The distance between a school uniform fabric and a light luxury menswear garment might just be the critical span for Keqiao textile merchants to move from price competition to value competition. In the Dongsheng Road outdoor fabric special zone of China Textile City, the dual-brand layout of Qiting and Haoli Textile has completed a decade-long shift from mass market to niche high-end, a path worth careful examination for merchants seeking upgrade exits.
Background
Qiting started operations in 2013 and was officially registered the following year, initially focusing on school uniform base fabrics at the East Market, building a stable customer base and supply chain through quality control. In 2018, as profit margins for conventional fabrics compressed, the brand initiated a strategic transformation, developing functional outdoor fabrics on one hand and founding Haoli Textile to focus on high-end business menswear on the other, forming a dual-brand independent operation. This timing aligns with the industry's overall adjustment period, when conventional chemical fiber fabrics were highly homogenized and profits thin, forcing merchants to find higher value-added segments.
Qiting became one of the first tenants in the first phase of the Dongsheng Road outdoor functional fabric zone, and Haoli later set up an independent stall in the second phase. The Dongsheng Road area gathers brand owners, e-commerce merchants, and designers who demand finer fabrics, resulting in higher order conversion rates. This location choice is not accidental but a precise judgment of customer structure—the core of high-end fabric business lies not in output but in matching efficiency and demand alignment.
Industry Impact
Haoli's product positioning is clear: all lines use natural fibers such as wool, silk, and lyocell, with colors derived from botanical extraction, abandoning chemical dyeing, priced between 100-600 yuan, avoiding low-end price wars. Botanical dyeing remains a blue ocean in high-end menswear, but it is costly and technically complex, requiring high supply chain stability and process expertise. The 100-600 yuan range targets brand clients with clear environmental and quality requirements, not wholesale markets seeking low prices.
The integrated factory with 15,000 square meters of warehousing supports both stock and custom orders. Stock items can handle small urgent orders, custom cycles are 3-10 days, and fastest delivery can be within one hour. Such responsiveness is uncommon in high-end fabrics, backed by deep inventory management and production optimization—for buyers, this means significantly reduced inventory risk; for factories, improved capital turnover.
Digital tools further strengthen service capabilities. Haoli participates in the AI Cloth mini-program's digital fabric construction, archiving core fabrics like waffle, health knit, double-faced jersey, mesh, air layer, and pique. The one-click matching of similar fabrics is especially useful for handling designer samples, and remote communication with overseas clients is more efficient. The AI Cloth experience hall in Dongsheng Road is about to trial, featuring smart body measurement, 3D virtual try-on, fabric visualization, and garment simulation, which will combine offline display with online data, offering immersive fabric selection for high-end clients and signifying a shift from selling fabric to selling solutions.
The dual-brand synergy is evident in the supply chain. The outdoor fabric line uses Italian imported napping equipment, increasing capacity and bargaining power; overseas channels target European and American markets with EU-standard fluorine-free environmental compliance; domestic long-term cooperation with Qiaodun for 8-10 years, plus brands like Xiaobeibei, Yingqi, Macedonia, and Xiaozhubanna, provides bidirectional flow for Haoli's high-end menswear channels. This synergy is not simple brand stacking but reuse and complementarity of production, channels, and customer resources.
Practical Advice
For Buyers - Leverage merchants' digital tools (e.g., AI Cloth mini-program) for quick similar fabric matching, shortening sample searching time, especially for small urgent orders. - Prioritize integrated factory suppliers whose stock+custom model better controls lead time and quality, reducing supply chain risk. - For botanical-dyed eco fabrics, verify colorfastness and other indicators in advance to match brand positioning and avoid later complaints.
For Factories - Learn from the dual-brand model to differentiate mass and high-end lines, avoiding price wars and enhancing bargaining power through positioning. - Increase digital investment, digitizing core fabrics to improve remote service, especially for designers and overseas clients. - Focus on eco-friendly processes (like botanical dyeing) and align with international environmental standards as a viable path to high-end markets.
From school uniform fabrics to light luxury menswear, the transformation of Qiting and Haoli is not overnight but built on market trend prediction and gradual capability building. While many Keqiao merchants struggle in homogeneous competition, this dual-track experiment offers an observable sample for industrial upgrading.