats and the 'Silk Road Keqiao, Cloth Connecting the World' initiative, Keqiao is shifting from 'competing on scale' to 'competing on value.' For foreign trade enterprises relying on China's supply chain, this means more stable delivery capabilities and higher product added value, but also requires faster adaptation to digital interfacing and green certification rules.