The curtain and fabric industry is at a crossroads. On August 12, the 2026 Home Textile Association Fabric Branch annual meeting was held in Keqiao, Shaoxing, releasing a set of data worth attention: Keqiao has nearly 8,000 curtain fabric enterprises with an annual output value of about 70 billion yuan and cross-border online transactions of 800-900 million USD. Behind these numbers lies a clear signal: the industry is shifting from "scale competition" to "value competition."
Industry Foundation: Keqiao's Stock and Increment
Keqiao is known as an "economic powerhouse built on cloth," with a textile industry chain that is arguably the most complete in China. In 2025, the transaction volume of China Light and Textile City exceeded 440 billion yuan, with the curtain fabric sector contributing about 70 billion yuan, roughly 16% of the total. This means curtain fabric has become a significant segment within Keqiao's textile industry. More notably, cross-border online transactions of 800-900 million USD indicate that Keqiao's curtain fabric reach is extending globally, with a higher online penetration rate than traditionally perceived.
For buyers, Keqiao's industrial clustering means shorter supply chain response times and a wider product selection. With nearly 8,000 enterprises competing in the same arena, price transparency and product homogeneity are extremely high, forcing companies to differentiate through design or functionality or risk falling into price wars.
Industry Transformation: Three Shifts from Scale to Value
Liang Pengcheng, Vice President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, emphasized that in the first half of the year, industry production, sales, and exports grew steadily, but weak demand and trade fluctuations persist. Zhu Xiaohong, President of the China Home Textile Association, pointed out that the fabric industry has been impacted by real estate downturn and rising raw material costs, squeezing corporate profits in the first half, with exports showing a trend of volume increase but price decrease.
This reveals a core contradiction: production is growing, but profits are shrinking. The industry must shift from "scale expansion" to "value growth," from "manufacturing mindset" to "brand mindset." Specifically, the meeting outlined three directions: technology and innovation empowerment, green upgrades to build competitive advantages, and consumer insight to reshape product portfolios.
For factories, this means the pure OEM model will become increasingly unsustainable. Future competitiveness will no longer rely on capacity but on the ability to respond to consumer trends and add product value.
AI Implementation: The Leap from Concept to Productivity
The most practical part of this meeting was the specific application scenarios of AI in the fabric industry. Zhao Lu, Global VP of Collov AI, pointed out that the costs of sampling, live shooting, and scene representation in the fabric industry are high, and spatial AI can significantly reduce these hidden costs. Specifically, through world models enabling spatial analysis, material replacement, and one-click realistic scene generation, companies can save hundreds of thousands of yuan in offline sampling and shooting costs.
Donghua University Associate Professor Ji Feng showcased more cutting-edge applications: building massive dye databases, using AI for intelligent color matching to solve digital printing color difference issues, and establishing fiber polarization image libraries with CNN deep learning for non-destructive rapid fabric composition identification, replacing traditional chemical testing. These technologies are no longer just lab concepts but can be immediately translated into productivity and inspection efficiency.
For SMEs, the inclusiveness of AI means they don't need to build large R&D teams; they can leverage platform tools to improve design efficiency and product quality. However, the prerequisite is that enterprises must recognize that "fabric physical data is a long-term core asset" and start accumulating and structuring their product data early.
New Channels for Going Global: Industrial Belt Opportunities Under Traffic Dividends
Data from the cross-border e-commerce platform TikTok shows it covers over 150 countries with 2 billion monthly active users, with home furnishing categories in Southeast Asia and Latin America growing fastest globally. Zhang Xiaocun, partner at Modeng Media's home textile business, shared explosive playbooks such as immersive short videos, local influencers, and Keqiao industrial belt origin live streaming, and suggested that cross-border stores build a three-tier product matrix: basic, functional, and co-branded items.
For Keqiao curtain fabric enterprises, this is not just an expansion of sales channels but also an opportunity for brand building. Traditional foreign trade relies on exhibitions and key accounts, while cross-border e-commerce allows SMEs to directly reach overseas consumers and use data feedback to guide product development. However, going global is not simply "listing products"; it requires understanding target markets' cultural aesthetics and consumption habits, which is where localization adds value.