When cross-border online transactions of curtain fabric enterprises reach 800 to 900 million USD, yet the industry's overall exports show a trend of increasing volume with decreasing prices, China's home textile fabric industry stands at a subtle turning point. The 2026 annual meeting of the Home Textile Association's Fabric Branch, held on August 12 in Keqiao, Shaoxing, delivered a clear judgment: the growth model relying solely on scale expansion has hit its ceiling, and value growth becomes a compulsory course during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Event Background
Keqiao, as an 'economic powerhouse supported by a piece of cloth,' presents representative industrial data: in 2025, the China Light Textile City's transaction volume exceeded 440 billion yuan, with nearly 8,000 curtain fabric enterprises and an annual output value of nearly 70 billion yuan. However, behind these impressive numbers lie profit pressures from the real estate downturn and rising raw material costs. Zhu Xiaohong, president of the China Home Textile Association, reviewed the 14th Five-Year Plan period and frankly stated that in the first half of the year, corporate profits were under pressure, and exports showed a trend of increasing volume with decreasing prices. This means the past path of low-price, high-volume sales is failing, and enterprises need to find new profit pillars.
Liang Pengcheng, vice president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, emphasized in his speech that this year marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Industry production, sales, and exports grew steadily in the first half, but pressures from weak demand and trade fluctuations remain. The three paths he proposed—technology empowerment, green upgrading, and consumer insight—actually point the industry toward transforming from 'manufacturing mindset' to 'brand mindset.' For buyers, this means the era of simply comparing unit prices is passing, and fabrics with functionality and design will gain higher pricing power.
Industrial Impact
The combination of original design and AI technology is becoming two keys to breaking the homogenization dilemma. Lin Shaowu, brand consultant at Tianyu New Materials, pointed out that the root cause of price competition is product homogenization, and the core solution is to return to users' real home scenarios. He mentioned focusing on the 300 million people with sleep disorders, separate bedding, and home office needs, combining temperature control and antibacterial functions with healing colors, and building a product matrix of image products, profit products, and traffic products. Behind this is a shift in consumption logic: home textiles are no longer simple 'cloth' but solutions for lifestyles.
Associate Professor Ji Feng from Donghua University showcased the potential of industry-academia-research collaboration: using AI for intelligent color matching to solve digital printing color difference problems, and using CNN deep learning for non-destructive rapid identification of fabric components. Once these technologies are industrialized, they will significantly reduce testing costs and enhance production flexibility. For factories, this means the window for transforming from 'sample processing' to 'technology-driven' is opening.
More noteworthy is the application of AI in spatial intelligence. Zhao Lu, global VP of Collov AI, proposed that spatial AI can save hundreds of thousands of yuan in costs such as offline sample sending and real shooting, achieving spatial analysis, material replacement, and one-click realistic generation through world models. He specifically pointed out that commercial soft furnishing is a priority landing track, and AI standardized solutions can enhance bidding competitiveness. Meanwhile, he objectively assessed the landing cycle of embodied intelligence, believing that in the next three years, only warehousing, sorting, and inspection processes can be applied at scale. This reminds enterprises that AI is not a panacea, but enterprises that take the lead in spatial intelligence will reshape the competitive landscape.
The evolution of export channels is equally noteworthy. Data shared by Zhang Xiaocun, partner at Modern Media's home textiles business, shows that TikTok covers over 150 countries with 2 billion monthly active users, and home furnishing categories in Southeast Asia and Latin America are growing fastest globally. He suggested using immersive short videos, local influencers, and industrial belt traceability live streaming, and building a three-tier product matrix of basic, functional, and co-branded products. For small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises, this means cross-border is no longer exclusive to leading enterprises; traffic dividends provide an opportunity to overtake on curves.
Practical Suggestions
For Buyers - Prioritize suppliers with original design capabilities and a complete product matrix, focusing on whether they have layered image, profit, and traffic products to enhance terminal pricing power. - Incorporate fabric functionality (temperature control, antibacterial, etc.) into procurement standards, aligning with the healthy sleep trend to meet consumers' dual demand for 'function and aesthetics.' - Utilize AI sampling and spatial intelligence tools to reduce sample procurement and real shooting costs, accelerating product iteration.
For Foreign Trade Enterprises - Deeply cultivate high-growth markets such as Southeast Asia and Latin America, leveraging traffic dividends on platforms like TikTok to build brand awareness through localized short videos and influencer collaborations. - Build a three-tier product matrix of basic, functional, and co-branded products, corresponding to volume sales, premium pricing, and brand communication, avoiding a single price war. - Pay attention to the cross-border online transaction models of industrial clusters like Keqiao, exploring industrial belt traceability live streaming to win overseas customer trust through supply chain transparency.
The transformation of China's home textile fabric industry is not an immediate change but a systematic value reconstruction. From design to technology, from AI to going global, every link is redefining the value of 'cloth.' For practitioners, the key is not to wait and see but to quickly translate strategic consensus into practical capabilities and occupy a favorable position at the starting line of the 15th Five-Year Plan period.