One in five sweaters worldwide comes from Dalang, Dongguan—a statistic repeatedly cited at the 95th International Wool Textile Conference, reflecting the agglomeration effect of China's textile industrial belt and its irreplaceable role in the global supply chain. On June 24, the conference opened in Dalang, where Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), delivered a keynote speech with a core judgment: China's textile industry is providing certainty for the stability of the global industry.
Industrial Belt Data: The Weight of Scale
Dalang, as a renowned wool knitting town, produces over 900 million garments annually, with the entire industrial chain's annual transaction value exceeding 72 billion yuan. This data is not an isolated case. China's textile industry processes over 60 million tons of fiber annually, producing more than 70 billion garments, accounting for over 50% of the global total. With exports exceeding $300 billion for six consecutive years, strong exports of intermediate goods like chemical fibers and fabrics directly support the smooth operation of the global supply chain. For buyers, this means China's textile sector is not only a price trough but also a ballast for supply stability.
Smart Transformation: From Manufacturing to Intelligent Manufacturing
The conference theme, 'Smart Weaving the Future: Wool's Health and Digital Life,' is not an empty slogan. Sun Ruizhe disclosed key indicators: the digitalization rate of key links in the entire industry reached 63.2%, higher than the national manufacturing average; in 2024, 30 textile enterprises were included in the 5G factory list. A more concrete example comes from Jiangsu Yueda Textile's 'Lighthouse Factory'—the number of workers per 10,000 spindles decreased by about 70%, labor productivity increased more than fourfold, unit energy consumption dropped by 15%, and processing costs fell by 26%. For factories, this means smart manufacturing is no longer a concept but a quantifiable path to cost reduction and efficiency improvement.
The penetration rate of AI in the textile industry is accelerating. Semir's AI-aided design system increased R&D efficiency by 35%, with pattern design efficiency improving by over 200%; Bosideng's 'AI Aesthetic Brain' reduced sample development costs by over 60%. These data points indicate a trend: AI integration across design, production, and management is reshaping the industry's cost structure. For small and medium-sized factories, failing to follow up on smart upgrades may lead to a widening cost gap in the future.
Green and Brand: Dual Drivers of Value Addition
The accelerated application of green technologies like non-aqueous dyeing and digital printing is changing the environmental footprint of the textile industry. Improvements in resource utilization efficiency and pollutant control directly impact carbon footprint requirements for export markets. Meanwhile, brand building has become a new dimension of industrial value. Companies like Anta and Shein have entered the global brand top 500, while Hengli, Weiqiao, Erdos, and Shenzhou International have deeply engaged in international division of labor through cross-border M&A and global layout. For buyers, this means Chinese suppliers are evolving from simple processors to comprehensive service providers with branding and green credentials.
Resilience Under Pressure: 2025 Start-up Data
Despite external pressures such as geopolitical conflicts and energy fluctuations, China's textile industry showed resilience in the first four months of 2025: revenue of enterprises above designated size decreased by 0.3% year-on-year, but total profit increased by 19.3%, with a revenue profit margin of 2.9%. Retail sales of clothing, footwear, hats, and textiles by units above designated size increased by 8.1% year-on-year, up 5 percentage points from the same period last year. From January to May, textile and apparel exports reached $116.73 billion, a slight increase of 0.1% year-on-year, with textile exports up 1.7% and apparel exports down 1.6%. Profit growth outpacing revenue indicates that the industry is offsetting cost pressures through efficiency improvements and product structure optimization.