One out of every five sweaters worldwide comes from Dalang, a knitwear cluster that produces about 900 million pieces annually and records a full-chain transaction value exceeding 72 billion yuan. On August 26, 22 Dalang enterprises held a precise supply-demand matchmaking event in Shanghai, presenting the entire chain from colored yarn, worsted wool, and garments to a debut of pet knitwear. The move signals a shift from sheer production capacity to brand value.
Background
Choosing Shanghai as the venue was strategic. The Yangtze River Delta hosts numerous brands, buyers, and cross-border e-commerce merchants, while Dalang—despite its 150,000 computerized flat knitting machines and over 2,000 yarn enterprises—has long been perceived as an OEM base. The event featured negotiation zones, trend releases, and a pet knitwear show, essentially a proactive branding effort to bring factories to the forefront, letting buyers touch fabric textures, compare color cards, and confirm stitch types, thereby shortening the decision chain from samples to bulk orders.
For buyers, this face-to-face sampling reduces remote verification costs and repeated sample shipping. A factory owner at the event noted that in-person talks build trust faster than online communication, especially for functional yarns like intelligent temperature-regulating ones that need tactile evaluation. This means Dalang is compensating for its brand weakness with service experience, while buyers gain a more efficient supply chain entry point.
Industry Impact
The pet knitwear debut is the event's biggest variable. The pet economy is heating up, but knitted pet apparel remains a blue ocean. Dalang enterprises are migrating mature techniques—coarse gauge, fine gauge, jacquard—to the pet track, which is less a leap than a flexible reuse of capacity. A single yarn can now weave clothes for people and pets alike, reflecting the adaptability of computerized machines and Dalang's quick response to market demands. For factories, this could diversify orders from seasonal apparel to year-round pet products, smoothing capacity fluctuations.
The trend release segment points to longer-term value. It decoded key stitch patterns, colors, and details for the 27/28 season, and shared AI-assisted design and style prediction tools. For Dalang factories, this is more valuable than just taking orders—knowing next year's trends early allows earlier yarn preparation, machine tuning, and sampling, reducing inventory risks. AI design tools may also reshape development processes, enabling small factories to access design capabilities at lower costs. This is effectively a public support to boost the cluster's collective competitiveness.
From an industrial zone perspective, Dalang's Shanghai trip is a microcosm of the transition from 'production base' to 'brand.' Since the first knitting factory in 1979, Dalang has built deep supply chain roots, but reliance on export orders leaves it vulnerable to global demand swings. Proactively connecting with domestic buyers, especially e-commerce and brand channels in the Yangtze River Delta, helps Dalang establish a bridgehead in the domestic market. Meanwhile, a stronger regional brand may attract design talent and high-end orders, creating a positive cycle.