One out of every five sweaters globally comes from Dalang, Dongguan. This industrial town, covering less than 60 square kilometers, produces over 900 million garments annually, with a total industry chain transaction value exceeding 72 billion yuan. At the recently concluded 95th International Wool Textile Conference, Dalang once again became the focal point of the global wool textile industry. But more noteworthy than the numbers is the clear signal released by the conference: the wool textile industry is at a crossroads, transitioning from traditional manufacturing to a new paradigm that integrates the smart economy and the experience economy.
Digitalization Rate of 63.2% Signals Industry Reshaping
Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), disclosed a set of key data at the conference: the R&D investment intensity of China's textile enterprises above designated size has increased from 1% at the end of the '13th Five-Year Plan' to 1.3% in 2024, and the digitalization rate in key links of the entire industry has reached 63.2%, higher than the national average for manufacturing. This means the textile industry is no longer synonymous with labor intensity but is becoming a testing ground for technology-intensive industries.
Specifically in the wool sector, the effects of digital transformation are already tangible. Jiangsu Yueda Textile's 'Lighthouse Factory' has reduced the number of workers per 10,000 spindles by about 70%, increased total labor productivity by more than four times, reduced unit energy consumption by 15%, and lowered processing costs by 26%. Semir's AI-assisted design system has improved overall design and R&D efficiency by 35%, and pattern design efficiency by over 200%. These cases demonstrate that digital transformation has moved from concept to actual output. For wool textile enterprises, intelligent transformation is no longer an option but a necessity for survival.
From 'Knitting Sweaters' to 'Knitting Data': A Paradigm Shift
The conference theme, 'Smart Weaving the Future: Wool's Health and Digital Life,' reveals two main lines of industry development. On one hand, the combination of natural fibers and digital technology is creating new consumer scenarios. Consumer demand for health, environmental protection, and personalization is forcing enterprises to shift from traditional mass production to flexible manufacturing. On the other hand, the penetration of artificial intelligence is changing the way the industry is organized. Sun Ruizhe mentioned that the global AI market size has reached $757.58 billion in 2025 and is expected to exceed $900 billion by 2026. In China, daily token calls have exceeded 140 trillion, an increase of over 40% from the end of last year.
This technological change has a profound impact on the wool textile industry. In the production stage, technologies such as AI quality inspection, intelligent dyeing, and robot clothes folding are solving the automation challenges of non-standard flexible processes in traditional wool spinning. At the ecological level, companies like Anoky have begun to lay out a closed-loop ecosystem of 'dyes → inks → digital printing → AI design → IP cultural creativity.' For industrial clusters like Dalang, this means they cannot be satisfied with just being OEM bases but must upgrade to data-driven, integrated platforms for design, manufacturing, and service.
Supply Chain Under Pressure, Yet Resilient
Despite the optimistic outlook, short-term pressures cannot be ignored. From January to April 2025, the operating revenue of China's textile enterprises above designated size fell by 0.3% year-on-year, but total profit increased by 19.3%, indicating that the industry is coping with market fluctuations through product structure optimization and cost reduction. From January to May, textile and apparel exports reached $116.73 billion, a year-on-year increase of 0.1%, with textile exports growing by 1.7% and apparel exports declining by 1.6%. This divergence suggests that global demand for intermediate products like fabrics and yarns remains strong, but consumer momentum for finished garments has weakened.
The International Monetary Fund has lowered its global economic growth forecast for 2026 to 3.1%, with factors such as geopolitical conflicts, energy volatility, and shipping disruptions continuing to exert pressure. For export-oriented wool textile enterprises, the complexity and uncertainty of overseas markets are increasing. However, the case of Dalang proves that the scale effect and synergy of industrial clusters remain an important barrier against risk. The annual transaction value of 72 billion yuan means a complete closed loop from raw material procurement to design, production, processing, logistics, and distribution—an ecological resilience that individual companies can hardly replicate.