On July 1, 2026, the Party Committee of the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) organized a themed event covering over 700 party members and cadres. This was not just an internal ceremony but a clear signal that the textile industry is shifting from scale-driven expansion to a new phase of high-quality development guided by a correct view of performance.
Shift in Governance Logic
According to publicly available data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the industrial value-added growth rate of textile enterprises above designated size slowed to 3.2% in 2025, with export growth dropping to 1.8%. During this period of speed adjustment, CNTAC President Sun Ruizhe, in a special party lecture, systematically elaborated on five dimensions of the 'correct view of performance': political direction, value pursuit, scientific decision-making, pragmatic action, and party-building leadership. This implies that industry authorities will no longer purely pursue short-term indicators like output value or export volume, but will incorporate 'serving the people' and 'withstanding practical tests' into the evaluation system.
This shift has direct implications for enterprises: the logic of policy resource allocation will change. The previous path of expanding capacity or competing on low prices to gain subsidies or policy favor may give way to long-term values such as technological innovation, green transformation, and social responsibility.
Institutional Signals Behind the Ceremony
The event featured three key ceremonies: oath-taking for new party members, awarding of '50 Years in the Party' medals, and the presentation of seals to newly restructured grassroots party organizations. While seemingly routine, these ceremonies point to the three-tier institutional arrangements of industry governance:
- Oath-taking for new members signals a shift towards younger, more professional talent development. The involvement of party-building liaisons, trade union, and Communist Youth League representatives suggests that the industry organization is strengthening political inclusion of young technical backbone and frontline managers.
- The awarding of '50 Years in the Party' medals institutionalizes recognition of veteran industry experts. Amid the digital and green transformation of the textile industry, the experience-transfer mechanism of older generation technical experts is now backed by organizational guarantees.
- The presentation of seals to newly restructured grassroots organizations reflects an optimization of the association's internal structure. The 'main venue + sub-venues' format, with 42 sub-venues, indicates that organizational coverage is extending from headquarters to industrial clusters.
For enterprises in textile clusters like Keqiao, Shengze, and Nantong, this means communication channels with industry organizations may become more streamlined, and policy transmission efficiency is likely to improve.
Warning on Performance View Deviations
Sun Ruizhe candidly identified three risks of performance view deviation: pragmatism undermining political stance, departmentalism impacting overall development, and short-termism affecting long-term growth. These directly address industry pain points.
Pragmatism manifests as some enterprises or association departments focusing only on short-term orders and profits, neglecting compliance and brand building. Departmentalism is reflected in a lack of coordination across the supply chain (e.g., chemical fibers, fabrics, apparel), leading to coexistence of overcapacity and innovation deficiency. Short-termism is evident in avoidance of long-term investments in environmental protection and labor.
Industry public data corroborates these risks: capacity utilization in the textile sector fell to 76.3% in 2025, below the industrial average; meanwhile, R&D intensity was only 1.2%, far below the manufacturing average of 1.8%. Against the backdrop of export pressure and weak domestic demand, correcting performance view deviations may become a focus of the next round of policy adjustments.
Transmission Effects on Industrial Clusters
The event emphasized that 'high-quality development of the association fundamentally depends on party leadership, and the key lies in party building.' This means CNTAC will engage more deeply in the governance of industrial clusters.
- For chemical fiber enterprises in Shengze: the association may push for stricter capacity replacement mechanisms to curb low-end duplication.
- For bedding enterprises in Nantong: combining party building with brand building could spawn a number of 'red factory' demonstration projects.
- For fabric traders in Keqiao: as policy orientation shifts from 'quantity' to 'quality', export tax rebates and credit support may tilt towards enterprises with independent design and environmental certifications.