China's textile and garment industry is at a crossroads, transitioning from scale leadership to value leadership. The recent 'Textile and Garment Excellence Brand Cultivation Action Plan (2026-2028)', jointly issued by five ministries, provides a clear institutional path for this transformation. The plan sets a quantitative target of cultivating at least 25 excellent brands within three years, along with the development of an evaluation index system—a first in the history of China's textile industry.
Strategic Shift Behind Quantitative Targets
The target of 'at least 25 brands' is not a simple number but a signal to direct quality resources. Sun Ruizhe, President of CNTAC, noted that this reflects a 'quality-first, excellence-selection' orientation, shifting from quantity expansion to concentrated support for brands with technological depth, cultural confidence, and market potential.
For buyers and foreign trade enterprises, this signals that over the next three years, a cohort of officially endorsed, internationally competitive brands will emerge from China's textile supply chain. Their growth path will no longer rely on low-cost manufacturing but on three pillars: technological innovation, oriental aesthetics, and responsible development.
From Gut Feeling to Scientific Measurement
The simultaneous development of the evaluation index system is another noteworthy institutional innovation. In the past, brand value assessment often relied on market intuition or vague third-party scores. Sun emphasized that the system will 'make excellence measurable and actionable,' pushing brand building from empirical judgment to scientific evaluation.
This means that brand investments by textile enterprises will become quantifiable assets. For investors and buyers, this system will significantly reduce the screening cost of identifying quality brands, accelerating the efficient allocation of industry resources.
Six Implementation Levers by Industry Organizations
CNTAC will advance the plan through six key actions, forming a complete loop from incubation to empowerment:
- **Establish an incubation mechanism**: Build a tiered, dynamic brand cultivation system to support promising brands early on.
- **Provide brand diagnostic services**: Deploy professional teams to help brands identify weaknesses and leverage strengths.
- **Promote brand stories**: Uncover cultural roots and innovative practices to enhance brand narratives.
- **Build public service platforms**: Integrate design, technology, and channel resources to reduce costs and increase efficiency for brand growth.
- **Integrate cultural tourism**: Bring brands into consumer scenarios, enhancing user connection through immersive experiences.
- **Strengthen talent development**: Cultivate professionals with design acumen, business savvy, and global vision.
Ripple Effects Across Industrial Clusters and Categories
This plan will first create ripple effects in traditional textile clusters such as Keqiao, Shengze, and Nantong. These regions have massive fabric and home textile production capacity but varying degrees of brand maturity. The emphasis on 'cultural confidence' and 'oriental aesthetics' will push these clusters to transform from OEM to original design, particularly in categories like silk and embroidery, where cultural identity is strong.
For upstream categories like chemical fibers and yarns, the brand impact is more indirect. However, the 'technological innovation' orientation will drive upstream companies to invest in branding for functional fibers and green materials, creating a full-value-chain brand matrix from raw materials to finished garments.