One out of every five sweaters in the world comes from Dalang, a small town in Dongguan, Guangdong. With an annual garment output of over 900 million pieces and a total industrial chain transaction value exceeding 72 billion RMB, Dalang has become an indispensable hub for the global wool textile industry. On June 24, the 95th International Wool Textile Conference opened here, with the theme 'Smart Weaving the Future: Wool's Health and Digital Life,' directly addressing the industry's two core challenges: digitalization and green transformation.
Industrial Clustering and Global Responsibility
Dalang's rise is a microcosm of China's textile industry's integration into globalization. Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, noted at the conference that China's textile industry, leveraging its scale and system advantages, processes over 60 million tons of fiber annually and produces more than 70 billion garments, accounting for over half of the global total. With exports exceeding $300 billion for six consecutive years, particularly strong exports of intermediate products like chemical fibers and fabrics, the industry provides stable support for the global supply chain. This means fluctuations in China's textile sector directly impact the global market, and industrial clusters like Dalang are key nodes in this vast system.
Data from the first four months of this year shows that while revenue of large-scale textile enterprises fell by 0.3% year-on-year, total profit surged by 19.3%, with a profit margin recovering to 2.9%. This contrast indicates that the industry is absorbing external pressure through quality and efficiency improvements. Retail sales of garments, shoes, hats, and knitwear by units above the designated size grew by 8.1%, showing resilience in domestic demand. However, exports showed divergence: textile exports grew by 1.7%, while garment exports fell by 1.6%, reflecting shifts in global consumption patterns—stable demand for intermediate goods, but end-product orders constrained by geopolitics and inventory cycles.
Smart Manufacturing Reshapes Cost Structures
Digitalization is not just a buzzword; it is rewriting factory balance sheets. Sun cited several cases: Jiangsu Yueda Textile's 'Lighthouse Factory' reduced labor per 10,000 spindles by about 70%, increased labor productivity by more than four times, cut unit energy consumption by 15%, and lowered processing costs by 26%. Semir's AI-assisted design system boosted design and R&D efficiency by 35%, with pattern design efficiency improving by over 200%. Bosideng's 'AI Aesthetic Brain' reduced sample development costs by more than 60%. These figures illustrate AI's penetration from design to production.
The deeper change lies in the reconstruction of the industrial ecosystem. Anokon, starting from dyes, built a closed loop of 'dyes → inks → digital printing → AI design → IP cultural creativity,' a typical new industrial system driven by data and models. When process parameters, production processes, and market feedback are stored as manageable data assets, factories transform from mere subcontractors into intelligent entities with data value-added capabilities. For buyers, this means significantly improved supply chain predictability and response speed, with traditional labor-intensive order models being replaced by algorithm-driven flexible manufacturing.
Green Transformation Is an Irreversible Constraint
Green transformation is not a choice but a survival imperative. Advanced green technologies like non-aqueous dyeing and digital printing are accelerating adoption, improving resource utilization efficiency. However, the real pressure comes from the consumer end: when 'health' and 'digital life' become the conference theme, it indicates that end consumers demand higher transparency on environmental footprint and health attributes. Wool, as a natural fiber, has an inherent sustainability narrative, but if the carbon footprint and chemical usage in processing are opaque, this advantage is undermined.
From an investment perspective, fixed asset investment in the textile sector grew by 10.8% year-on-year in the first five months, while investment in garments and chemical fibers fell by 10.3% and 14.5%, respectively. This divergence suggests capital is concentrating in more upstream, technology-intensive links. For clusters like Dalang, this means accelerating the shift from garment assembly to upstream fabric development and green dyeing and finishing, or risk being marginalized.