The leap in brand value is becoming a core indicator of the textile and apparel industry's shift from scale expansion to quality growth. The latest '2026 China's 500 Most Valuable Brands' report reveals that over 30 brands from this sector made the list, with eight brands entering the hundred-billion-yuan club, covering the entire chain from raw materials to end-consumer products. This data underscores a systemic upgrade in the industry's asset quality.
Structural Reshaping of the Brand Ecosystem 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 number of hundred-billion-yuan brands expanded to 146. The textile and apparel sector ranked among the top five industries by brand count, with Ordos, Hengli, Weiqiao, Bosideng, JINBAO, QIPAI, Anta, and Yueda forming the core of the hundred-billion-yuan base. These brands span cashmere, chemical fiber, cotton textiles, down jackets, business menswear, and sportswear, indicating that brand premium is no longer confined to a single category but has become a collective asset across the entire supply chain.
Notably, the World Brand Lab incorporated the AI Influence Index into its evaluation system for the first time this year. This means brand value now depends not only on consumer perception but also on a brand's voice and reach within the AI ecosystem. For the textile and apparel industry, this presents both challenges and opportunities—traditional touchpoints through stores and advertising are being restructured by algorithmic recommendations and intelligent search.
Logic Validation of Industrial Upgrading The journey from OEM to proprietary brands and then to a hundred-billion-yuan brand cluster has clearly demonstrated the industry's transformation path. Over the past decade, the sector has weathered capacity relocation, rising costs, and environmental pressures. However, the sustained growth in brand value indicates that R&D investment and supply chain integration are translating into market premiums. For example, Hengli's full-chain layout in chemical fiber, Ordos's quality focus on cashmere, and Anta's multi-brand strategy in sports are typical cases of brand value growth.
For downstream buyers and foreign trade companies, rising brand value signifies a shift in bargaining power. When Chinese brands achieve global competitiveness in quality, design, and sustainability, procurement decisions are no longer purely price-driven but based on comprehensive value assessment. This imposes higher requirements on foreign trade enterprises—pure price advantage is no longer sustainable; differentiation must be built on brand stories, certification systems, and supply chain transparency.
The New Brand Battlefield in the AI Era Professor Xu Jing from Peking University's Guanghua School of Management pointed out that in the digital intelligence era, 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 judgment is particularly critical for the textile and apparel industry: when consumers search for 'eco-friendly down jackets' or 'sustainable fabrics' via AI assistants or intelligent search, whether a brand occupies a favorable position in the algorithmic landscape directly affects traffic acquisition costs.
Ding Haisen, CEO of the World Executive Group, further emphasized that future brand competition is not just about occupying the mental ladder of consumers but also about leaving an indelible mark on AI's algorithmic map. This means textile and apparel companies need to reallocate marketing resources—from traditional advertising to content asset building, data asset accumulation, and algorithm-friendly optimization. Brands with high visibility on social media, e-commerce platforms, and AI search will receive higher brand value assessments.