The Honghe knitwear cluster in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, with annual transaction volume exceeding RMB 20 billion and tens of thousands of business entities, is undergoing a deep restructuring from "production and processing" to a "dual-circulation" model. At the 2026 Honghe Knitwear Season event in early September, a 4,000-square-meter integrated service center for domestic and foreign trade was officially launched, alongside two rounds of strategic agreements on overseas expansion and international logistics. These moves signal a clear intention by this traditional agglomeration economy to escape low-price competition and move up the value chain.
Background
With over five decades of history, the Honghe knitwear industry now sees annual market transactions exceeding RMB 20 billion, with products exported to multiple countries. The newly launched center is located on the third floor of Honghe Zhongchuang Market and serves as the offline vehicle for the local cross-border e-commerce platform "Maoshanpai." Public information indicates that over the past two years, the platform has organized more than 200 local enterprises to explore over a dozen countries and attracted nearly 1,000 overseas buyers. The new center is divided into four functional sections: service, trade, brand, and incubation. The trade section features a 1,200-square-meter product selection hall, segmented by target markets such as Japan/Korea, the Middle East, South America, and Russia/Europe/Central Asia, facilitating precise sourcing for international visitors.
Notably, the service section includes third-party quality inspection agencies, AR digital empowerment tools, and customs, logistics, and financial support, while the brand section establishes an overseas intellectual property risk warning mechanism. This indicates that Honghe is not only expanding market reach but also addressing the compliance and branding gaps that small and medium enterprises often face when operating alone. For buyers, such one-stop facilities are expected to reduce trust and communication costs in cross-border procurement.
Industry Impact
The deeper backdrop to Honghe's initiative is the smooth operation of international cargo routes at Jiaxing Nanhu Airport and the accelerated development of the airport new city. The release of airport-adjacent advantages provides a more efficient logistics channel for knitwear, a seasonal and time-sensitive category. Industry insiders point out that previously, Honghe's knitwear exports often relied on ports in other cities, leading to variable logistics times and costs. Now, with local air cargo resources, enterprises can respond more flexibly to overseas orders, especially in small-batch, quick-replenishment scenarios.
From an industrial logic perspective, the launch of the integrated service center marks a shift for professional markets from single trading venues to full-chain service complexes. Experts from the Ministry of Commerce noted during the event that the industry's operating logic is shifting from "produce what is circulated" to "consumption guiding upstream production." This is particularly relevant for Honghe, where tens of thousands of business entities are primarily small workshops and self-employed households, often reliant on foreign orders or domestic wholesale markets and lacking direct access to end consumers. The center's tiered cultivation system addresses this pain point: workshops receive policy guidance, small and micro enterprises gain digital transformation support, and larger enterprises are guided toward global expansion.
However, transformation is not without challenges. Industry observers caution that knitwear has a relatively low technical barrier and intense homogenized competition; hardware upgrades alone are insufficient to build lasting advantages. To truly transition from selling products to selling brands, Honghe must continuously invest in original design, fabric R&D, and channel operations. The recent logistics agreements solve the "going out" channel problem, but cultural differences, compliance requirements, and consumer habits in overseas markets remain hurdles that local enterprises must overcome.