A design competition lasting over two decades is reshaping the competitive logic of a home textile industrial cluster.
Deep Integration Between Competition and Town
On July 11, Xucun Town in Haining launched not an ordinary review meeting, but the evaluation work for the 2026 Haining Home Textile Cup Creative Design Competition. Founded in 2003, this is the first professional home textile design competition in China, now in its 23rd edition. The theme of this year, "Weave the Present, Reach the Future," aims to transform traditional weaving wisdom into contemporary design language while pointing toward sustainable and digital innovation directions.
From the data, this year's competition received 2,744 works from 130 units in the creative pattern group and 277 works from 46 units in the fabric design group. Both submission numbers remain high, indicating that industry recognition of this track has not diminished over time. More importantly, Xucun Town Party Secretary Xu Xinfeng released key figures at the review site: the local area produces 2.8 billion meters of home textile fabric annually, with the regulated home textile output value exceeding 12.2 billion yuan in 2025. The symbiotic relationship between the competition and the town is clearly visible from these numbers.
Three Paths to Break Industry Involution
Wang Yi, Vice President and Secretary-General of the China Home Textile Industry Association, pointed out that the competition undertakes three core functions: discovering, cultivating, and reserving design talent. Each year, hundreds of universities and enterprise designers compete, effectively supplementing the long-standing shortage of high-quality design talent supply in the industry. Behind this are three clear paths for industrial upgrading:
- Craft Innovation Path: The fabric track focuses on fabric texture and material innovation. Professor Wang Yang from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology emphasized deconstructing traditional patterns, weaving textures, and intangible cultural heritage aesthetics, combined with digital jacquard technology, to give traditional crafts contemporary rebirth. Over 200 enterprises in Xucun have entered the national-chic track, with digital jacquard technology becoming a technical fulcrum for revitalizing intangible cultural heritage.
- Digital Transformation Path: AI-assisted design is improving creative efficiency. Wang Yi introduced that the China Home Textile Association will expand AI and fabric-specific tracks, promoting deep integration of digital design with the industry. At the Xucun town level, AI tools already support original design for the annual 2.8 billion meters of fabric, reducing reliance on copying overseas products from the source.
- Industry-Education Integration Path: Cao Yaoqiang, President of the Haining Home Textile Association, revealed that the local fashion college graduates 90 students annually, and the competition has formed regular cooperation with multiple universities, achieving "promoting teaching through competition and promoting application through competition." This mechanism allows new-generation designers to reach the front line of the industry before graduation, ensuring they have a stage to perform and opportunities to develop.
From Product Output to Brand and Cultural Export
Yang Zhaohua, Vice President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, emphasized at the review site that the competition should actively use digital means to expand communication boundaries and tell the story of Chinese home textile design. Behind this lies a larger industrial proposition: China's home textile industry is accelerating its shift from product output to brand and cultural export.
Xucun Town's practice provides an observable sample. The local area integrates the production capacity of over 2,000 enterprises with home textile city resources, building an online competition platform to expand global participation. At the same time, it organizes the "Haining Home Textile" regional brand to appear at top domestic and international exhibitions, deepening the "home textile + apparel" dual-drive model. The establishment of a copyright service center provides legal protection for original designs, turning "Good Fabric, Made in Xucun" from a slogan into a deliverable brand promise.
Notably, Cao Yaoqiang admitted that the competition's influence remains largely limited to local and niche designer circles, with insufficient coverage for the entire industry and mass consumer market. This means that even in benchmark areas like Xucun, the industrial transformation value of design achievements still has room for release.