How big an industry can a curtain fabric support? Keqiao, Shaoxing, offers an answer: nearly 8,000 enterprises, an annual output value of nearly 70 billion yuan, and cross-border online transactions of 800 million to 900 million US dollars. The 2026 China Home Textile Association Fabric Branch Annual Meeting, held recently in Keqiao, underscored these figures, reflecting the collective anxiety and breakout attempts of the home textile fabric industry amid stock competition.
Background
The meeting, themed 'Design Breakthrough, Technology Empowerment, Global Symbiosis,' brought together industry associations, university experts, brand enterprises, and cross-border e-commerce platforms. Liang Pengcheng, Vice President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, noted that the textile industry saw steady growth in production, sales, and exports in the first half of the year, but faced weak demand and trade volatility. Zhu Xiaohong, President of the China Home Textile Association, reviewed the achievements of the 14th Five-Year Plan: stable industrial scale and improved standards, but the fabric industry suffered from real estate downturn and rising raw material costs, squeezing profits and leading to export volume growth with price decline.
Keqiao's industrial agglomeration is striking: in 2025, the China Light Textile City's transaction volume exceeded 440 billion yuan, with nearly 8,000 local curtain fabric enterprises and an annual output value of nearly 70 billion yuan. These figures suggest that Keqiao is not only one of the largest fabric industry clusters but also a barometer for the home textile sector.
Industry Impact
When 'volume growth with price decline' becomes the norm, the path of pure scale expansion is exhausted. Among the six goals proposed by Zhu Xiaohong, improving global supply chains, tapping domestic soft furnishing renewal demand, and activating new productive forces through AI and industry-academia integration are prioritized. This signals a clear shift from 'capacity competition' to 'technology, brand, and scenario competition.'
AI applications are becoming concrete. Ji Feng, Associate Professor at Donghua University, showcased intelligent color matching using dye databases and CNN-based fiber identification, which could standardize processes previously reliant on experienced workers, enhancing detection efficiency and accuracy for buyers. Zhao Lu, Global VP of Collov AI, introduced spatial AI to address high costs of sampling and photography, using world models for space analysis and material replacement. This not only reduces costs for curtain companies but may reshape bidding competitiveness.
Overseas expansion also presents opportunities. Media shared by Modeng Media showed TikTok covers 150+ countries with 2 billion monthly active users, with home furnishing categories in Southeast Asia and Latin America growing fastest. Strategies like industrial belt livestreaming and local influencer collaborations offer replicable paths for factory sellers. However, cross-border is not a panacea; product portfolio and localization capabilities are decisive.
Practical Recommendations
For Buyers - Prioritize suppliers using AI color matching and fiber detection technologies for better consistency and delivery efficiency. - Given rising soft furnishing renewal demand, choose brands with full-house soft furnishing design capabilities rather than merely comparing prices.
For Foreign Trade Enterprises - Leverage TikTok's content traffic and Keqiao's industrial belt livestreaming to build trust with overseas consumers. - When entering high-growth markets like Southeast Asia and Latin America, adopt a three-tier product matrix (basic, functional, co-branded) to avoid low-price competition.
The next phase for the home textile industry is not about the thickness of a piece of fabric but a comprehensive competition in design, technology, and global operations. Keqiao's 70 billion yuan output is just a starting point; whether it can convert scale advantages into brand premiums will determine who stays at the table in the next five years.