One out of every five sweaters in the world comes from Dalang Town, Dongguan, Guangdong. This small town produces over 900 million garments annually, with a full-industry-chain transaction value exceeding 72 billion yuan. At the 95th International Wool Textile Conference, Dalang showcased not just production capacity, but a snapshot of how a traditional wool cluster is pivoting toward intelligent and experience-driven economies.
Scale advantages under structural pressure
Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), disclosed a set of key data at the conference: from January to April 2024, revenue of China's regulated textile enterprises fell by 0.3% year-on-year, but total profit surged by 19.3%. This 'revenue down, profit up' contrast indicates that the industry is digesting cost pressures through efficiency gains and product mix optimization. During the same period, retail sales of garments, shoes, hats, and knitwear above the designated size grew by 8.1%, showing resilience in domestic consumption.
However, export signals are mixed. From January to May, textile exports grew by 1.7%, while garment exports fell by 1.6%. The divergence between intermediate and finished goods reflects that the global 'de-stocking' cycle is not over, and brands remain cautious on apparel procurement. Fixed asset investment in the chemical fiber sector dropped by 14.5%, signaling a cooling phase in upstream capacity expansion.
Intelligent economy: from production tool to organizational restructuring
Sun repeatedly emphasized a keyword: paradigm shift. The global AI market reached USD 757.58 billion in 2025 and is expected to exceed USD 900 billion by 2026. This technology wave is impacting the wool industry in three ways.
First, on the production side. The 'Lighthouse Factory' case of Jiangsu Yueda Textile shows that smart manufacturing reduces labor per 10,000 spindles by about 70%, increases total labor productivity by more than four times, and cuts unit energy consumption by 15%. This means that in a context of rising labor costs, intelligence is no longer an option but a survival threshold.
Second, organizational forms. AI agents are entering the workforce in batches. IDC predicts that by 2030, billions of AI agents will work as digital labor. Wool enterprises need to redefine job roles—from machine operators to data annotators, from quality inspectors to AI trainers. Sun specifically mentioned that 'token efficiency' is becoming a new metric for organizational effectiveness, requiring companies to shift from managing 'man-hours' to managing the 'computing-data-energy' mix.
Third, ecosystem reshaping. The case of Anoky is illustrative: this traditional dye company built a full chain from dyes to ink, digital printing, AI design, and even IP cultural products by investing in computing power and AI. The wool industry must similarly think about how natural fibers can combine with digital technology to form new value loops.
Experience economy: wool's path in the consumer sovereignty era
The conference theme—'Smart Weaving the Future: Wool's Health and Digital Life'—accurately points to the second paradigm: experience economy. Global consumer markets are undergoing ecological restructuring, human-centric return, and structural differentiation. Consumers no longer pay just for warmth, but for health, emotional connection, and self-expression.
Sun noted that social media accelerates information generation and dissemination, making product discovery, comparison, and decision-making increasingly intelligent. This means wool enterprises must upgrade their competitive dimension from 'fabric-price' to 'story-experience.' The global rise of Chinese-style trends is evidence: Anta, SHEIN, and other brands have entered the world's top 500, driven by the fusion of cultural narrative and digital marketing.
For the wool industry, the implementation paths for the experience economy are threefold: first, functional innovation, such as antibacterial and UV-resistant wool; second, sustainability storytelling, from farm to garment with full-chain carbon transparency; third, digital experiences like virtual try-ons and AI customization. Sun particularly emphasized that the 'one-person company' and 'hand-crafted economy' are booming, with new OPC registrations in China up 47% year-on-year in the first half of 2025. This signals that wool supply chains need more agile, small-batch, quick-response capabilities.