China's garment industry stands on the eve of the 15th Five-Year Plan with a clear strategic target: to become a garment brand power by 2035. This judgment emerged from the 8th Second Council President Meeting of the China National Garment Association held in Huizhou on June 25. The meeting not only set a timeline but also revealed the industry's real operational status: export pressure, domestic sales growth, investment contraction, and profit strain. The industry is at a critical stage of transitioning from a manufacturing-based to a creative-driven sector.
Industry Operations: Short-term Pressure with Long-term Resilience
According to H1 2026 data disclosed at the meeting, garment exports showed a volatile downward trend due to weak international demand, geopolitical conflicts, and supply chain disruptions. Meanwhile, the domestic market maintained rapid growth driven by consumption-boosting policies, with production remaining stable. However, continuous investment contraction and severe profit pressure indicate a deep adjustment across the supply chain. Diversified consumer demand is reshaping the market: segments like guochao (national trend), outdoor sports, and silver economy are performing actively, with brands deepening omnichannel layouts. These structural bright spots provide a buffer for the industry.
Digitalization: A Paradigm Shift from Tools to Ecosystems
A notable insight came from Liu Chen, GM of Zhejiang Lingdi Digital Technology, who described a 'third paradigm shift.' The convergence of generative AI, industrial simulation, embodied intelligence, and organizational intelligence is restructuring the industry across three dimensions: design becomes human-AI co-creation, with designers evolving into curators of aesthetics, drastically shortening R&D cycles; manufacturing transforms into intelligent factories with autonomous perception, embedding tacit craftsmanship knowledge; supply chains break linear models into real-time collaborative networks among brands, factories, and consumers.
The case of Jeanswest under Xuri Group offers a replicable path. Since 2018, Jeanswest built a digital brand ecosystem focusing on product development, precision operations, and supply chain integration, collaborating with multiple universities. In 2025, it launched an AI agent matrix upgrade. This path shows digitalization is not about stacking single technologies but a systemic organizational capability rebuild.
Brand Strategy: Oriental Aesthetics and Long-termism as Consensus
During the meeting, enterprise representatives reached a clear consensus: brand building requires long-termism, and technology and culture are the dual engines for differentiation. For brands going global, companies should leverage cultural heritage and high-value products to shift from 'Made in China' to 'Created in China.' Oriental aesthetics are seen as a unique cultural asset in the global fashion context. In the digital age, a brand's values, aesthetic system, and spiritual core constitute an irreplaceable competitive moat.
This judgment is backed by market data: the rapid growth of domestic sales is largely driven by the rise of guochao consumption, while the vitality of outdoor sports and silver economy segments reflects consumers' growing demand for cultural identity and emotional experience beyond functional needs.
Industry Leap: Five Mindsets and Three Paths
Sun Ruizhe, President of China National Textile and Apparel Council, proposed five development mindsets: AI-native thinking for the intelligent economy, future industry planning for the tech-driven economy, experience value enhancement for the service economy, sustainable development for the responsible economy, and open development for the global economy. These mindsets correspond to three key leap paths: ambition—strengthen cultural and brand confidence to gain fashion discourse power; foundation—deepen basic innovation and craftsmanship; innovation—keep pace with digitalization and sustainability trends for continuous iteration.
For buyers and foreign trade companies, these trends mean supply chain selection criteria are fundamentally changing.