The textile industry belt in Keqiao is undergoing a deep shift from a 'money-printing machine' to a 'technology battle.' The transformation path offered by Chen Biao, general manager of Shaoxing Hongxin Printing, a local enterprise rooted for over three decades, may provide a replicable blueprint for peers: smart transformation without piling up equipment, overseas market share soaring to 90%, AI tools integrated into pattern development, and an industrial park ecosystem for cost reduction. These moves represent a systematic correction of the traditional extensive model by the 'fabric second generation.'
From 'Good Wine Needs No Bush' to Global Customization
Hongxin Printing started in 1993, when the printing industry was dubbed the 'money-printing industry.' A single printing paper costing only 1.5 yuan could be reused 5 to 8 times, with the first run covering costs. By 1996, the company's assets had exceeded one million yuan. But after taking over, Chen Biao's generation made a different judgment: industry dividends are fading, and competition is no longer about production scale but product quality and market adaptability.
His most aggressive move was restructuring the market. Currently, 90% of Hongxin Printing's products are exported to overseas markets including South America, the Middle East, and Africa, completely breaking the early pattern of domestic sales dominance. The team tailors differentiated printing solutions for regional aesthetic preferences: South American markets favor clean, minimalist 'stone cloth' fabrics, while the Middle East prefers high-saturation dark prints. This strong market adaptability has become the company's core advantage for going global, also hedging against single-market volatility.
Smart Transformation: Efficiency over Capacity
Chen Biao's approach to capacity upgrade diverges sharply from industry norms. He explicitly states: 'To increase output, we cannot blindly add equipment; the core is achieving a qualitative leap in production efficiency through smart transformation.' Previously, a workshop could only complete 8,000 meters of fabric printing in 10 hours; now, with digital and smart equipment iterations, production efficiency continues to rise.
This strategy of precise investment and efficiency improvement is underpinned by the strategic foundation laid in 2006 with the construction of a new factory. The company built a standardized modern factory of over 16,000 square meters on 15 mu of self-owned land, with 1,800 square meters for self-use and the remaining area meticulously planned for optimal space utilization. The new factory not only provides physical space for equipment upgrades but also serves as a carrier for subsequent smart transformation.
AI Goes Live: From Manual Proofing to One-Click Fabric Texture Generation
Digital transformation is a key breakthrough area for Chen Biao. He focuses on the AI Cloth mini-program launched by the China Textile City Group, viewing it as a core tool for textile practitioners to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Traditional pattern proofing is cumbersome: engraving, sewing samples, photographing physical products, and recording display videos—a time-consuming process. With the mini-program's fabric visual creation function, uploading a single image allows AI to automatically generate realistic fabric texture and produce a one-click fabric application video, including drape texture and model dynamics.
Digital tools drastically shorten pattern development time, enabling quick response to customer sample requests and effectively increasing order conversion rates. However, Chen Biao maintains a rational view of AI: 'AI is an efficient design aid, but core creativity still requires the artisan's touch. We independently develop one to two thousand new patterns each year. After AI generates initial drafts, manual screening, adjustment, and professional color optimization are needed to meet the diverse and personalized order requirements of global customers.'
Industry-Academia Collaboration + Park Ecosystem: Escaping Low-Price Competition
Facing industry chaos of low-price homogeneous competition, Chen Biao has established 'differentiation through patented technology' as a core strategy. The company leverages an industry-academia-research integration model, collaborating with university research resources and recruiting high-end technical talent to focus on breakthroughs in market gaps, developing multiple scarce functional patented printing products. In the future, cutting-edge functional technologies like cooling and radiation protection will be deeply integrated with traditional printing to create high-value functional fabrics, significantly enhancing profit per meter.
More notably, Chen Biao has proposed an 'industrial park ecosystem' concept. The company will comprehensively plan and activate idle and underutilized resources in the existing park, precisely introducing upstream and downstream supporting enterprises such as printing and lamination to build a complete industrial ecosystem. Through collaborative production within the park, cross-factory logistics, communication, and coordination costs can be significantly reduced, enabling sharing of core resources like raw materials, equipment, and customers, and retaining the entire industry chain's profit.