One out of every five sweaters worldwide is produced in Dalang, Dongguan. This small town in the Pearl River Delta, with an annual garment output exceeding 900 million pieces and a full-industry-chain transaction value surpassing 72 billion yuan, has become an indispensable node in the global wool supply chain. The 95th International Wool Textile Conference was held here not by coincidence—it underscores the evolution of China's wool industry from a manufacturing base to a technology hub and market bellwether.
Industry Stability and Structural Divergence
China's textile industry scale remains the ballast of the global supply chain. Annual fiber processing exceeds 60 million tons, garment production surpasses 70 billion pieces, and exports have exceeded $300 billion for six consecutive years. However, data from January to April 2025 reveals a more nuanced picture: revenue of large-scale enterprises fell 0.3% year-on-year, while total profit surged 19.3%, pushing the profit margin to 2.9%. This contrast indicates a shift from scale-driven to efficiency-driven growth—companies improved profitability through technology upgrades and cost control despite revenue pressure.
Structural divergence is also evident. Retail sales of garments, shoes, hats, and knitwear grew 8.1% year-on-year, showing resilient domestic demand. Yet textile and apparel exports edged up only 0.1%, with garment exports falling 1.6%. The gap between domestic and foreign demand reflects increasing global consumption stratification. The IMF has lowered its 2026 global growth forecast to 3.1%, and geopolitical tensions and shipping disruptions continue to disrupt order rhythms. Foreign trade companies must seek certainty amid uncertainty.
Technology Penetration: Efficiency Revolution from R&D to Workshop
R&D investment intensity among large-scale textile enterprises rose from 1% in 2020 to 1.3% in 2024, with a growing number of national-level innovation platforms. High-performance fiber capacity now accounts for over one-third of the global total. Behind these figures is a tangible leap in industrial competitiveness. For instance, the digitalization rate of key processes reached 63.2%, above the national manufacturing average. In 2024, 30 textile companies were included in the 5G factory list. Jiangsu Yueda Textile's 'Lighthouse Factory' offers quantifiable references: through smart manufacturing, labor per 10,000 spindles dropped by about 70%, labor productivity more than quadrupled, energy consumption fell by 15%, and processing costs decreased by 26%.
AI penetration in design and marketing is equally striking. Semir's AI-assisted design system improved overall R&D efficiency by 35% and doubled pattern design efficiency. Bosideng's 'AI Aesthetic Brain' reduced sample development costs by over 60%. These cases show that technology dividends are moving from single-point breakthroughs to full-chain coverage. For buyers, this means fundamental changes in suppliers' delivery cycles and cost structures.
Cluster Effect and Value Upgrade in Regional Industrial Belts
Dalang's rise is not an isolated case. The wool-knitting cluster, through upstream-downstream collaboration, has formed a closed-loop ecosystem of design, manufacturing, and trading. Behind the 72-billion-yuan transaction value is a network of over 10,000 small and medium enterprises. This agglomeration not only reduces logistics and communication costs but also accelerates technology diffusion—when one company adopts AI quality inspection or digital printing, nearby firms quickly follow suit, driving regional efficiency gains.
Meanwhile, the globalization of Chinese textile enterprises is deepening. Companies like Hengli, Weiqiao, Erdos, and Shenzhou International have expanded overseas through cross-border M&A and multi-brand operations. This 'going global' is no longer simple capacity relocation but systematic output of technology, brands, and channels. Brands like Anta and SHEIN have entered the global top 500, marking a leap from 'manufacturing label' to 'brand label' for Chinese textiles.