One out of every five sweaters globally comes from Dalang, Guangdong, a wool knitting town with an annual transaction volume exceeding 72 billion yuan. This town recently hosted the 95th International Wool Textile Conference. The theme 'Weaving the Future: Wool's Health and Digital Life' is not an empty slogan—it precisely targets the most critical game facing the wool industry: how to balance the scarcity of natural fibers with the disruptive power of digital technology.
Resilience Behind the Data At the conference, Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, disclosed key data: China's textile industry has maintained exports exceeding $300 billion for six consecutive years, processing over 60 million tons of fiber annually, accounting for more than half of the global total. Dalang, as a microcosm, produces over 900 million garments per year, with a full-industry-chain annual transaction value exceeding 72 billion yuan. These figures not only indicate scale but also reflect China's role as a 'ballast stone' in the global supply chain—especially in intermediate goods like chemical fibers and fabrics, where export stability directly supports production in downstream countries.
However, external demand is not all smooth sailing. From January to May this year, total textile and apparel exports grew only 0.1%, with garment exports falling 1.6% year-on-year. The domestic market shows divergence: retail sales of apparel, footwear, hats, and knitwear by units above a designated size grew 8.1% cumulatively, but revenue of enterprises above a designated size dipped 0.3% year-on-year. Yet total profit rose 19.3% counter-trend, indicating that enterprises improved profitability through cost reduction and product upgrades, even under revenue pressure. This improvement in profit margin is a key signal of industry health.
Intelligent Economy Reshaping Industry DNA The 'smart weaving' aspect of the conference theme is supported by solid data. As of 2024, the digitalization rate of key links in the textile industry reached 63.2%, higher than the national manufacturing average; 30 textile enterprises were included in the 5G factory directory. A more tangible case is the 'Lighthouse Factory' of Jiangsu Yueda Textile: through intelligent manufacturing, the number of workers per 10,000 spindles decreased by about 70%, total labor productivity increased more than fourfold, unit energy consumption dropped 15%, and processing costs fell 26%. These numbers suggest that the competitiveness of wool and the broader textile industry is shifting from cheap labor to the efficiency of data and algorithms.
The penetration of the intelligent economy extends beyond production. AI-assisted design systems have increased efficiency by 35% for Semir and by over 200% for pattern design; Bosideng's 'AI Aesthetics Brain' has reduced sample development costs by over 60%. For the wool industry, this means the entire chain—from yarn blending and pattern design to garment prototyping—could be reshaped by AI. For buyers, this implies faster lead times and lower minimum order quantities, but also that digital capability requirements are cascading from factories to orders.
New Consumption Logic Under the Experience Economy The conference's emphasis on wool's health attributes is no coincidence. Global consumer markets are characterized by ecological restructuring, a return to human-centeredness, and structural divergence. Consumer demand for natural, sustainable, and traceable fibers continues to rise. Wool, due to its renewable, biodegradable, and thermoregulating properties, is seeing new growth in sportswear, high-end formal wear, and home textiles. The challenge lies in translating these attributes into quantifiable brand premiums and making them 'visible' to consumers through digital means such as blockchain traceability.
Dalang, as an industrial cluster, carries both the advantage and pressure of its '1 in 5 sweaters' label. In the experience economy, sheer scale production is no longer sufficient for competitiveness; brand building, design capability, and end-user reach are the high-value frontiers. Companies like Anta and Erdos are pushing Chinese wool from 'OEM base' to 'brand exporter' through cross-border M&A and global expansion, but for SMEs, a clearer division of labor is still needed.