One out of every five sweaters worldwide comes from Dalang, Dongguan—a cluster producing 900 million sweaters annually that is now turning intangible heritage into a new growth engine. On June 24, the 10th Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference kicked off alongside the 23rd China (Dalang) Knitwear Trade Fair and the 95th International Wool Conference, creating a synergy of 'professional expo + cultural event + tourism experience.' For buyers and factories, this signals a fundamental shift in how the value of knitwear products is assessed.
Industrial Foundation Meets Cultural DNA
Dalang's GDP reached 47.37 billion yuan in 2024, with the wool knitwear industry as its backbone. Behind the 900 million-unit annual output lies a complete chain from spinning, weaving, dyeing to garment making. But scale alone can no longer sustain growth, as global orders shift to Southeast Asia and domestic competition intensifies. Cultural empowerment has become Dalang's chosen breakthrough.
The conference theme, 'Intangible Heritage Symbiosis: Weaving the Future,' centers on embedding Lingnan dyeing techniques and hand embroidery into knitwear design and production. Sun Ruizhe, president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, emphasized that consumers now value wellness, self-expression, and emotional connection—turning cultural resources into brand value is key to winning the next round of competition.
For factories, this sends a clear signal: the pure OEM model is fading. Companies with cultural storytelling capabilities will command higher pricing power.
Five Agreements Map the Industrialization Path
Several strategic agreements signed at the opening outline Dalang's concrete path for heritage industrialization. The 'Textile Intangible Heritage Standards and Certification Cooperation' between CNTAC's Non-heritage Office and Zhonglian Pinshi is particularly critical. Heritage products have long suffered from a lack of standards—consumers can't authenticate them, buyers can't assess quality. This partnership means a standardized framework is coming, paving the way for heritage products to enter mainstream markets.
Another agreement, 'Strategic Cooperation on Textile Heritage and Knitwear Product Innovation,' directly connects design with production. Participants include industry associations, town government, local firms like Impression Grassland, Xinhongfeng, and Lanmei, as well as top fashion designer Wang Dong and heritage inheritor Wan Gongxue. This five-party mechanism—government, association, enterprise, designer, inheritor—aims to solve the common disconnect between heritage skills and industrial production.
Additional agreements on quality service systems, brand supply-demand collaboration, and factory park investment cover quality improvement, market matching, and space expansion. From standard-setting to product development to sales channels, Dalang is building a complete heritage industrialization loop.
From Runway to Workshop: Heritage Activation in Practice
The most anticipated event was the heritage fashion show, divided into three chapters: 'Lin Qi,' 'Lin Xing,' and 'Lin Yao.' All garments adhered to the principle of 'Designed in Dalang, Made in Dalang, Presented in Dalang.' The core design motif—the Lingnan qilin pattern—is a patented product from local craftsman Wan Gongxue.
This means heritage elements are no longer simple decorative motifs but scalable products born from original design and industrial precision. Local firms like Impression Grassland have already integrated plant dyeing with cashmere and Song brocade with Xiangyunsha into actual production. For buyers, these products carry a cultural premium and exclusive competitiveness through patent protection.
Concurrent site visits included heritage project exhibitions, the Knitwear Trade Fair, Impression Grassland's factory, and the Caibian Fude Hall heritage experience point. From runway to workshop, from hall to ancient village, heritage has shifted from 'display in a glass case' to an immersive experience. For factories, this means adding a new phase—cultural research, design translation, and process validation—to the product development cycle.
Synergy of Three Events in One
The 'three events in one' model merits attention. The trade fair provides business matching, the international conference brings global insights, and the heritage conference adds cultural depth. They are not a simple combination but a synergy: orders from the fair can incorporate heritage elements for added value, and technical trends from the conference can refine heritage product craftsmanship.
Qu Hongqi, vice chairman of Dongguan CPPCC, noted that textiles and apparel are a key pillar of Dongguan's '8+8+4' modern industrial system. Dalang's practice essentially paves the way for the entire city's textile industry transformation—from labor-intensive manufacturing to culture-intensive creation.