One out of every five sweaters globally comes from Dalang. This small town in Dongguan produces over 900 million garments annually, with a full-chain transaction value exceeding RMB 72 billion. These figures were highlighted at the opening of the 95th International Wool Textile Conference on June 24, but they are not just a report card; they mark the coordinates of China's wool textile industry transitioning from scale expansion to quality leapfrog.
Resilience Behind the Data
Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, disclosed key data: from January to April this year, revenue of large-scale textile enterprises fell 0.3% year-on-year, but total profit surged 19.3%, with a revenue profit margin of 2.9%. This indicates a shift from "thin profit, high volume" to "quality and efficiency." Retail sales of garments, shoes, hats, and knitwear by units above the designated size totaled RMB 512.13 billion, up 8.1% year-on-year, accelerating by 5 percentage points from the previous year. Consumer-side recovery provides a cushion for the wool textile chain.
Export structure also shifted subtly. From January to May, textile and garment exports reached $116.73 billion, up 0.1%, with textile exports rising 1.7% to $59.48 billion, while garment exports fell 1.6% to $57.24 billion. The resilience of intermediate goods exports over final products suggests China's role as a "component" supplier in the global supply chain remains solid.
Technology Roadmap: AI and Green Dual Track
The conference theme "Smart Weave Future, Wool Health and Digital Life" is no empty talk. Sun noted the global AI market reached $757.58 billion in 2025, growing 18.7% year-on-year, expected to exceed $900 billion by 2026. In textiles, AI has penetrated design, production, and quality inspection. For example, Jiangsu Yueda Textile's "Lighthouse Factory" reduced labor per 10,000 spindles by about 70%, quadrupled labor productivity, cut energy consumption by 15%, and reduced processing costs by 26%. Semir's AI-assisted design system boosted R&D efficiency by 35% and pattern design by over 200%. Bosideng's "AI Aesthetics Brain" lowered sample development costs by over 60%.
Green technologies are accelerating. Non-aqueous dyeing and digital printing have improved resource efficiency. High-performance fiber capacity now accounts for over one-third of global capacity, with applications expanding from traditional apparel to aerospace and marine engineering. This means the wool industry is no longer just about "wearing" but about "using."
Brand Going Global: From OEM to Global Voice
Anta and SHEIN have entered the 2026 GYBrand World Top 500. Hengli, Weiqiao, Erdos, and Shenzhou International are deeply embedding into local economies through cross-border M&A and global capacity layout. The logic of branding is changing: it's no longer pure OEM or ODM, but building value recognition in target markets through multi-brand operations and localization.
For industrial clusters like Dalang, branding means upgrading from "origin" to "place of origin." One in five sweaters globally comes from Dalang, but without turning "Made in Dalang" into brand premium, scale advantages will eventually face price competition from emerging production bases like Southeast Asia.