While most Keqiao fabric merchants are still fighting price wars on conventional products, a dual-brand combo in the Dongsheng Road specialty zone has pushed unit prices to 100-600 RMB by adopting a 'school uniform + light luxury' differentiated strategy. This price band is several times that of ordinary fabrics, directly avoiding low-end market competition. The logic behind it is not simple product upgrading, but a deep reorganization of customer positioning, supply chain efficiency, and digital tools.
Background
The story began in 2013 when the Qiting brand was launched and officially registered the following year, starting with school uniform base fabrics at the East Market. Solid quality control accumulated stable customers and a mature supply chain. By 2018, as profits on conventional fabrics shrank, the brand pivoted: on one hand developing functional outdoor fabrics, on the other founding Haoli Textiles to target high-end business menswear, forming a dual-brand independent operation. This timing coincided with a period when Keqiao fabric merchants faced increasing environmental pressure and homogenized competition. The transformation itself was not unique, but running two brands simultaneously was uncommon.
Today, Qiting has settled in Phase I of the Dongsheng Road outdoor fabric zone, while Haoli operates in Phase II. The two showrooms have clear separate tracks but share supply chain resources. This 'one store, one brand, one customer group' layout actually uses spatial separation to reinforce brand identity, avoiding customer confusion and allowing each to deepen its niche. For buyers, it means they can connect with the right supplier without sifting through mixed product lines in a single outlet.
Industry Impact
Haoli's product strategy is representative: using all-natural fibers like wool, silk, and lyocell, with colors derived from plant extracts, abandoning chemical dyeing. This positioning precisely taps into the preference of high-end menswear and light luxury fashion for eco-friendly, natural materials. However, natural materials and special processes raise costs, and the 100-600 RMB price range inevitably serves only a niche clientele. This means Haoli's customer profile must be designer brands and high-end ready-to-wear buyers, not volume wholesalers.
On the supply chain side, Haoli relies on a 15,000-square-meter shared warehouse with a stock-plus-custom dual model. Stock can handle small urgent orders, custom cycles are controlled at 3-10 days, and the fastest shipment is one hour. This response speed is rare in high-end fabrics, backed by an integrated mill advantage. For downstream apparel companies, this means significantly shortened lead times and reduced inventory risk, especially suitable for multi-SKU, low-volume quick-response orders.
Digitalization is another key variable. Haoli participated in the AI Fabric mini-program's digital fabric database, entering core fabrics like waffle, air layer, and pique. Previously, designers brought swatches for comparison, and manual matching was inefficient; now the system can instantly match identical or similar fabrics, and remote communication with overseas clients is easier. The value of this tool lies not only in saving time but also in standardizing fabric parameters, allowing non-experts to quickly find alternatives, thus expanding the customer reach.
The supporting AI Fabric experience hall is about to start trial operation, equipped with smart body measurement, 3D virtual try-on, fabric visual creation, and garment simulation. This means fabric display extends from physical to virtual; clients can view samples and test fits in the offline hall, then combine with online data to place orders. For merchants, this adds a display window without extra inventory, particularly useful for serving remote or overseas clients.
The synergy of the dual brands is also showing results. The outdoor fabric production line has introduced Italian napping equipment, increasing capacity and bargaining power; export channels target Europe and America, meeting EU standard fluorine-free environmental requirements; domestic long-term cooperation with Qiaodun has lasted 8-10 years, plus brands like Xiaobeibei and Little Bangna. These resources flow in both directions, helping Haoli open high-end menswear customer channels. Given the order growth rate, business is expected to maintain growth this year, indicating the model is being validated by the market.