Order fragmentation is replacing bulk purchasing as the most notable variable in Keqiao's peak season this year. Since mid-to-late September, customer traffic at China Textile City's Dongsheng Road, East Market, and North Market has continued to recover, with autumn/winter fabrics entering a concentrated stockpiling period. However, downstream brands are generally opting for small-batch trial orders, resulting in rising volumes, stable prices, and fragmented orders. For factories, this means production planning must shift from large-volume continuous runs to multi-batch, small-lot, fast-delivery operations. Flexible supply chain capability is becoming the threshold for taking orders.
Shifting Demand Structure
Thermal insulation fabrics, woolen, knitted elastic, and brushed fabrics have become popular categories. In the home textile zone, demand for minimalist solid-color bedding, wedding series fabrics, and sofa fabrics is steadily rising. Buyers are comparing color cards on-site, inquiring, sending samples, and finalizing small orders, with transaction pace clearly accelerating. Merchants report that walk-in customers have continued to increase since mid-to-late September, with many rushing to confirm sample fabrics before the National Day holiday and arranging production after the break.
Behind this rhythm change is a cautious inventory control strategy by downstream brands. Brands are unwilling to bear bulk inventory risks, instead using trial orders to validate market response before deciding on repeat order volumes. For buyers, this means the selection window has moved earlier—process confirmation must be completed before National Day, otherwise post-holiday production scheduling will be squeezed.
Cost and Pricing Power Divergence
Upstream chemical fiber and cotton yarn prices have recently fluctuated upward, with cost pressure gradually transmitting to the fabric end. Merchants are more cautious in taking orders, insisting on case-by-case negotiation and strictly controlling order risks. Profit margins for plain commodity goods are further compressed, and relying solely on low-price competition is becoming unsustainable.
Meanwhile, foreign buyers' preference for eco-friendly recycled and functional fabrics continues to strengthen, and such differentiated products clearly have stronger pricing power. From waterproof-breathable and antistatic fabrics to recycled polyester and eco-friendly dyeing and finishing fabrics, innovative products have become key tools for expanding overseas markets. Merchants are proactively reducing plain commodity stock and shifting focus to new materials and processes.
This divergence means that fabric companies' profit margins will increasingly depend on product differentiation rather than production scale. For factories, increasing R&D investment, closely following apparel trends, and continuously updating patterns are the only way to break through.
Channel Restructuring and Market Support
The exhibition-market linkage model continues to be effective, with merchants shifting from passively waiting for customers to proactively connecting with exhibitions and overseas buyers, opening up online and offline customer acquisition channels. Livestreaming has become a mainstream market trend, with multiple merchants conducting online fabric livestreams at their storefronts, showcasing fabric texture and patterns, and receiving remote customers online, breaking geographical limitations. Online traffic drives offline sample viewing, enabling efficient fabric selection communication even when customers cannot visit the market in person.
China Textile City management continues to optimize the business environment, ensuring market environment improvement, fire safety, and logistics support. The logistics area sees frequent vehicle traffic, with packing, loading, and shipping working overtime. Rolls of fabric are dispatched to major apparel factories and foreign trade ports across the country. Keqiao fabrics continue to be sold to over 190 countries and regions, with industrial resilience tested in peak season transactions.