While most Keqiao merchants still fight price wars in conventional fabrics, one company that started with school uniform materials has quietly pushed product prices to 600 RMB, targeting premium menswear and light luxury. By 2026, the dual-brand strategy of Qiting and Haoli Textile in Dongsheng Road's outdoor fabric zone offers an alternative upgrade path—using plant dyeing and digital tools to redefine fabric value.
From School Uniforms to Light Luxury: A Calculated Pivot
Qiting's origin was humble: launched in 2013, registered in 2014, initially selling basic school uniform fabrics at the East Market. Solid quality control built a stable customer base and supply chain, which became the foundation for later transformation. When competition intensified in 2018 and conventional fabric margins shrank, the brand split decisively: Qiting continued in outdoor functional fabrics, while the new brand Haoli Textile focused on premium menswear. The key was not abandoning existing assets but letting the new brand share mature supply chain and channel resources.
For buyers, this means Keqiao is no longer just a hub for mass fabrics. The Dongsheng Road zone, gathering brands, e-commerce sellers, and designers, demands higher precision and yields better order conversion. Haoli's presence fills a gap in local supply for premium menswear fabrics, bringing the supply chain closer to downstream brands.
Plant Dyeing and Natural Fibers: The Logic Behind High Pricing
Haoli uses pure natural fibers such as wool, silk, and lyocell, with colors derived from plant extracts rather than chemical dyes. This choice directly determines its price range of 100-600 RMB—several times that of conventional school uniform fabrics. The premium is not arbitrary; it reflects material costs, process complexity, and environmental attributes. For designer brands, the natural color variation of plant dyeing becomes a unique selling point, avoiding homogenized competition in the low-end market.
From an industry perspective, this reflects two trends: first, demand for traceable, eco-friendly materials in premium fabrics is moving from concept to product; second, the integrated mill-trader model proves more efficient in high-end customization. Haoli shares a 15,000-square-meter warehouse, supports small-batch urgent orders from stock, and offers a 3-10 day customization cycle with fastest one-hour delivery—such flexibility is the hidden value that justifies the premium.
Digital Tools: From Manual Sample Matching to AI Assistance
The pain point in premium fabric business is sample comparison and remote communication. Haoli has digitized core fabrics like waffle, health knit, double jersey, mesh, air layer, and pique into the AI Cloth mini-program, enabling one-click matching of similar fabrics. For designers carrying swatches, the system quickly retrieves options, drastically reducing manual searching and color card comparison, while improving remote service for overseas clients.
More notably, the AI Cloth experience center in Dongsheng Road is about to trial operation, featuring smart body measurement, 3D virtual fitting, fabric visualization, and garment simulation. This extends fabric display from physical swatches to virtual space, reducing sample shipping costs and attracting more external designers and brand buyers. Digitalization is no longer a marketing gimmick but essential infrastructure for premium fabric services.
Dual-Brand Synergy and the Multiplier Effect of Export Channels
The synergy between Qiting and Haoli spans multiple levels: the outdoor fabric line uses Italian imported napping equipment to boost capacity and bargaining power; export channels target Europe and America, with fabrics meeting EU standard fluorine-free environmental requirements; long-term domestic collaborations include Qiaodun (8-10 years), Xiaobeibei, Yingqi, Macedonia, and Xiaozhubanna, creating two-way referrals. Two years into the strategic transformation, overall performance has improved significantly, and order growth suggests continued momentum this year.
The lesson for local Keqiao merchants is that differentiation is not created from scratch but through precise extension of existing supply chain strengths. Quality control honed in school uniform fabrics can transfer to premium menswear; customer resources from outdoor functional fabrics can become entry points for light luxury brands. The key is whether one is willing to invest time in nurturing a new brand and leveraging digital tools to expand service radius.