Brand building is shifting from empirical judgment to scientific measurement, and China's textile industry is undergoing a systematic transformation from manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing and from products to brands. The 'Textile and Apparel Excellent Brand Cultivation Action Plan (2026-2028)', jointly issued by five Chinese ministries, sets a clear quantitative target: cultivate at least 25 excellent brands in three years, while establishing an evaluation index system. This marks a shift from market-driven brand growth to policy-guided and scientifically assessed development.
Policy Focus: From Scale-Oriented to Value-Oriented
The core of the plan is not merely a quantitative goal. Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), stated in a public interpretation that the textile and apparel industry, as a pillar of the national economy, is accelerating its transformation towards tech-textiles, fashion textiles, and green textiles. Cultivating excellent brands requires solidifying quality foundations through technological innovation, enriching cultural heritage with Eastern aesthetics, and enhancing brand warmth with responsible development. This reveals the underlying logic: brands are no longer just marketing labels but comprehensive carriers of technology, culture, and sustainability.
From an industrial cluster perspective, traditional textile hubs like Shengshengze in Jiangsu, Keqiao in Zhejiang, and Humen in Guangdong have historically focused on OEM and wholesale, with weak brand premium capabilities. The policy's emphasis on 'quality first, selecting the best among the best' implies that resources will concentrate on enterprises with R&D capabilities and cultural recognition. For small and medium-sized fabric suppliers, this may increase the brand threshold in the short term, but long-term, it offers an opportunity to escape price competition and enter high value-added orders.
Industry Impact: Six Directions to Complete the Brand Cultivation Chain
Sun Ruizhe outlined six key tasks to be advanced by CNTAC, which directly impact the operational strategies of upstream and downstream enterprises:
- Establish an incubation mechanism with dynamic management, requiring proactive engagement with industry organizations.
- Conduct brand diagnosis services, potentially spurring a new wave of textile-focused brand consultancies.
- Integrate brand storytelling with cultural tourism, suggesting that consumer experience upgrades will become a key source of brand premium, requiring home textile and apparel companies to prepare immersive marketing scenarios.
- Intensify talent cultivation for compound professionals with design, management, and global vision, reflecting urgent needs to transform traditional foreign trade talent structures.
For fabric buyers, the push for brand cultivation means upstream suppliers will focus more on quality stability and cultural narrative. Pure processing suppliers relying solely on price advantages may become marginalized in brand selection systems. Factories with independent design capabilities and eco-certifications will become preferred partners.
Practical Recommendations
For Buyers - Prioritize suppliers already in or applying for the excellent brand cultivation list, as they typically have higher quality control and delivery stability. - Include brand synergy clauses in procurement contracts, requiring suppliers to provide traceability certificates and cultural story materials to support end-brand narratives. - Monitor the dynamic release of the industry evaluation index system and use it as a reference for annual supplier assessments.
For Foreign Trade Enterprises - Proactively contact CNTAC or local industry associations to understand the application process for incubation and diagnostic services, integrating brand building into corporate strategy early. - Combine Eastern aesthetic elements with eco-certifications to enhance product pricing power at overseas exhibitions, targeting European and American markets' dual demand for sustainability and cultural uniqueness. - Cultivate internal brand management talent by leveraging industry training resources to avoid implementation difficulties due to talent gaps.
Brand cultivation is a long-distance race requiring faith and persistence. For the textile industry, 25 excellent brands are just the starting point. When the evaluation index system is truly implemented and 'excellence' becomes measurable, the value distribution logic of the entire supply chain will fundamentally change. Enterprises that build barriers in technology, culture, and green dimensions will seize the initiative in this value chain restructuring.