One out of every five sweaters globally comes from the looms of Dalang, a town in Dongguan. This woolen textile hub produces over 900 million garments annually, with a full-industry-chain transaction value exceeding 72 billion RMB. The 95th International Wool Conference, which opened here on June 24, signals more than an industry gathering—it marks the transition of China's wool industry from scale advantage to systemic competitiveness.
The Industrial Foundation: Structural Upgrades Behind Certainty
China's textile industry maintains staggering scale: annual fiber processing volume exceeds 60 million tons, garment production surpasses 70 billion pieces, accounting for over 50% of global totals. Exports have exceeded 300 billion USD for six consecutive years, with intermediate goods like chemical fibers and fabrics acting as ballast for global supply chains. Yet the deeper story lies in the structural changes behind these numbers.
R&D investment intensity among large-scale enterprises rose from 1% in 2020 to 1.3% in 2024. This seemingly small increase corresponds to a mature innovation platform system—two national manufacturing innovation centers, five key laboratories, and 105 enterprise technology centers. High-performance fiber capacity now accounts for over one-third of the global total, with applications extending from traditional textiles to aerospace and marine engineering.
Digitalization is accelerating. The industry's key-process digitalization rate reached 63.2%, surpassing the national manufacturing average. In 2024, 30 textile enterprises were listed in the 5G factory directory. Green technologies like waterless dyeing and digital printing are being scaled, systematically improving resource efficiency. China's textile sector is no longer just 'big'—it is becoming 'better.'
The New Paradigm: Dual Shocks of Intelligent and Experience Economies
Global growth expectations are being revised downward—IMF cut its 2026 forecast from 3.4% to 3.1%. Geopolitical conflicts, energy volatility, and financial tightening make traditional growth models unsustainable. Meanwhile, two new forces are reshaping the industry's logic.
First, the intelligent economy. The global AI market reached 757.58 billion USD in 2025, expected to exceed 900 billion USD by 2026. In China, daily token calls surpassed 140 trillion by March 2025, up over 40% from end-2024. This technological penetration is transforming textile production functions. Yueda Textile's 'Lighthouse Factory' reduced labor per 10,000 spindles by 70%, quadrupled labor productivity, cut energy consumption by 15%, and lowered processing costs by 26%. Semir's AI-assisted design system boosted R&D efficiency by 35% and pattern design efficiency by over 200%. Bosideng's 'AI Aesthetics Brain' reduced sample development costs by over 60%.
Digital employees are being deployed at scale. IDC predicts billions of AI agents will enter the workforce by 2030. Humanoid robot shipments grew approximately 508% year-on-year in 2025. Competition in textiles is shifting from labor costs to a deep coupling of computing power, data, and manufacturing. Global data center electricity demand will grow 175% from 2023 to 2030, rewriting energy cost structures.
Second, the experience economy. Consumer segmentation is intensifying, with health, emotional connection, and self-expression becoming core demands. Social media accelerates information generation and dissemination; product discovery, comparison, and purchasing decisions are increasingly intelligent. What does this mean for wool? Simply having 'good fabric' is no longer enough—brands must carry cultural narratives and emotional value. Companies like Anta and SHEIN have entered the global top 500 brands list, while Hengli, Weiqiao, and Erdos are reshaping China's textile brand image through cross-border M&A and global value creation.
The Industrial Cluster Response: Lessons from Dalang
Dalang's 72 billion RMB transaction value is not accidental. It results from open cooperation, industrial agglomeration, and global interconnection. More importantly, the Pearl River Delta region, where Dalang is located, is transitioning from a manufacturing base to an innovation hub. From January to April this year, profits of large-scale textile enterprises rose 19.3% year-on-year, despite a 0.3% decline in revenue. This contradiction indicates that the industry is improving profitability through technological innovation and product upgrades, even under revenue pressure.
Investment structure divergence confirms this trend: textile industry fixed-asset investment grew 10.8%, while garment and chemical fiber sectors fell 10.3% and 14.5%, respectively. Capital is flowing toward technological upgrades in manufacturing, not simple capacity expansion.