A warning signal is emerging for the textile industry: when brand value is no longer solely determined by consumer perception but is redefined by algorithms and AI ecosystems, is the sector ready? The 2026 'China's 500 Most Valuable Brands' report offers partial answers.
Released by the World Brand Lab in Beijing on June 24, the latest list includes over 30 textile and apparel brands, covering the entire chain from raw materials to sportswear and home textiles. Eight brands—Erdos, Hengli, Weiqiao, Bosideng, JINBAO, Qipai, Anta, and Yueda—have entered the hundred-billion yuan club, solidifying the foundation of the industry's brand power.
Accelerated Brand Tier Differentiation: Battle Between Billion-Yuan Club and Mid-Tier Brands
The total brand value of the top 500 reached 45.29 trillion yuan, up 7.76% year-on-year, with the entry threshold rising to 5.089 billion yuan. The number of billion-yuan brands expanded to 146, with the textile and apparel sector contributing eight, or about 5.5% of the total. This proportion roughly matches the industry's role in the national economy, but what deserves more attention is the growing differentiation among brand tiers.
Billion-yuan brands like Erdos, Hengli, and Weiqiao represent the leading force in the industry's transformation from 'manufacturing' to 'intelligent manufacturing.' These companies typically have complete industrial chain layouts, from upstream chemical fibers and textiles to downstream garment production, creating scale effects and technological barriers. Brands like Bosideng and Anta, meanwhile, have built strong consumer recognition through continuous category innovation and global operations.
In contrast, many mid-tier brands, such as HLA, Li-Ning, and Peacebird, have values between tens of billions and hundreds of billions of yuan. These brands have completed the shift from wholesale to retail models over the past decade, but room for improving brand premium remains, given consumption segmentation and channel fragmentation. For buyers, top-tier brands mean more stable supply chains and quality control, but mid-tier brands often offer greater flexibility and cost-effectiveness.
AI Influence Index: A New Dimension of Brand Competition
The most significant change in this year's list is the World Brand Lab's first-time inclusion of an AI influence index in its evaluation. This means that a brand's exposure in AI ecosystems, its algorithmic recommendation weight, and its frequency of being invoked by large language models are becoming new yardsticks for measuring brand assets.
Professor Xu Jing from Peking University's Guanghua School of Management noted that in the digital intelligence era, a brand is no longer just a 'knowledge structure in consumers' minds' but a complex system co-maintained by consumers, platforms, algorithms, content, and communities. For the textile and apparel industry, this shift has profound implications. In the past, brand building relied on advertising, channel distribution, and word-of-mouth; in the future, brands must also secure favorable positions in AI 'answer engines.'
A concrete example: when a consumer asks an AI assistant 'recommend winter thermal fabrics,' which brands' information will the algorithm prioritize? If a brand's structured data (e.g., product parameters, user reviews, technical patents) is insufficient online, or if it hasn't established data interfaces with major AI platforms, it may be excluded from recommendations. This means brand building is no longer just a marketing investment but a multidimensional effort involving data governance, content ecosystems, and technical partnerships.
From OEM to Brand: Industry Transformation Under Four Drivers
The collective rise of textile and apparel brands on the list essentially reflects the industry's shift away from low-cost OEM tags toward high-quality development. The World Brand Lab's report identifies four key drivers: technological innovation, cultural empowerment, green and low-carbon practices, and global operations.
In terms of technological innovation, giants like Hengli and Rongsheng Petrochemical have made breakthroughs in functional fibers and bio-based materials, giving Chinese fabrics pricing power in the global mid-to-high-end market. For cultural empowerment, brands like Li-Ning and Anta have built emotional connections with younger consumers by integrating traditional cultural elements. On the green front, brands like Erdos have implemented traceable, sustainable production standards in the cashmere supply chain, meeting international buyers' ESG requirements. For global operations, brands like Bosideng and Anta are evolving from 'Chinese brands' to 'global brands' through overseas acquisitions and channel expansion.
For foreign trade companies, this trend means: pure OEM orders will become increasingly difficult to sustain profits, and suppliers with brand premium capabilities will hold the upper hand in customer negotiations. For domestic buyers, the updated brand list provides a reference dimension for screening quality suppliers—those with both technical strength, brand influence, and AI visibility are more likely to stay ahead in future market competition.