Two-Way Empowerment of Intangible Heritage and Knitting Industry: Dalang Model Unveils Path for New Quality Transformation in Textiles

A county-level town's knitting industry cluster is writing a new chapter for the living transmission of textile intangible cultural heritage. On June 25, the 10th China Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference was held at the Dalang Knitting Trade Center in Dongguan, with the theme 'Intangible Heritage Symbiosis, Weaving the Future.' Unlike previous editions that focused solely on skill preservation, this conference explicitly centered on the two-way empowerment of textile heritage and the knitting industry, sending a strong signal of transformation from 'cultural symbol' to 'industrial engine.'

Industrial Foundation: Dalang's Ambition for a Hundred-Billion-Yuan Cluster

Dalang's knitting industry began in the 1980s as a processing base for 'three supplies and one compensation' processing. It has evolved into the world's largest and most complete knitting industry cluster. Data shows Dalang has 30,000 knitting market entities, over 200,000 employees across the entire industrial chain, and produces approximately 900 million sweaters annually—meaning one out of every five sweaters globally is made in Dalang. In 2025, the total transaction value of the entire industrial chain exceeded 72 billion yuan, moving toward a hundred-billion-yuan cluster. This industrial scale provides a natural testing ground for large-scale implementation of intangible heritage techniques.

Policy Direction: Heritage Is Not a 'Museum Specimen'

Deng Xiaoding, Second-Level Inspector of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of MIIT, stated clearly at the conference that promoting the living transmission and innovative transformation of textile intangible heritage is both a necessary requirement for inheriting Chinese culture and an important path for cultivating new quality productive forces in the textile industry and building a modern industrial system. He proposed four suggestions: preserving the fundamentals to pass down traditional skills, empowering with culture to integrate heritage value into industry, innovating scenarios to bring heritage charm into daily life, and coordinating governance to foster a thriving heritage ecosystem. This positioning elevates intangible heritage from a 'protected object' to an 'industrial resource,' signaling systematic policy recognition of the industrialization path for textile heritage.

Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, further elaborated in his keynote report that textile heritage is an important resource for enhancing industrial value, a vital carrier for strengthening cultural influence, and a key lever for promoting common prosperity. He emphasized that heritage is a living tradition that evolves with time, and profound changes in technology, industry, and market ecology have opened new spaces for heritage innovation. This means heritage transformation is no longer about simply 'labeling' products but requires systematic value reconstruction from three dimensions: lifestyle, cultural assets, and regional identity.

Implementation Path: From 'Single Product' to 'Lifestyle'

Two major outcomes released at the conference provided concrete tools for heritage industrialization. The '2025/2026 China Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Report' systematically reviews annual core achievements and a decade of progress, offering authoritative decision-making references for the industry. Meanwhile, the CNTAC Heritage Office, in collaboration with Beijing Fashion Week, launched the 'Heritage·Source Innovation—China Intangible Heritage Youth Design Support Project Plan,' aimed at providing a showcase platform for young designers and brand principals, driving heritage transmission from 'passing the torch' to 'continuous vitality.'

In practical terms, Dalang has cultivated a group of benchmark 'knitting + heritage' enterprises. Impression Park focuses on the high-end cashmere track; Tongmen Fashion integrates traditional Chaozhou hand-hook techniques with modern computer knitting technology; Zhouhong Fashion emphasizes deep integration of aesthetics and knitting craftsmanship. Professor Guo Ruiping from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology shared in her presentation that the key to heritage transformation lies in multi-dimensional and multi-level enhancement and reshaping of cognition, emphasizing adaptation to local conditions. She stressed that heritage transmission and innovation fundamentally connect traditional and contemporary lifestyles and production methods, and transformation design should prioritize contemporaneity, fashionability, livability, industrialization, and the integration of cultural tourism with industry.

Commercial Transformation: Keep the Roots, Open the Door

In the salon session on 'Commercial Transformation Paths and Applications of Textile Heritage,' Ning Manli, Chairwoman of Guizhou Danzhai Ninghang Batik Co., Ltd., put forward a core viewpoint: let those who understand craftsmanship keep the roots, and let those who understand the market open the door—the roots cannot be lost, and the door cannot be closed. This statement accurately captures the balance challenge faced by heritage industrialization. Tao Yanjie, General Manager of Impression Park brand, shared how to drive heritage from single products to a lifestyle. Ge Liang, Project Manager of ByteDance's CSR Department, used the example of Douyin's 'Heritage Outfit' campaign this year to demonstrate the successful commercial transformation of Zhuang brocade.

In the session on 'Design Innovation Empowering the Future of Textile Heritage,' Chen Cheng, Technical Director of Nanjing Yunjin Museum, shared the activation practices of Yunjin in contemporary design, emphasizing how to bring Yunjin into ordinary households. She Yulei, representative inheritor of Chaozhou embroidery, analyzed the integration of Chaozhou embroidery techniques with modern fashion from a stratified perspective. Yue Yuan, Curator of Shenyang Weaving and Embroidery Museum, explored new approaches to heritage IP development and market-oriented operations from the perspective of museum cultural creativity.

Practical Recommendations

For Buyers - Prioritize industry clusters that have formed a closed loop of 'heritage + industry' (such as Dalang knitting), as products from these regions offer both cultural premium and large-scale delivery capability. - When selecting products, focus on whether companies possess 'design transformation capability' rather than mere 'technique replication capability'—the latter leads to product homogenization, while the former creates differentiated value. - Monitor policy support directions: MIIT and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism have explicitly included heritage industrialization in the scope of new quality productive forces cultivation, and related companies may receive supporting benefits in taxation, exhibition space, and promotion.

For Foreign Trade Enterprises - Products with heritage elements have cultural recognition advantages in international markets, but attention must be paid to 'contemporization' design—direct replication of traditional patterns may not match overseas consumption scenarios; introducing local design teams for secondary creation is recommended. - The 'knitting + heritage' model of the Dalang cluster is highly replicable; foreign trade enterprises should proactively connect with similar industrial belts and use heritage elements as a differentiated entry point for product upgrades. - Pay attention to operational cases of 'heritage outfit' content on platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu, as such digital communication methods are becoming important traffic entry points for heritage commercialization.