One out of every five sweaters in the world is produced in Dalang, Dongguan. This knitting industry cluster, with an annual transaction volume exceeding 72 billion yuan, is now undergoing a cultural gene implantation and reshaping. On June 25, the 10th Textile Intangible Heritage Conference was held at the Dalang Knitting Trade Center. The core signal from this event, jointly organized by the industry association and local government, is that textile intangible heritage is moving from museums to factories, transforming from craft samples into product competitiveness.
Cluster Scale and Heritage Landing
Dalang's knitting industry started in the 1980s, evolving from a 'three-plus-one' processing base into a global supply chain hub. This town-level region now hosts 30,000 knitting market entities, employs over 200,000 people across the entire chain, and produces about 900 million sweaters annually. In 2025, the total chain transaction volume reached 72 billion yuan, aiming for a 100-billion-yuan cluster.
This scale means that for textile intangible heritage, Dalang is not a niche craft experiment field but an industrial platform with scale conversion capabilities. Heritage techniques are no longer isolated exhibits but can directly interface with a manufacturing system producing 900 million sweaters per year. This scale advantage is a prerequisite for heritage to move from 'living inheritance' to 'scalable application'.
Dual Drivers: Policy and Industry
Deng Xiaoding, Second-level Inspector of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, proposed four suggestions at the conference: preserving tradition to pass on skills, empowering industries through culture, innovating scenarios to bring heritage into life, and collaborative governance for ecological growth. These four points target key links in heritage industrialization: skill preservation, value conversion, market alignment, and ecosystem building.
Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, further clarified the direction in his keynote report. He stated that textile intangible heritage is a vital resource for enhancing industrial value, a key carrier for increasing cultural influence, and an important lever for promoting common prosperity. He emphasized the judgment that 'heritage is a way of life,' implying that the core of heritage transformation lies not in craft replication but in converting traditional weaving wisdom into product language under contemporary consumption scenarios.
Dalang Sample: Benchmark Enterprise Practices
Dalang has cultivated several benchmark 'knitting + heritage' enterprises. Impression Grassland focuses on the high-end cashmere track, integrating heritage techniques into luxury product systems. Tongmen Clothing combines traditional Chaozhou hand-hook techniques with modern computerized knitting technology, achieving industrial reproduction of traditional skills. Zhouhong Clothing emphasizes deep integration of aesthetics and knitting craftsmanship. The commonality among these enterprises is that they do not simply print heritage patterns on sweaters; they systematically embed heritage genes into the production process, from yarn selection and structure design to finishing processes.
For buyers, this means 'heritage' is no longer just a marketing label but a quantifiable quality premium. When traditional hand-hook techniques achieve standardized mass production through computerized knitting, and when indigo dyeing combines with cashmere fabric to create unique textures, the product's differentiated competitiveness naturally emerges.
Commercial Transformation: From Product to Lifestyle
The salon session at the conference focused on commercial transformation paths for textile heritage. The practice of Ninghang Batik in Danzhai, Guizhou, shows that the key to heritage commercialization is 'letting those who know the craft keep the roots, and letting those who understand the market open the door.' Beijing Fashion Week proposed a five-point transformation path: 'build a platform, redesign, integrate scenarios, expand industries, and break circles.' The case shared by Douyin (TikTok) on the commercial transformation of Zhuang brocade demonstrated how digital channels accelerate market penetration of heritage products.
These cases reveal a trend: the commercial transformation of textile heritage is extending from single categories to lifestyle systems—not just clothing, but also home textiles, accessories, and cultural products. For foreign trade enterprises, this means heritage elements can serve as the core narrative of brand stories, helping Chinese textiles establish cultural identity in overseas markets.
Youth Power and Future Ecosystem
The 'Origin of Heritage - China Heritage Youth Design Support Project Plan,' initiated by the CNTAC Heritage Office in conjunction with Beijing Fashion Week, was a key outcome of the conference. The plan provides a display platform for independent designers, brand managers, and young inheritors, aiming to push heritage inheritance from 'passing the torch' to 'endless continuity.'
This move addresses a long-standing industry pain point: the age gap among heritage inheritors. By supporting young design talent, heritage techniques can connect with modern aesthetic systems, avoiding being reduced to museum specimens. For industry clusters, the involvement of young designers means faster product iteration and higher market sensitivity.