China is the world’s largest producer and exporter of textiles. Textile is a traditional advantageous industry that covers multiple links such as raw material manufacturing, textile manufacturing, and clothing production. China’s textile industry has formed the world’s largest and most complete industrial system, with production and manufacturing capabilities and international trade scale ranking first in the world for a long time. With the accelerated restructuring of the global industrial chain, China’s textile industry is facing new opportunities and challenges. How to cultivate new opportunities and open up new opportunities? This issue invites experts to discuss relevant issues.

Chinese textiles deeply embedded in the international supply chain

What changes have textile manufacturing centers undergone globally? What is the current competitive landscape in the textile industry?

The textile industry has a history of thousands of years since the birth of handmade textiles. The mechanized cotton textile industry began with the first industrial revolution in the 1860s, and since then, the layout of the world textile industry chain has undergone multiple changes.

After the first industrial revolution, mechanized factories gradually replaced the small family workshop mode of textile production, and Britain became the earliest manufacturing center in the history of the world textile industry. Afterwards, global textile manufacturing centers shifted from the UK to the US, and then to Western European countries and Japan. In the 1960s to 1990s, developed countries shifted their textile manufacturing industry to countries and regions such as South Korea and Singapore. However, due to limited local resources, the process of undertaking and developing the textile industry was relatively short. Initially, it mainly focused on undertaking export-oriented and labor-intensive garment processing industries. Although some economies extended their development upstream of the industrial chain, they quickly entered the stage of industrial transfer, and China became a new destination for undertaking the transfer of the textile industry.

To this day, developed countries still hold a dominant position in high-performance and functional fiber materials, high-end industrial textiles, and high-end textile equipment, and have to varying degrees retained a small amount of traditional textile and clothing processing industries, such as high-end woolen fabrics and clothing from Italy, France, Germany, and other countries, which are well-known in the fashion industry.

In the 1970s, China introduced technology to build four major synthetic fiber bases and initially established a complete textile industry system, laying a solid foundation for undertaking and developing the textile industry. After the reform and opening up, starting from processing trade, actively utilizing foreign capital, undertaking international industrial transfer, continuously expanding industrial scale, and extending and enriching the industrial chain. After joining the World Trade Organization, the vast international market fully unleashed the competitiveness of China’s textile industry. In the tempering of open competition, the Chinese textile industry has completed a leap from following imitation, introducing digestion and absorption, and then innovating to independent innovation, establishing the world’s most complete independent modern textile industry system, covering the three major terminals of chemical fibers, spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing, clothing, household textiles, industrial textiles, and the entire manufacturing chain of textile machinery. China’s textile industry has long ranked first in the world in terms of production and manufacturing capacity, as well as international trade scale, occupying a central position in the manufacturing end of the international textile supply chain.

Around 2010, with the rise of comprehensive manufacturing costs in China, many international buyers turned to cheaper supply countries, and the clothing industry in Southeast Asia and South Asia entered the fast lane of development. After 2018, the textile industry faced a complex and changing international trade environment, and “nearshore outsourcing” and “friendly shore outsourcing” became important trends in the adjustment of international procurement supply chain layout. The role of Latin American, African countries, and EU internal trade in the international supply chain has been enhanced. Some Chinese textile enterprises actively participate in the international industrial layout, build production and processing bases in Southeast Asia, Africa and other regions through the acquisition of textile raw material bases, high-end manufacturing enterprises, technology research and development institutions, as well as high-quality brands and market channels, create the “the Belt and Road” landmark projects, build an efficient international supply chain system, and constantly enhance new advantages in participating in international competition and cooperation. Unlike developing countries such as Vietnam, which mainly rely on factor cost advantages to undertake the transfer of textile industry, China’s textile industry has formed a core competitiveness marked by technology, fashion, and green, and its role in the international textile supply chain is difficult to replace. Specifically, the independent technology and equipment of the entire textile industry chain have reached the international advanced level, breaking the technological monopoly of developed countries in high-tech fiber materials, key textile equipment and other fields. The self-sufficiency rate of textile equipment has exceeded 75%; Textile and clothing fashion design and brand building have entered a development stage dominated by independent originality. Backbone enterprises export mainly through ODM (Original Design Manufacturer), combining creative design with digital economy, continuously optimizing product quality, channel mode, and consumer experience; Independently breaking through key technologies for clean textile production, bio based fiber technology, and waste fiber product recycling and reuse technology, the production of recycled chemical fibers has exceeded 5 million tons, becoming a backbone force in promoting low-carbon, green, and sustainable development of the global textile industry chain. In terms of imports and exports, China remains the main international procurement source for household and industrial textiles, as well as mid to high end textile and clothing. Since the beginning of this year, the world economy has moderately recovered, but it still faces problems such as weak rebound momentum, differentiated performance of major economies, and weak trade and investment growth. The demand for textile and clothing consumption has slowed down, with a year-on-year decrease of 6.3% in the world’s textile and clothing exports in 2023. Low demand and insufficient orders have become practical problems facing the global textile supply chain.

The weak demand has led to increasingly fierce competition in the international market, and the rise of trade protectionism has intensified the competitive pressure on textile and clothing enterprises. Some developing countries rely on their factor cost advantages and tariff preferences provided by developed countries to continuously expand the supply scale of terminal products and vigorously improve the supporting industrial chain. China’s complete textile industry system has strong resilience, promoting continuous release of comprehensive efficiency. It is focusing on enhancing its core competitiveness in science and technology, fashion, green and other aspects, fully leveraging its advantages in digital intelligence, innovation and low-carbon, deeply embedding itself in the international supply chain, and enhancing its voice and influence in the formulation of international rules and standards in the supply chain.

The textile industry demonstrates strong resilience and vitality

What are the advantages of the textile industry as a traditional pillar industry in China, and what is the overall development situation?

China is one of the world’s largest producers of raw materials such as cotton, synthetic fibers, and ramie. Adequate and stable supply of raw materials effectively reduces the production costs of textile enterprises. At the same time, the production, processing, and transportation of raw materials are closely connected, and a complete supply chain provides strong support for the production and operation of enterprises, which is conducive to enhancing their flexibility and adaptability in market competition. From the consumer perspective, China’s vast population base and continuously improving consumption level provide a broad market space for the textile industry. Especially with the increasing market demand for mid to high end textiles and personalized customized products, it has added new impetus to the sustainable development of the textile industry.

The Chinese textile industry has grown from small to large, from weak to strong, constantly gathering surging strength. After years of development, the textile industry has established a complete division of labor system, forming a complete industrial chain from raw materials to end products. The structure of the textile industry chain can be divided into three main parts: the upstream mainly involves the production and supply of textile raw materials, including cotton, linen, silk, wool, and synthetic fibers. As the world’s largest cotton producer, China’s cotton production will reach 5.62 million tons in 2023, accounting for a quarter of the global total production; The chemical fiber industry is concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, and the chemical fibers produced in these areas mainly include polyester, nylon, spandex, etc., which are widely used in various textile manufacturing. The midstream industry is the core part of the textile industry, mainly including spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing. The Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions have gathered a large number of advanced textile enterprises. The application of modern production equipment and the synergistic effect of resource integration have greatly improved production efficiency and product quality. The downstream industries mainly include the manufacturing and sales of end products such as clothing, home textiles, and industrial textiles. Relying on a complete industrial chain, multiple textile industry clusters have been formed in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions. Through vertical integration and horizontal collaboration, the overall competitiveness of the textile industry has been greatly enhanced.

The textile industry closely follows the needs of social development, continuously improves its basic capabilities and modernization level of the industrial chain, promotes fundamental changes in quality, power, and efficiency, and increasingly presents a trend of intelligent and green development. The Chinese textile industry has obvious manufacturing advantages, providing key supporting services for individual soldier systems, nuclear and biological protection, aerospace equipment, medical devices, etc., and its position in serving the national strategic overall situation is becoming increasingly prominent. In recent years, the textile industry has made significant progress in advanced functional fibers, high-performance fibers, green ecological fibers, and other fields, providing important support for high-quality supply, market application expansion, green development, and international discourse power enhancement. By optimizing the structure and transforming the driving force, the technological transformation and upgrading of the textile industry have accelerated, playing an important role in stabilizing economic operation, creating more employment space, promoting people’s livelihood improvement, and balancing international payments.

After years of rapid development, China has become the world’s largest producer and exporter of textiles. Against the backdrop of slowing global economic growth and complex international situations, the textile industry’s exports are facing risks and challenges such as insufficient international market demand and intensified competition. As a traditional pillar industry of China’s national economy, the textile industry has demonstrated strong resilience and vitality, achieving stable and healthy development. It should also be noted that the current international landscape is undergoing profound adjustments, and the global economic growth momentum is insufficient. The development of China’s textile industry is also facing problems such as structural transformation and insufficient endogenous driving force. Developing new quality productive forces, promoting the formation of a faster, wider, and deeper innovation system, and leading the high-quality development of industries, has become an important focus for the future.

Integrated development reshapes the advantages of the entire industry chain

As one of the earlier regions in China to carry out the integration of industrialization and industrialization in the textile industry, how has Shandong combined its resource endowment to revitalize traditional industries?

In recent years, due to factors such as industrial transfer, rising labor costs, and tightening environmental policies, Shandong’s textile industry has also faced problems such as the urgent need to increase high-end production capacity and relative overcapacity in low-end production capacity, leading to increasing pressure on industrial transformation and upgrading. Taking the textile and clothing industry as an example, although there are many enterprises, most of them are in the middle and low end of the value chain, with outdated production equipment, insufficient technological reserves, weak innovation capabilities, and weak competitiveness in the industry chain. How to break through these difficulties?

Relying solely on traditional coping strategies is no longer sufficient to meet the urgent needs of sustainable development. Promoting the deep integration of informatization and industrialization is the only way for the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry and high-quality development. For the textile industry, digitalization is one of the key keys to promoting the integration of digitalization and industrialization. Taking intelligent transformation and digital transformation as the direction, Shandong, combined with its own industrial conditions, is making multidimensional collaborative efforts to promote the all-round and full chain transformation and upgrading of the textile industry, and is fully committed to building a complete, advanced, and safe modern textile industry system.

The path of digital transformation is not an easy one, but a challenging, complex, and constantly evolving process that requires continuous cultivation. On the road to transformation towards intelligence and high-end, Shandong’s textile industry continues to improve quality and efficiency, creating a force for the transformation of old and new driving forces and the development towards new and strong industries, and striving to build a world-class modern textile industry system.