How far can a piece of fabric go? Haining's answer: from family workshops in Xucun, through four decades of industrial change, to the narrative core of a city. In the first half of this year, Haining's home textile industry grew 9.2%, far outpacing the 0.96% revenue increase for large-scale enterprises nationwide. This contrast is striking against a backdrop of weak domestic and international demand. It suggests that traditional industrial clusters can generate new momentum through structural adjustment rather than relying solely on cyclical tailwinds.
Industrial Foundation: Resilience Behind the Numbers
Public data from the China National Textile and Apparel Council shows that in the first half of 2025, revenue of large-scale home textile enterprises rose only 0.96% year-on-year, while exports grew 3.79%. In contrast, Haining's home textile sector expanded by 9.2% during the same period—nearly ten times the industry average. This disparity reflects sustained investment in digital transformation, original design cultivation, high-end fabric R&D, and brand building.
More notably, Haining's home textile products now hold a national market share exceeding 35%, ranking first in China. This share was built over four decades, starting from a single thread and evolving into a pattern of 'north home textiles, south garments, central digital.' For buyers, this means Xucun offers a one-stop supply chain from greige fabric to finished products, from traditional jacquard to smart shading—a completeness that itself translates into efficiency.
Exhibition Evolution: From Trading Floor to Trend Setter
The 35th Haining Home Textile Expo opened on August 15, covering 250,000 square meters, with over 2,500 source factories, four halls, six special zones, and thirteen themed events—these figures alone indicate scale. But the more telling signal is the 22.1% increase in first-day visitor traffic, proving that buyers' demand for 'practical' exhibitions remains strong despite industry-wide traffic concerns.
For the first time, the expo featured a 2026/27 home textile color trend zone under the theme 'Natural and Artistic Fabric Spectrum,' presenting four trend themes: 'Earth Primitive,' 'Gilded Weave,' 'Cross-Domain Art,' and 'East-West Harmony.' This marks a shift from a mere fabric market to a platform for trend release and design conversion. For factories, this means the order-taking logic is changing: it's no longer 'sell what you have' but understanding color trends and material languages to match buyers' expectations for next season's hits.
During the expo, an International Silk Creative R&D Center was inaugurated, promoting the fusion of silk aesthetics with modern home textiles. The industrial implication is that Haining aims to turn silk—a historical classic element—into a differentiated competitive advantage rather than staying at the level of low-price copying.
Transformation Path: Market, Industry, and Services in Parallel
Haining's upgrade is not a single-point breakthrough but a systematic restructuring under the 'One Center, Four Markets' layout. The Home Textile City was selected as a pilot for high-quality development of professional markets in Zhejiang Province, indicating policy recognition and resource support. Specifically, Haining is advancing three fronts: market transformation, building an international fashion center and specialty markets for national style, digital, and original designs, aiming for a national-level creative design cluster; industrial renewal, deepening the 'Hundred Enterprises' action, seizing the AI opportunity, and integrating aesthetics, technology, and green elements; and service enhancement, introducing supportive policies, deepening school-enterprise cooperation, and organizing companies to appear at domestic and international fashion weeks to boost brand going-global.
This 'market + exhibition-trade' composite model is addressing the traditional weakness of 'heavy production, light services' in industrial clusters. For instance, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University has co-built a fashion fabric innovation center and textile intangible heritage creative platform with Haining Home Textile City, and last year signed a project for a fashion industry technology innovation R&D center, bridging the gap from university labs to production lines. For foreign trade companies, this means shorter new product development cycles and lower sampling costs, gaining a time advantage in fast fashion.
Exhibitor Confidence: The Logic of Effectiveness
The success of an exhibition ultimately depends on exhibitors' gains. At this expo, many companies chose to renovate booths, double their space, and increase new product ratios—investments driven by trust in the platform's effectiveness. For example, Hong Kong Bense showcased a 'Natural Essence' theme using cotton, linen, silk, wool, bamboo, and reeds, with its general manager stating, 'Going to exhibitions elsewhere is expensive and exhausting; Haining Expo is at our doorstep and works very well.'
This 'doorstep' convenience lowers the barrier for small and medium factories to participate in high-end trade fairs. For buyers, the expo is no longer just a place to place orders but a window to compare supply chain capabilities and gather trend information. When exhibitors vote with real investment, it signals that the platform's commercial value is being recognized by the market.