Producing 900 million sweaters annually and accounting for one in every five sweaters worldwide, Dongguan's Dalan woolen textile cluster is now embedding cultural DNA into its production lines. On June 24, the 10th Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference, the 23rd China (Dalan) Woolen Products Trade Fair, and the 95th International Wool Textile Conference opened simultaneously, signaling a clear shift from scale competition to cultural value-added competition for traditional textile manufacturing bases.
Industrial Foundation and Cultural Grafting
Dalan's GDP has reached 47.37 billion yuan, with the woolen textile industry as its absolute pillar. However, the growth model relying solely on volume expansion has hit a ceiling. Public industry data shows that average export prices for woolen products have become more volatile in recent years, while buyer demand for differentiated, story-driven products has risen significantly. This is the industrial logic behind the heritage conference choosing Dalan—making 'wearable cultural assets' a new premium point.
At the opening ceremony, Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, noted that consumers are increasingly focused on health, well-being, self-expression, and emotional connection, meaning textile enterprises must convert cultural resources into brand value. Dalan Party Secretary Dong Tie explicitly stated the goal of exploring a two-way empowerment path between 'intangible heritage culture and traditional industries,' allowing ancient dyeing techniques and hand embroidery to add cultural depth to woolen products.
Agreement Implementation and Chain Integration
The multiple cooperation agreements signed during the conference are not vague frameworks but directly embedded in key links of the industrial chain. The 'Textile Intangible Heritage Standards and Certification Cooperation' signed by CNTAC's Heritage Office and China Inspection & Testing Group means heritage products will have a unified industry benchmark for quality certification. This is crucial for buyers—'intangible heritage' has often been a marketing gimmick, and standardized certification can effectively reduce information asymmetry.
Another agreement, the 'Strategic Cooperation on Textile Heritage and Woolen Product Innovation Development,' brings together industry associations, town government, local enterprises, and designers, covering the entire process from heritage pattern licensing, original design, to industrial production. Notably, signatories include Wan Gongxue, inheritor of 'colored paper (Kirin paper sculpture)' intangible heritage, whose Kirin pattern has been patented, providing an intellectual property protection model for commercializing heritage elements.
Additionally, agreements on quality service system co-building, brand supply-demand service cooperation, and a factory settlement agreement between Guanshang Intelligent Manufacturing Center and Jiangyin Hengxiang Weaving were signed, showing Dalan's transformation from a single production base to a full-chain platform integrating culture, quality, brand, and investment attraction.
Scenario Integration and Trend Assessment
The 'three-in-one' model itself is an industry signal—professional exhibitions, cultural events, and tourism experiences are creating a synergistic effect. The heritage fashion show at the opening, presented in three chapters ('Lin Qi,' 'Lin Xing,' 'Lin Yao'), featured local companies Impression Plains, Tongfa, Xinhongfeng, and Lanmei, with design inspiration from Lingnan Kirin patterns, fully adhering to the 'Dalan design, Dalan production, Dalan presentation' principle.
This linkage from stage to workshop is essentially a rehearsal for industrial chain collaboration. For foreign trade enterprises and buyers, the focus should not be solely on the visual impact of the show, but on the underlying industrial capabilities: can local factories stably mass-produce woolen products with heritage elements? Is the designer resource sustainable? Can standardized certification cover target export markets?
Since its inception in 2017, the heritage conference has traveled to Zhejiang, Beijing, Yunnan, Liaoning, Guizhou, Hebei, and Sichuan. Choosing Dalan this time highlights its dual 'industry + culture' genes. For other textile clusters, Dalan's path offers a replicable model: manufacturing bases do not have to compete solely on price; cultural empowerment is a viable direction for differentiated competition.