When curtain fabric evolves from 'a piece of cloth' to 'a spatial solution', the competitive logic of home textiles is being rewritten. On August 12, the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Fabric Branch of China Home Textile Association in Keqiao, Shaoxing, revealed striking data: nearly 8,000 curtain fabric enterprises, annual output value close to 70 billion yuan, and cross-border online trade of 800-900 million USD. Yet, the industry experienced profit pressure and a price decline despite rising export volumes. Scale remains, but profits are shrinking—this is the real picture of the industry's transition from scale expansion to value growth.
Data Behind the Industry Gap
The 440 billion yuan transaction volume disclosed by Sun Weigang, Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee of China Textile City, highlights Keqiao's significance as an 'economic powerhouse built on cloth'. However, Zhu Xiaohong, President of China Home Textile Association, admitted that the fabric industry suffered from declining real estate and rising raw material costs, leading to profit pressure and a quantity-up-price-down export trend in the first half of the year. This contrast suggests that growth driven solely by output and export volume has hit a ceiling; the industry must find new value anchors.
For buyers, this means the old procurement logic of 'competing on price and delivery time' is becoming obsolete. As end demand shifts from 'having fabric' to 'having good fabric', suppliers offering functional materials and integrated soft furnishing solutions will command premium prices. For factories, profit pressure forces a shift from 'order-based production' to 'product definition', otherwise they risk being trapped in price wars.
Three Signals: Design, AI, and Going Global
The annual meeting sent three signals pointing to concrete upgrade paths. First, original design was elevated to a strategic level. Lin Shaowu, brand consultant for Tianyu New Materials, proposed that the key to breaking through is returning to real user home scenarios, focusing on 300 million people with sleep disorders, separate duvet needs, and home office trends, combining temperature control and antibacterial functions with healing colors, and building a product matrix of image, profit, and traffic items. This means design is no longer just 'drawing', but an understanding and transformation of lifestyles.
Second, AI technology is moving from labs to production lines. Associate Professor Ji Feng from Donghua University showcased AI applications in intelligent color matching and fiber identification: using massive dye databases and CNN deep learning to solve digital printing color difference issues and replace traditional chemical testing. Zhao Lu, Global VP of Collov AI, introduced the concept of 'spatial AI', using world models to achieve spatial analysis, material replacement, and one-click realistic rendering, saving hundreds of thousands in physical sampling and photography costs. He predicted that commercial soft furnishing is the priority landing track, with warehousing, sorting, and inspection processes scalable within three years. For small and medium factories, this means significantly reduced sampling costs and delivery cycles.
Third, going global is no longer exclusive to large enterprises but is becoming a growth channel for SMEs. Zhang Xiaocun from Modeng Media shared data showing 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. The strategies he shared—immersive short videos, local influencers, and supply chain livestreams—offer replicable cross-border operation plans for Keqiao factories. For small and medium foreign trade companies, the key is to seize traffic dividends and leverage content e-commerce to tap incremental markets.
Industry Impact: From Single Products to Omnichannel Symbiosis
The meeting's theme 'Design Breakthrough, Tech Empowerment, Omnichannel Symbiosis' reveals the complete logic of industrial transformation: design solves homogenization, tech solves efficiency, and channels solve markets. Liang Pengcheng, Vice President of China National Textile and Apparel Council, emphasized in his speech that the industry should adhere to the directions of technology, fashion, green, and health, and follow three paths: tech empowerment, green upgrade, and demand leadership. This essentially concretizes 'new quality productivity' in the home textile sector.
For Keqiao, this annual meeting is not just an industry barometer but also a catalyst for regional industrial upgrading. If nearly 8,000 curtain fabric enterprises can shift from 'selling cloth' to 'selling spatial solutions', Keqiao will transform from a 'global fabric distribution center' to a 'soft furnishing solution output base'. For national industrial clusters, Keqiao's exploration provides a reference model—not abandoning manufacturing, but redefining its value through design, technology, and channels.