How much profit can a meter of school uniform fabric generate? When conventional products sink into price competition, one Keqiao merchant chose a decade-long arc, transforming from low-margin school uniform cloth to plant-dyed light luxury fabrics priced at hundreds of yuan per meter. By 2026, this enterprise, named Haoli Textile, completed an initial closed loop of dual-brand positioning in the Dongsheng Road outdoor fabric zone, a transformation that mirrors deeper structural shifts in Keqiao's fabric market.
From Price War to Value War: The Logic of Dual-Brand Division
Qiting, launched in 2013 and formally registered in 2014, started with a school uniform fabric store in the East Market, building a stable clientele through solid quality control. But intensifying competition and squeezed margins on conventional fabrics in 2018 became a turning point. While many Keqiao merchants were still struggling in homogeneous red oceans, Qiting chose a steeper path: developing functional outdoor fabrics on one side and founding Haoli Textile to target high-end menswear on the other. This dual-brand independent operation essentially separates volume from value—Qiting handles scale demand for outdoor functional lines, while Haoli focuses on designers and brand buyers with exacting demands for tailoring and texture.
The choice of Dongsheng Road was no accident. As one of the first batch of tenants in Phase I, Qiting recognized the concentration of quality brands, e-commerce sellers, and apparel designers. These clients demand finer fabrics and yield higher conversion rates, meaning the same customer acquisition cost generates higher order values. Haoli's general manager, Li Xiongzhen, explicitly stated that this zone is an ideal platform for high-end fabric business. For buyers, this signals that Dongsheng Road offers suppliers with genuine differentiation beyond the mass market.
Plant Dyeing and Quick Response: Twin Pillars of Premium Positioning
Haoli's product strategy is almost ruthlessly clear: exclusive use of natural fibers like wool, silk, and lyocell, with colors derived from natural plant extracts rather than chemical dyes. This positioning directly determines its 100-600 yuan per meter price range, avoiding low-end price wars. But premium materials are just the entry ticket; the real support for its premium comes from the supply chain elasticity enabled by an integrated trading-manufacturing model.
Haoli shares a 15,000-square-meter warehouse and operates dual models of stock and custom orders. Stock items can quickly handle small-batch urgent orders, while custom orders are controlled within 3-10 days, with the fastest shipping possible in one hour thanks to complete inventory. This quick-response capability is crucial for high-end clients—designers often bring swatches to find similar fabrics, a process that was previously inefficient with manual matching and color comparison, especially for remote overseas communication. Now, digital tools are rewriting this workflow.
AI Empowerment: From Manual Matching to One-Click Efficiency
Haoli participated in the digital fabric construction of the "AI Cloth" mini-program, digitizing core fabrics such as waffle, health knit, double-sided plain knit, mesh, air layer, and pique. The one-click matching function for identical or similar fabrics has significantly aided high-end fabric business. Previously, manual swatch comparison was time-consuming, and remote communication with overseas clients was even more arduous. Now, the system quickly retrieves matches, saving substantial labor time and improving accuracy. This reflects a microcosm of Keqiao's broader fabric digitalization. The upcoming AI Cloth experience hall at Dongsheng Road, featuring smart body measurement, 3D virtual try-on, fabric visual creation, and garment simulation, will showcase physical and virtual samples online and offline. For buyers, this means finding fabrics could become as efficient as using a search engine; for merchants, digitalization is no longer optional but essential for serving high-end clients. Li Xiongzhen's observation is direct: fabric digitalization is an indispensable tool for high-end fabrics.
Dual-Brand Synergy and Channel Reuse: Two-Way Traffic Between Export and Domestic Markets
While independently operating high-end fabric business, Haoli shares Qiting's mature industrial chain support. The outdoor fabric production line is equipped with Italian imported napping machines, enhancing capacity and overall supply chain bargaining power and production speed. Export channels target European and American markets, with all exported fabrics meeting EU-standard fluorine-free environmental requirements. Domestically, long-term cooperation with Qiaodun spans 8-10 years, along with quality brand clients like Xiaobeibei, Yingqi, Macedonia, and Xiaozhubanna, enabling two-way traffic to help Haoli open high-end menswear customer channels.
This synergy is showing results two years after the strategic transformation. Li Xiongzhen revealed that overall brand performance improved significantly last year, and current order growth suggests a strong momentum for this year. For local Keqiao merchants, the lesson is clear: premiumization doesn't mean discarding existing assets but recombining supply chain, customer resources, and digital tools to build barriers in niche tracks.