One out of every five sweaters globally is produced in Dalang, Dongguan. This small town in the Pearl River Delta produces approximately 900 million sweaters annually, with a total industrial chain transaction value exceeding 72 billion yuan, and is now racing toward a 100-billion-yuan cluster. On June 25, the 10th China Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference was held here, directly linking millennia-old textile heritage with the world-renowned knitting industry belt. The underlying logic is clear: cultural empowerment is not just an embellishment but a rigid demand for industrial upgrading.
Industry Data and Heritage Landing
Dalang's knitting industry began in the 1980s, evolving from a 'three-plus-one' processing base into the world's largest and most complete knitting cluster. Currently, the area hosts 30,000 knitting market entities, employing over 200,000 people across the entire chain. In 2025, the total transaction value exceeded 72 billion yuan, with an annual output of about 900 million garments. This scale means that even a tiny increase in cultural added value can generate significant economic growth.
The conference's location in Dalang was no coincidence. Deng Xiaoding, second-level inspector of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, noted that promoting the living inheritance and innovative transformation of textile heritage is both a necessity for passing on Chinese culture and a key path for cultivating new productive forces in the textile industry. Dalang's complete industrial chain provides a natural testing ground for deep integration of heritage and industry.
Two-Way Empowerment: From Single Products to Lifestyle
The integration of heritage and the knitting industry is moving from concept to practice. Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, emphasized in his keynote that textile heritage is an important resource for enhancing industrial value and a vital carrier for increasing cultural influence. He proposed that heritage should merge with the service economy, intelligent economy, and science-and-technology economy to find value models, reshape value ecosystems, and create value fulcrums.
At the product level, Professor Guo Ruiping from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology showcased the feasibility of deeply integrating heritage techniques with knitted products through her 24 solar terms series and the 'Walking in Light' systematic innovation plan. She believes the key to heritage transformation lies in multi-dimensional cognitive improvement, emphasizing contemporaneity, fashion, lifestyle integration, and industrialization, while preserving spirit and temperament and innovating in materials, form, and production methods.
Local Dalang enterprises provide industry-side samples. Yinxiang Prairie focuses on the high-end cashmere track; Tongmen Fashion integrates traditional Chaozhou hand-hook techniques with modern computerized knitting; Zhouhong Fashion emphasizes deep integration of aesthetics and knitting craftsmanship. These cases show that 'knitting + heritage' is not a simple label but a systematic reconstruction from design and craftsmanship to the supply chain.
Institutional Support and Talent Relay
The conference released two major outcomes. The '2025/2026 China Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Report' systematically reviews annual core achievements and a decade of progress, providing an authoritative annual reference for decision-making. Meanwhile, the CNTAC Heritage Office, in collaboration with Beijing Fashion Week, launched the 'Heritage·Origin—China Intangible Heritage Youth Design Support Project Plan,' providing a platform for independent designers, brand owners, and young inheritors to showcase their work.
This initiative addresses an industry pain point: heritage inheritance needs to move from 'passing the torch' to 'endless vitality.' Ning Manli, Chairman of Guizhou Danzhai Ninghang Batik, expressed a representative view during the salon: let those who understand craftsmanship keep the roots, and let those who understand the market open the door—roots cannot be lost, and doors cannot be closed. This division of labor model offers a workable path for the commercial transformation of heritage.