Orders Increase by 30%! Antai Textile Empowers Sports Brands' Premiumization Wave with Acrylic Yarns

(Main text) By the Yangtze River in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province, in the production workshop of Antai Textile, rolls of brightly colored acrylic sliver are flowing through the automated production line. After inspection by precision instruments, they are packaged and sent to a sportswear enterprise in the south—a company that just reported a stunning over 50% growth in outdoor brand turnover in the second quarter. 'Recently, orders from Xtep and 361° have increased significantly, especially the demand for fancy yarns for high-end running shoes and outdoor jackets, which has grown by nearly 30% compared to the same period last year,' said Li Xiong, Marketing Manager, flipping through the latest order reports with a proud confidence in his tone. Behind this busyness lies a vivid testament to this textile enterprise, founded in 1993, which has keenly captured the industry pulse through 30 years of deep cultivation in acrylic fibers.

In the first half of this year, the textile industry has shown a warming trend: data such as a 2.4% rise in the SW Textile Manufacturing Index, national textile and apparel exports reaching 143.98 billion US dollars, and a 13.5% year-on-year growth in exports to Southeast Asian markets like Vietnam, outline the dual opportunities of domestic demand recovery and overseas demand warming. The frequent good news from sports brands has sent a clear signal—premiumization and functionalization are reshaping the consumer market. The 50-55% growth rate of Anta's outdoor brand and over 20% growth of Xtep's Saucony running shoes are driven by consumers' triple pursuit of 'technological sense', 'comfort', and 'personalization' in clothing, which highly aligns with the product characteristics of Antai Textile's main products: acrylic yarns, colored acrylic slivers, and fancy yarns.

'The warmth retention of acrylic fiber is 1.5 times that of wool, and its lightness makes it more suitable for intense outdoor sports. Our colored acrylic sliver adopts dope dyeing technology, which reduces water consumption by 30% compared to traditional dyeing, and the color fastness can reach level 4 or above, fully meeting the dual requirements of high-end sports brands for environmental protection and durability,' introduced Factory Director Huang from the Production Department, standing in the constant temperature and humidity spinning workshop and pointing to the operating imported German equipment. As a 'veteran' who has been with Antai Textile for over 20 years, he has witnessed the enterprise's transformation from producing only acrylic sliver to forming a full product matrix of 'acrylic yarns - colored fibers - fancy yarns'. To match the rapidly iterating design needs of sports brands, the Production Department specially upgraded the flexible production line last year, enabling small-batch custom fancy yarn production with a minimum of 50 kilograms. The cycle from sample confirmation to mass delivery has been shortened to 7 days, allowing them to maintain a calm delivery capacity when facing the 20% growth demand from 361°'s online channels.

This keen insight into market trends stems from Antai Textile's 30-year accumulation of the integrated advantage of 'industry-university-research-application'. As early as ten years ago, the enterprise established a joint laboratory with the Textile Research Institute of Jiangnan University, developing 'light and warm acrylic yarn' for outdoor clothing. By adjusting the fiber cross-sectional shape to improve bulkiness, the resulting fabric is 15% lighter than traditional acrylic while retaining the same warmth retention—today, this product has become one of the core fabric suppliers for Anta's outdoor series. In the field of fancy yarns, the design team visits fabric exhibitions in Italy and Japan every year, integrating the fashion genes of Haining, the 'Trendy City', into yarn design. The 'cloud pattern fancy yarn' launched last year won the Annual Innovative Fabric Award from a leading domestic down jacket brand with its unique texture.

From the start of the first acrylic sliver spinning machine in the workshop in 1993 to today's modern production base with an annual capacity of over 20,000 tons; from meeting basic textile raw material needs to providing 'function + fashion' customized solutions for sports brands, Antai Textile's growth trajectory is exactly a microcosm of the transformation and upgrading of China's textile manufacturing. 'Xinjiang has just introduced a new textile and apparel industry policy, and exports to Southeast Asian markets are growing. In the second half of the year, we plan to expand the production capacity of colored acrylic sliver by another 20%, focusing on developing antibacterial acrylic yarns for outdoor and children's clothing,' Li Xiong said, looking firmly at the national sales map on the office wall. In the industry spring breeze of the continuously rising SW Textile Manufacturing Index, this enterprise with 30 years of textile passion is continuing to write its own warm legend on the industrial 'New Silk Road' with acrylic fiber as its pen.