One in every five sweaters worldwide is made in Dalang, Dongguan. This wool textile hub, with an annual garment output exceeding 900 million pieces and a total industrial chain transaction value surpassing 72 billion yuan, hosted the 95th International Wool Textile Conference last month. The message was clear: the global textile industry is at the intersection of smart and experience economies, where traditional scale advantages are being replaced by data-driven agile systems.
Industry Resilience Behind the Data
Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), released key figures at the conference: R&D intensity among China's textile enterprises above designated size rose from 1% in 2020 to 1.3% in 2024, with the digitalization rate of key processes reaching 63.2%, above the manufacturing average. In 2024, 30 textile companies were included in the national 5G factory list. These numbers indicate a shift from 'scale dividends' to 'technology dividends,' where digitalization is no longer optional but a competitive threshold.
Operating data from the first four months of this year show continued resilience. From January to April, revenue of enterprises above designated size fell 0.3% year-on-year, but total profit surged 19.3%, with a revenue margin of 2.9%. Retail sales of garments, shoes, hats, and knitwear by units above designated size reached 512.13 billion yuan, up 8.1%. This 'revenue down, profit up' divergence suggests that high-value-added products are gaining share while inefficient capacity is being phased out.
How the Smart Economy Rewrites Production Logic
The conference theme, 'Smart Weaving the Future: Wool's Health and Digital Life,' is not an empty slogan. Sun cited quantifiable cases: Jiangsu Yueda Textile's 'Lighthouse Factory' reduced labor per 10,000 spindles by 70%, boosted labor productivity fourfold, cut energy consumption by 15%, and lowered processing costs by 26%. Semir's AI-assisted design system increased overall design efficiency by 35% and pattern design efficiency by over 200%. Bosideng's 'AI Aesthetic Brain' reduced sample development costs by over 60%.
These data points point to one trend: AI is no longer a lab concept but a tangible productivity tool. As 'digital employees' begin to enter the workforce en masse, IDC predicts billions of AI agents will join work systems by 2030. The cost structure of textile enterprises will fundamentally change, with computing power, data, and energy replacing traditional labor and land as core production factors.
Experience Economy Reshapes Supply Chains
Parallel to the smart economy is the rise of the experience economy. Consumers are increasingly segmented, with health, emotional connection, and self-expression becoming core demands. This means traditional high-volume, low-variety production is giving way to small-batch, multi-style, fast-response flexible supply chains. Dalang's 72-billion-yuan industrial cluster, with its dense network of small and medium factories, is inherently suited for this flexible manufacturing model.
For exporters, this change is both a challenge and an opportunity. From January to May 2025, China's textile and apparel exports reached 116.73 billion USD, up 0.1% year-on-year. Textile exports were 59.48 billion USD, up 1.7%, while apparel exports were 57.24 billion USD, down 1.6%. The decline in apparel exports does not reflect shrinking demand but rather the screening effect of order fragmentation, shorter lead times, and small-order quick-response models on traditional OEM factories. Companies that can respond quickly and adjust production lines flexibly are capturing market share from slower competitors.