When curtain fabric output approaches 70 billion yuan, the industry still worries about shrinking profits—this contrast is the true portrait of the home textile fabric sector. On August 12, the 2026 Annual Conference of the China Home Textile Association's Fabric Branch was held in Keqiao, Shaoxing, revealing that nearly 8,000 curtain fabric enterprises generate about 70 billion yuan in annual output, yet exports show a trend of "volume increase with price decline." Scale is still rising, but profits are harder to earn—the logic is shifting from selling cloth to selling spatial solutions.
Data Behind the Industrial Belt
Keqiao, an "economic powerhouse built on a piece of cloth," boasts one of the most complete textile supply chains in China. In 2025, the China Textile City's transaction volume exceeded 440 billion yuan, with cross-border online trade reaching 800–900 million USD, and curtain fabric contributing nearly 70 billion yuan in output. This number indicates that Keqiao is not just a fabric distribution hub but a production powerhouse. However, capacity advantages face dual pressures: rising raw material costs and declining real estate demand, squeezing corporate profits in the first half of the year.
Liang Pengcheng, Vice President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, noted that output and exports grew steadily in the first half, but weak demand and trade volatility persist. This is a common dilemma—traditional growth models have peaked, and volume and low prices can no longer sustain profits. If nearly 8,000 curtain fabric enterprises in Keqiao continue on the homogenized path, internal competition will only intensify.
Three Variables Reshaping Competition
The conference signaled three key shifts. First, original design has become a survival necessity, not a bonus. Lin Shaowu, brand consultant at Tianyu New Materials, highlighted that price wars stem from product homogenization, and the core solution is returning to real home scenarios. Targeting 300 million people with sleep disorders, segmented bedding, and home-office needs, combining temperature control and antibacterial functions with healing colors, and building a product matrix of image, profit, and traffic items—this logic transforms fabric from industrial goods into lifestyle carriers.
Second, AI is moving from concept to production. Donghua University Associate Professor Ji Feng presented digital achievements showing that AI color matching and CNN deep learning significantly improve digital printing color accuracy and fabric composition detection. More notably, Collov AI introduced "spatial AI," using world models for spatial analysis, material replacement, and real-scene generation, saving hundreds of thousands in sampling and photography costs. For buyers, this could reshape sampling cycles; for factories, fabric physical data becomes a core asset.
Third, going global is no longer exclusive to leading enterprises. Media shared TikTok data: the platform covers 150+ countries with 2 billion monthly active users, and home furnishing categories in Southeast Asia and Latin America are growing fastest. Industrial belt live streaming and local influencer collaborations offer replicable cross-border paths for small factories. However, going global is not just listing products online; it requires a three-tier product matrix of basic, functional, and co-branded items.
Keqiao Sample and Industry Implications
Keqiao's role in this conference is not just as host but as a sample of industrial transformation. Sun Weigang summarized Keqiao's upgrade direction as "international textile capital"—high-end, digital, fashionable, branded, and international. These five words correspond to the leap from manufacturing cluster to innovation cluster. Zhu Xiaohong, President of the China Home Textile Association, outlined six major tasks for the 15th Five-Year Plan, including diversifying global supply chains, tapping domestic soft furnishing renewal demand, activating new quality productivity through AI and industry-academia-research, building Chinese home textile aesthetic brands, implementing carbon footprint standards, and establishing healthy sleep laboratories.
For practitioners, the key message is that new quality productivity is not optional but a survival issue. Whether design, tech, or AI, everything must land on products, efficiency, and markets. Companies that embrace spatial AI will reshape the competitive landscape; those hesitating may be eliminated.