China's home textile industry is undergoing a profound shift from generic standards to a refined, functional, and scenario-based standard system. On July 21, a seminar focusing on seven group standards concluded in Qingdao, Shandong, hosted by the Group Standardization Technical Committee of the China Home Textile Industry Association (CHTA) and supported by Zhongdi Home Textile Co., Ltd. This meeting was not a mere revision of technical documents but a systematic response to consumption upgrades, the rise of niche markets, and digitalization trends.
Standard Matrix: From Sleep Aids to Pets, the Boundaries of Home Textiles Expand
The seven standards discussed cover several emerging and specific categories. Among them, 'Bedding Sleep-Aiding Color Design and Evaluation' attempts to quantify the emotional element of color, with Zhao Xia, Vice President of the China Fashion Color Association, detailing the research background and quantification path. This means that in the future, buyers may have objective color-based sleep-aid evaluation criteria when selecting bedding, moving beyond subjective descriptions.
The 'Comfort Performance Evaluation Guide for Bedding Sets,' led by Jiangsu Golden Sun Textile Technology Co., Ltd., has entered the stage of indicator establishment and model building. This standard aims to address consumers' vague demands for 'body feel' by using quantifiable physical indicators to evaluate overall comfort, providing direct guidance for the R&D directions of brands and fabric mills.
Notably, the pet economy has officially entered the home textile standard system. The proposed standard for 'Pet Nests and Mats,' introduced by Yang Ying, Product Development Manager of Zhongdi Home Textile, covers R&D and indicator determination. With the surge in pet-owning households, pet home textile products are upgrading from marginal accessories to an independent category, and standardization will accelerate regulated competition in this track.
Niche Tracks: Wool Quilts, Apocynum Blends, and Digital Care Labels
The 'High-Quality Wool Quilt' standard, proposed by Shanghai Shuixing Home Textile Co., Ltd., was introduced by Wang Xiangxiang, Senior Engineer of the Nanjing Customs Testing Center, who detailed market testing and indicator determination. This standard aims to raise the quality threshold for wool quilts, preventing market adulteration and providing an important reference for quality-focused buyers.
The 'Cotton and Apocynum Blended Bedding' standard, proposed by Shandong Weiqiao Jiajia Home Textile Co., Ltd., and introduced by Wang Meifen of Weiqiao Textile Research Institute, covers product application and indicators. As a functional fiber with antibacterial and breathable properties, the standardized application of apocynum in bedding provides a compliance basis for differentiated product development.
On the digital front, the 'Electronic Care Label Data Specification for Home Textiles' was introduced by Xiang Xianxin, R&D Specialist of Weiqiao Textile. This standard aims to solve the pain points of traditional care labels—limited information, easy wear, and difficult traceability—by enabling full lifecycle product management through data encoding. This is not just a technical upgrade but a key step for home textiles to connect with the Internet of Things and digital supply chains.
Industry Impact: Reconstructing Procurement and Production Logic Driven by Standards
Public industry data shows that the home textile market is transitioning from volume growth to quality growth, with consumers increasingly focusing on functionality, comfort, and environmental attributes. The collective advancement of these seven standards is essentially an institutionalized response from the supply side to demand-side changes. For foreign trade enterprises, products conforming to these group standards will be more persuasive when exporting to markets like Europe and the US that emphasize product certification.
Zhu Xiaohong, President of CHTA, emphasized at the meeting the goal of unifying industry cognition through the seminar and using standards to empower product quality improvement and industrial upgrading. The participation of experts like Zheng Yuying from the CHTA Group Standard Technical Committee and Zhang Yue, Secretary-General of the National Technical Committee for Home Textile Standardization, also ensures the technical rigor and industry representativeness of these standards.