A telling signal: in 2026, more than 30 textile and apparel brands made the China 500 Most Valuable Brands list, with 8 breaking into the trillion-yuan club. This signals a fundamental value shift—from an OEM-driven past to a future built on proprietary brand equity.
Structural Shift in Brand Value
According to the report released by World Brand Lab on June 24, the total value of listed brands reached 45.29 trillion yuan, up 7.76% year-on-year, with the entry threshold rising to 5.089 billion yuan. The textile and apparel sector not only secured a top-five position by number of brands but also claimed 8 spots in the trillion-yuan club: Erdos, Hengli, Weiqiao, Bosideng, Jinba, Septwolves, Anta, and Yueda.
The concentration of top-tier brands is increasing. These 8 brands form the industry's backbone, while newcomers like POPMART, Beneunder, and Ubras signal a reshaping of the traditional brand landscape. Brand value is no longer the preserve of legacy manufacturing giants; emerging categories and cross-sector players are redrawing the industry's value boundaries.
From Cost Advantage to Brand Assets: Four Driving Forces
Industry data confirms that China's textile and apparel sector has moved beyond low-cost OEM into a high-quality development phase driven by four forces: technological innovation, cultural empowerment, green and low-carbon practices, and global operations.
In technology, Rongsheng Petrochemical, Tongkun, and Sanfangxiang have ramped up R&D in high-performance fibers and functional fabrics, translating technical barriers into pricing power. On culture, brands like Bosideng, Jinba, and Septwolves have leveraged guochao (national trend) collaborations and brand storytelling to convert cultural symbols into brand assets. Green and low-carbon practices have become a new competitive dimension, with Hengli and Weiqiao establishing full-chain carbon footprint management systems that command a 'green premium' from both capital markets and consumers. Global operations are exemplified by Anta and Li Ning, which have built brand recognition in Southeast Asia and Europe through overseas acquisitions and localization strategies.
AI Influence: The New Battlefield for Brand Competition
The biggest variable in this year's list is the inclusion of an AI Influence Index for the first time. Professor Xu Jing of Peking University's Guanghua School of Management noted that in the digital age, a brand is no longer just 'a knowledge structure in consumers' minds' but a complex system maintained by consumers, platforms, algorithms, content, communities, and organizational capabilities.
This means brand management is shifting from 'telling consumers who I am' to 'helping consumers understand why they should trust me.' Ding Haisen, CEO of World Executive Group, emphasized that future brand competition will go beyond capturing consumers' mental share to leaving an indelible mark on AI's algorithmic maps. High AI influence means a brand has greater discourse power, online reach, and technical visibility within the AI ecosystem, having already broken through traditional search engine barriers.
For the textile and apparel industry, this shift is critical. Traditionally, brand communication relied heavily on offline channels and visual displays, but the rise of AI search and recommendation algorithms is reshaping consumer decision-making. Brands that lack visibility in the AI ecosystem risk being 'filtered out' of consumers' view, no matter how good their products are.
Industry Implications: Brand Value Is No Longer a 'Nice-to-Have'
One clear takeaway from this list: brand value has become a core asset for textile and apparel companies to weather market volatility and earn excess profits. The emergence of 8 trillion-yuan brands signals a clear tiered structure within the industry, while the inclusion of new consumer brands shows there is still ample room for value growth.
For industrial clusters, the push for branding is forcing supply chain upgrades. Fabric companies in Keqiao, chemical fiber factories in Shengze, and home textile hubs in Nantong all face the pressure to transition from 'making for brands' to 'becoming a brand.' Companies that complete technological upgrades, cultural empowerment, and green transformation first will gain an edge in the next round of brand valuation.