A global knitting hub has seen its annual transaction volume exceed 72 billion yuan, producing nearly 900 million sweaters per year. This data comes from Dalang, Dongguan, a cluster that has grown from a 'three-plus-one' processing base. On June 25, the 10th Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference was held here, with the theme 'Intangible Heritage Symbiosis, Weaving the Future.' The core proposition is: when intangible heritage moves from museums to factories, can it become a new engine for industrial upgrading?
Industry Fundamentals: Cluster Effect Behind 72 Billion Yuan
The scale of Dalang's knitting industry is the most solid background of this conference. According to disclosed data, Dalang currently has 30,000 knitting market entities, employing over 200,000 people in the entire industrial chain, producing about 900 million sweaters annually. One out of every five sweaters globally is made in Dalang. In 2025, the annual transaction volume of the entire industrial chain exceeded 72 billion yuan. This scale means Dalang is not just a manufacturing base but also a pricing and circulation hub for global knitwear.
From an industrial chain perspective, Dalang's advantage lies in its 'completeness.' From yarn raw materials, computerized flat knitting machines, design and prototyping to finishing and sales, each link has a large number of market entities. This vertically integrated structure provides ready-made transformation scenarios for the implantation of intangible heritage techniques—no longer isolated craft displays but directly connectable to mass production and markets.
Policy and Industry Consensus: Intangible Heritage as an Asset
Deng Xiaoding, a second-level inspector from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, proposed four suggestions: preserving the fundamentals, empowering with culture, innovating scenarios, and collaborative governance. The industry interpretation of these four points is that intangible heritage protection cannot remain at the 'museum level'; it must enter consumption scenarios and become tradable, reusable industrial resources.
Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, further clarified the path in his keynote report. He proposed that intangible heritage needs to integrate into the service economy, smart economy, and science and technology economy. This means future heritage transformation will not just be superficial operations like 'printing embroidery patterns on sweaters' but will reconstruct value models: for example, using AI-assisted design for digital generation of traditional patterns, or using live-streaming e-commerce to turn heritage stories into consumer decision-making factors.
The conference released the '2025/2026 China Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Report,' systematically reviewing annual achievements, and launched the 'Intangible Heritage·Original Creation' youth design support plan. The signal is clear: the industry needs young forces to break the stereotype of 'intangible heritage = old crafts' and transform it into a fashion language acceptable to Generation Z.
Enterprise Practice: From Single Product to Lifestyle
Cases from local Dalang enterprises demonstrate different levels of heritage transformation. Impression Plateau focuses on the high-end cashmere track, integrating heritage aesthetics into brand tone rather than simple labeling. Tongmen Clothing combines traditional Chaozhou hand-hooking techniques with modern computerized knitting technology, preserving handcraft texture while improving production efficiency. Zhouhong Clothing emphasizes the deep integration of aesthetics and knitting technology, trying to make heritage a fulcrum for product premium.
Professor Guo Ruiping's design cases from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology provide methodological references. She proposed that the key to heritage transformation is 'multi-dimensional and multi-level enhancement and reshaping of cognition.' Specifically, it should focus on contemporization, fashionization, lifestylization, and industrialization. This means designers should not only look at patterns in museums but understand the wearing scenarios and functional needs of contemporary consumers.
Commercial Transformation: Platform and Channel Variables
In the salon session 'Commercial Transformation Path and Application of Textile Intangible Heritage,' the Douyin platform shared cases of intangible heritage fashion events: through short videos and live streaming, traditional crafts like Zhuang brocade achieved significant commercial conversion in a short period. This fact shows that heritage products do not lack market demand but lack channels and narrative methods to reach consumers.
For buyers and factories, this means reassessing the 'cultural added value' link in the supply chain. In the past, factories competed on cost and delivery time; in the future, the ability to provide heritage certification, design copyright, and cultural narratives may become new bargaining power.