The textile and apparel industry is undergoing a collective leap in brand value. According to the latest '2026 China's 500 Most Valuable Brands' report, over 30 textile and apparel brands have successfully made the list, with the total brand value of the sector exceeding 45 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.76%, and the entry threshold rising to 5.089 billion yuan. What does this data mean? For an industry long labeled as 'low-cost OEM,' this represents a systemic shift from manufacturing capability to brand assets.
Brand Matrix Takes Shape: Hundred-Billion-Level Brands Propel the Sector
Among the listed textile and apparel brands, eight—including Erdos, Hengli, Weiqiao, Bosideng, Jinba, Qipai, Anta, and Yueda—have entered the hundred-billion-level club, forming a 'moat of value' at the top of the industry. These companies share a common feature: vertical integration from raw materials to finished garments, and an irreplaceable position in global supply chains in terms of capacity and standard-setting. For example, Hengli's scale in chemical fiber and technological innovation, and Weiqiao's dual layout in cotton textiles and aluminum, provide solid support for their brand value.
Notably, the list includes not only traditional apparel brands like HLA and Peacebird, but also raw material manufacturers like Rongsheng Petrochemical and Tongkun, as well as emerging brands like Beneunder and Ubras. This indicates that brand value assessment has extended beyond end-consumer products to the mid- and upstream of the industrial chain. For procurement parties, this signals that upstream suppliers are increasingly branding themselves, and future procurement decisions will be more influenced by brand reputation and technical endorsements.
AI Influence Enters the Game: Brand Competition Enters the Algorithm Era
A key change in this year's report is that the World Brand Lab has, for the first time, incorporated an AI influence index into its evaluation system. The introduction of this dimension directly reflects the profound impact of the digital ecosystem on the reconstruction of brand value. Professor Xu Jing from Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, 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.
For textile and apparel brands, higher AI influence means greater cross-network dissemination and technological visibility. For sportswear brands like Anta and Li-Ning, their higher exposure frequency in algorithm recommendations on social media and e-commerce platforms directly translates into increased brand awareness. For upstream brands like Erdos and Hengli, AI influence is reflected in their search weight on professional information platforms and industry discourse. In other words, future brand management must not only answer 'how to enhance brand assets,' but also 'how to become a trust intermediary in the AI ecosystem.'
Industry Transmission: Three Drivers from OEM to Branding
The overall increase in brand value in the textile and apparel industry is driven by three overlapping forces. The first is technological innovation. Companies like Hengli and Rongsheng Petrochemical, through independent R&D of high-performance fibers and green production processes, have turned technological barriers into brand premiums. The second is cultural empowerment. Brands like Bosideng and Jinba have established cultural identity in consumers' minds through national trend designs and international marketing. The third is global operations. Anta, through acquisitions of international brands and overseas channel deployment, has achieved a leap from Chinese manufacturing to a global brand.
For foreign trade enterprises and factories, this trend means that the pure OEM model is losing competitiveness. Branding is no longer a question of 'whether to do it,' but 'how to do it earlier and more systematically.' Especially against the backdrop of Sino-US trade frictions and global supply chain restructuring, companies with their own brands have a clear advantage in bargaining power and market stability.