While most fabric mills are struggling in price wars, a factory rooted in Haining for 24 years offers an alternative: no stock, only orders; no volume, only quality. Zhejiang Shengdannu New Material Technology Co., Ltd. uses its 20,000-square-meter plant and functional sportswear fabrics to maintain stability in both domestic and export markets, and attempts to break the limitations of traditional sample viewing through AI digital tools.
Background
Founded in 2002, Shengdannu is a typical made-to-order fabric producer. Its core products are functional sportswear fabrics suitable for all seasons and indoor/outdoor scenarios. The production process adheres to high environmental standards such as fluorine-free and eco-friendly dyes, meeting European and American testing requirements. In the first half of 2025, Shengdannu entered the Dongsheng Road outdoor fabric specialty zone and uploaded multiple fabric samples to the AI-fabric mini-program digital library, attempting to innovate fabric display and customer acquisition through digitalization.
Industry Impact
The essence of the made-to-order model is deep binding with brand customers. Regular order production cycles last 15-30 days, requiring customers to provide samples or color cards, making color matching the first quality checkpoint. This model demands high flexibility from the factory but brings stable margins and customer stickiness. However, in the past two years, chemical and fiber raw material prices have fluctuated significantly, with raw material costs forming the core of production expenses. Price increases directly transmit along the supply chain to downstream brand customers. Many brands postpone procurement plans, reduce order quantities, or lower inventory ratios, causing fluctuations in factory order schedules.
The balanced domestic-export structure (50/50) provides a buffer. The export segment connects with European and American end brands, with fabrics exported to Southeast Asian garment factories for apparel production; domestic customers are concentrated in textile clusters like Shaoxing, Guangdong, and Jiangsu, with some fabrics re-exported after transfer, forming a linked trade chain. This dual-circulation layout allows the company to support itself during single-market fluctuations, though new customer acquisition remains constrained by intense price competition.
Digital transformation has become a breakthrough attempt for the old factory. Shengdannu uploads fabric photos to an AI mini-program, which automatically generates garment styles, allowing customers to visualize the final look. This breaks the spatial-temporal limitations of traditional sample viewing but also exposes tool shortcomings—sportswear AI design styles are limited and need iteration. For the industry, this means digitalization is not simply going online but must deeply integrate with product characteristics.