A knitting industrial cluster, where one out of every five sweaters worldwide is produced, is now moving from 'encounter' to 'symbiosis' with millennia-old textile intangible cultural heritage.
On June 25, the 10th China Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference was held in Dalang, Dongguan. Data released at the event is noteworthy: Dalang now has over 30,000 knitting-related market entities, a supply chain employing more than 200,000 people, an annual output of approximately 900 million sweaters, and a total supply chain transaction value exceeding 72 billion RMB in 2025. This means Dalang is not only the world's largest knitting processing base but also possesses the industrial capacity to scale up heritage techniques.
From 'Processing Trade' to 'Heritage + Industry'
Dalang's knitting industry began in the 1980s, initially processing orders from Hong Kong and Taiwan. After more than four decades, it has formed a complete closed loop from yarn materials, design and R&D, knitting and processing, to branding and marketing.
The local government explicitly aims to build a 100-billion-yuan knitting cluster, with 'intangible heritage' as the key resource for upgrading product value. For buyers, this means Dalang is no longer just a synonym for cost-effectiveness. Local companies like Yinxiang Grassland and Tongmen Fashion are integrating Chaoshan hand-hooking techniques and high-end cashmere with heritage elements, pushing products toward higher added value.
Policy Direction: Heritage Must Be 'Living'
Deng Xiaoding from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology proposed four key points: preserve the core, empower through culture, innovate in scenarios, and collaborate. The core logic is that heritage cannot remain in museums; it must enter daily life and consumer markets.
Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, emphasized that textile heritage must integrate with the service economy, intelligent economy, and technology-driven economy. This outlines three transformation paths:
- Service economy: shift from selling fabric to selling experiences;
- Intelligent economy: use digital tools to record and redesign heritage patterns;
- Technology-driven economy: apply new materials and processes to meet modern wearing needs.
Three Practical Directions for Commercialization
The conference also released the '2025/2026 China Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Report' and launched the 'Heritage·Original' young designer support program, providing industry data and a talent-platform connection.
In discussions on commercial transformation, Ning Manli from Danzhai Ninghang Batik pointed out that 'those who know the craft should keep the roots, and those who know the market should open the door' – highlighting the core mismatch between production and market capabilities.
Professor Guo Ruiping from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology provided a concrete solution: she transformed heritage elements like the 24 solar terms and indigo dyeing into knitwear collections, emphasizing that heritage transformation must be 'contemporary, fashionable, livable, and industrializable.'