Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) – “For EU-China relations, the development of the textile industry serves as a window for cooperation and openness, while creativity is a catalyst for mutual progress,” said Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former Prime Minister of France, Chairman of the Foundation for Prospect and Innovation, and recipient of the Chinese Friendship Medal, at the opening of the 8th World Textile Merchants Conference in Keqiao District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province on the 6th.
This conference, themed “International Competition and Cooperation – Reconstructing a New Global Textile Value Chain,” explored core issues such as international supply chain collaboration, cutting-edge technological breakthroughs, fashion crossover leadership, and green economic development under the restructuring of the global textile industry value chain from multiple dimensions, including technology-driven development, cultural leadership, green transformation, and open cooperation.
“Europe possesses advantages in the textile industry, such as global standards and eco-design, while Chinese and Asian textile companies are competitive and attractive in terms of raw materials, production scale, and fabric technology,” said Matthias W. Gluth, General Manager of Dornbirn-GFC (Dornbirn Global Fiber Conference). He added that, from a business perspective, this not only reflects the current global landscape but also embodies the future trend of “competitive cooperation and symbiosis” in the global textile industry.
As he stated, this conference, based in Keqiao, the birthplace of the textile industry, radiates globally, fully leveraging its role as a bridge for international exchange, actively transforming international competitive pressure into international cooperation momentum, and reconstructing the global textile value chain.
“Keqiao is a world-renowned international textile capital. The annual transaction volume of the China Textile City located in Keqiao has exceeded 400 billion yuan,” said Yuan Jian, Secretary of the CPC Keqiao District Committee of Shaoxing City, in his keynote speech. He stated that under the new opportunities of industry, technology, and market, whether it is the consistently resilient industrial chain or the continuously improving institutional mechanisms, Keqiao will become a stable, efficient, and sustainable global textile industrial cluster and textile distribution center.
Notably, the event also saw the launch and signing of the "Global Cloud-Based Fabric, Digital New Silk Road—China Textile City Overseas Exhibition and Trade Alliance." Enterprises within this alliance will leverage AI technology to deeply integrate various nodes of the textile industry's vertical supply chain, including management, transactions, logistics, warehousing, and production, reshaping China Textile City's new "internal and external circulation" integrated development model.
Furthermore, the conference released the "2026 World Textile Industry Trend Outlook," the textile industry AI model "AI Fabric 2.0," and promoted the "Keqiao Youxuan" brand.
"Development trends, value chains, innovation and upgrading, and global cooperation will become the four major topics for the global textile industry," said Sun Ruizhe, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council. He added that reconstructing the global textile value chain is not a task that can be accomplished overnight, nor can it be done by one country alone; it requires global collaboration to create value while respecting differences. (End)
