In Keqiao's China Textile City, a migration from mass fabrics to high-end customization is underway. In the DongSheng Road outdoor fabric zone, Haoli Textile and Qiting's dual-brand strategy reveals a viable path for traditional fabric merchants to upgrade. Their price spectrum—from school uniform fabrics to premium menswear at 100-600 RMB per meter—illustrates how differentiation can counter market saturation. This is not just a story of two shops; it reflects the collective response of the Keqiao industrial belt to intense competition.
Background
The story began in 2013 when Qiting started in the East Market, focusing on school uniform base fabrics, building a stable customer base and supply chain through solid quality control. By 2018, as profits in conventional fabrics eroded, the brand pivoted: one arm developed functional outdoor fabrics, while another established Haoli Textile to target high-end business menswear. Today, Qiting occupies Phase I of DongSheng Road, while Haoli operates in Phase II, sharing supply chains and customer resources while running independently.
This dual-brand positioning is not a simple split. Haoli uses natural fibers like wool, silk, and lyocell, replacing chemical dyes with plant-extracted colors. This eco-friendly positioning directly raises product premiums and avoids low-end price wars. For buyers, it means fabric is not just a commodity but a verifiable green narrative—under increasingly strict environmental scrutiny from Western buyers, such differentiation can translate into leverage in order negotiations.
Industry Impact
Data shows the returns from high-end positioning are substantial. Haoli's fabric prices range from 100 to 600 RMB per meter, several times that of standard school uniform fabrics. Supporting this price is a 15,000-square-meter warehouse and a dual "stock + custom" model: stock items handle small urgent orders, while custom orders take 3-10 days, with fastest delivery in one hour. This flexibility is precisely what high-end designers and brand buyers value—they won't pay for inventory, but they will pay for speed and precision.
Digital tools amplify this advantage. Qiting participated in building the "AI Cloth" mini-program, digitizing core fabrics like waffle, health knit, double-face jersey, mesh, air layer, and pique for one-click matching of similar fabrics. Previously, manual sample searching and color card comparison were inefficient, especially for remote overseas clients; now, the system retrieves matches quickly with higher accuracy. For high-end clients, digitalization is not just an efficiency tool but part of the service experience—they bring swatches and expect immediate responses, not "we'll get back to you."
Equally noteworthy is the upcoming trial operation of the AI Cloth Experience Hall on DongSheng Road. Features like smart body measurement, 3D virtual try-on, fabric visualization, and garment simulation integrate online data with offline experience. This upgrades fabric display from "hanging swatches" to "immersive scenarios," especially for designers and brand clients, as virtual samples can significantly reduce communication costs. For Keqiao, this may be a crucial step from being a "fabric distribution hub" to a "fashion origin."
The synergy of the dual brands also shows in foreign trade. The outdoor fabric production line uses Italian-imported napping machines, increasing capacity and bargaining power; exported fabrics meet EU standards for fluorine-free environmental protection, with long-term partnerships like Qiaodun for 8-10 years, plus clients like Xiaobeibei, Yingqi, Macedonia, and Xiaozhubanna. These resources flow bidirectionally, helping Haoli open high-end menswear channels. Last year, overall performance improved significantly, and order growth remains strong this year—proving differentiation is not just a slogan but a growth engine.