Orders Scheduled Until September! Antai Textile Leads the Textile Recovery Wave with Innovative 'Ready-to-Use Dyed' Yarns

In early July in Zhangjiagang, as the summer heat intensified, the production workshop of Antai Textile was even hotter than the weather—hundreds of spinning machines ran at high speed, with colored acrylic tops jumping along the production line, eventually winding into rolls of soft-textured fancy yarns. Factory Director Huang of the Production Department, wearing a safety helmet, patrolled the workshop, occasionally stopping to check the parameters on the screen. 'This is the newly commissioned fifth colored acrylic top production line. Recently, orders have been scheduled until September, and we must ensure that the color difference of each batch is controlled within 0.5 grade.'

Behind this busyness lies a quietly emerging warmth in the textile industry. The latest data shows that in the first week of July 2025, the textile manufacturing index rose by 2.96%, outperforming the Shanghai Composite Index by 1.87%. The chemical fiber output of enterprises above designated size increased by 5.5% year-on-year, and the activity of the consumer market continued to pick up. 'The industry recovery is not accidental but an inevitable result of the upgrading of consumer demand,' said Li Xiong, Marketing Manager, pointing to the research report on the desk with a firm tone. 'We tracked the terminal market and found that the proportion of colored knitted sweaters and fancy wool sweaters in this year's spring and summer clothing has increased by 12% year-on-year, which is exactly our opportunity.'

As an established textile enterprise founded in 1993, Antai Textile's main products—acrylic yarn, acrylic top, colored acrylic top, and fancy yarns—exactly align with the current consumption trends of 'lightweight, personalized, and eco-friendly'. 'Acrylic fiber is lightweight, warm, and has good resilience, making it an ideal raw material for knitted garments,' Li Xiong explained. 'In the past, the market focused more on basic white yarns, but now brand clients are looking for 'directly usable colored yarns'—eliminating the subsequent dyeing process, which not only reduces costs but also reduces sewage discharge.'

This demand for 'ready-to-use dyed' products has forced the production end to continuously make breakthroughs. Director Huang and his team have researched dyeing technology for three years. 'Traditional acrylic top dyeing is prone to color streaks and insufficient color fastness. We collaborated with Jiangnan University to develop 'low-temperature gradient dyeing technology', reducing the dyeing temperature from 95°C to 75°C. This not only reduces energy consumption by 20% but also increases color fastness to above level 4, expanding the color range from over 500 to more than 1200.' Now, Antai Textile's colored acrylic tops can achieve 'small-batch, multi-batch, and rapid delivery', with the minimum order quantity reduced from 500 kg to 100 kg, which has caught the eye of many designer brands.

In early July, news came that Shandong Haijiang's 130,000-ton/year acrylonitrile unit had a temporary shutdown for maintenance. As the main raw material for acrylic fiber, fluctuations in acrylonitrile prices have affected the entire industry. 'Stable raw materials mean stable production,' Director Huang was prepared for this. 'We have established a 'dual-supplier + raw material reserve' mechanism, signing long-term agreements with leading petrochemical enterprises such as Lihuayi, and storing a 15-day safety stock in the factory area. Even if there are short-term price fluctuations, our product quotations can remain stable, which makes customers particularly reassured.'

The market feedback has been immediate. In the first half of this year, the sales volume of Antai Textile's fancy yarns increased by 30% year-on-year. Among them, a 'slub color-dotted yarn' became a hit—it is interwoven with colored acrylic tops and polyester staple fibers, resulting in fabrics with mottled color layers and a natural texture. It was used by a domestic fast-fashion brand in its autumn new products, with a single-order volume exceeding 200 tons. 'In the past, we chased customers to recommend products; now customers take the initiative to bring design drafts for customization,' Li Xiong said with a smile. Just last week, they finalized a cooperation with an outdoor children's clothing enterprise, which valued the anti-pilling property of acrylic yarn and the eco-friendly attribute of colored acrylic tops.

From a small spinning mill in 1993 to an industry backbone with an 80,000-spindle spinning capacity and annual sales exceeding 500 million yuan today, Antai Textile's secret lies in every yarn. 'There are no shortcuts in the textile industry; we just follow the market, follow technology, and follow customer needs,' Li Xiong looked at the slogan 'Based on Integrity, Innovating for the Future' in the factory area outside the window, with a down-to-earth tone. 'In the second half of the year, we will also introduce an intelligent sorting system to shorten the delivery cycle of colored acrylic tops by another 3 days. After all, letting every piece of clothing wear high-quality 'Antai-made' yarns is our unchanging goal for more than 30 years.'