Antai Textile: Driven by Intelligent Upgrades and Innovative Products, Weaving a 'Stable and Prosperous' Chapter with 18% Export Growth

In June in Zhangjiagang, the wind along the Yangtze River carries the humidity and heat of early summer, yet the production workshop of Antai Textile is bustling with orderly activity. Li Xiong, the Marketing Manager, had just put down his phone, the screen still displaying the latest export data released by the General Administration of Customs——from January to May, national exports of textile yarns, fabrics and products reached 58.48 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 2.5%. He turned and walked towards the production workshop, and from a distance, he saw Factory Director Huang of the Production Department staring at the jumping numbers on the intelligent central control screen, his brows slightly furrowed and then quickly relaxed.

"Factory Director Huang, I just received an email from our long-term Southeast Asian customer. They are adding an order for 300 tons of acrylic yarn, saying that local garment factories are expanding production, and the schedule for autumn and winter knitted sweaters has already been scheduled until the end of the year." Li Xiong's voice carried a hint of excitement. On the report in his hand, the curve in the "acrylic yarn export proportion" column was rising month by month.

Factory Director Huang raised his finger to the "Order Delivery Progress" module on the central control screen: "Look, the No. 3 intelligent spinning unit, which was just commissioned last week, now has a daily output of 8 tons of acrylic yarn, an efficiency increase of 30% compared to the old equipment. This batch of orders, from raw materials to finished products, can be delivered in 20 days, 5 days ahead of the customer's required cycle." He paused, his fingertips gliding over the "Energy Consumption Monitoring" data on the screen, "Moreover, the electricity consumption per ton of yarn has decreased by 12 kWh. This is thanks to the intelligent spinning workshop we invested in last year——do you remember, when we first established the factory in 1993, 6,000-spindle yarn machines had to be monitored by veteran workers, but now a 100,000-spindle workshop can be managed clearly by 20 workers."

The two walked side by side in the workshop. Amid the low hum of machine operation, bundles of snow-white acrylic sliver were being conveyed through the automated production line, undergoing drafting and twisting, gradually turning into fine yarn. Li Xiong suddenly remembered the video conference with European customers last week: "By the way, that German brand asked if our colored acrylic sliver can achieve 'no color difference in the same batch'. Their designers want to use it in this year's autumn and winter children's clothing series, saying that environmental requirements are becoming stricter, and they don't want to do post-dyeing anymore."

"This is exactly our strength." Factory Director Huang stopped and pointed to the nearby color spinning workshop, "Look at that row of dyeing vats. The upgraded full-process fluorine-free dyeing technology last year increased dye utilization from 70% to 95%, and sewage discharge indicators are 30% lower than EU standards. Moreover, our colored acrylic sliver uses 'pre-spinning coloring'—color masterbatch is mixed in during the acrylonitrile polymerization stage, so the yarn has consistent color inside and out. Customers can directly spin and weave with it, eliminating the dyeing process, reducing costs by at least 15%." He picked up a skein of sapphire blue acrylic yarn, "Take this 'Deep Sea Blue', for example. It just passed the OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 certification last month, and several Nordic home furnishing brands have already placed orders."

As they were talking, Li Xiong's phone rang again; it was a cost analysis sheet sent by the Finance Department. He glanced at it, looked up and smiled at Factory Director Huang: "Look, cotton prices have fluctuated sharply recently. The National Cotton Price B Index rose by 0.6% this week, but the raw material cost of our acrylic yarn has remained stable——we just signed a long-term agreement price with PetroChina last week, locking in the acrylonitrile purchase price for the third quarter. Now customers no longer have to worry about 'yarn prices following cotton prices'."

Factory Director Huang nodded, his gaze turning to the factory anniversary slogan "1993-2023" on the outer wall of the workshop: "From initially starting with acrylic sliver, to now having three product lines—acrylic yarn, fancy yarn, and colored acrylic sliver—advancing side by side, these 30 years have not been in vain. Do you remember, during the 2008 financial crisis, we gritted our teeth and launched the fancy yarn production line; now those 'slub yarn' and 'loop yarn' have become hot commodities for internet-famous clothing brands. A few years ago, when environmental protection was tight, we laid out fluorine-free dyeing two years in advance, and now orders are scheduled until the end of the year." He pointed to the scrolling customer list on the central control screen, "Garment factories in Southeast Asia, home furnishing brands in Europe, domestic designer studios—customers growing with us, this is the real 'stability'."

The setting sun filtered through the high windows of the workshop, casting a warm golden glow on the machines. Li Xiong looked at the production daily report that Factory Director Huang had just received on his phone——the daily acrylic yarn output was 9.2 tons, with a qualification rate of 99.8% and an order delivery punctuality rate of 100%. He suddenly remembered the industry news he had seen that morning: although the SW Textile Manufacturing Index had only risen by 1.0%, Antai Textile's export orders had increased by 18% year-on-year.

"Factory Director Huang, let's take that batch of 'rainbow gradient acrylic sliver' to the industry exhibition next month," Li Xiong said. "I heard that in the trend report of 'Asian Denim', 'low-saturation color blocking' is particularly popular this autumn and winter, and our products can just help designers realize their ideas."

Factory Director Huang patted him on the shoulder with a smile: "No problem. Let them see that an old textile enterprise from Zhangjiagang can still come up with new tricks that young people like."

The machines in the workshop continued to run tirelessly, with spindles rotating rapidly, twisting acrylic fibers into yarn, and also twisting Antai Textile's 30 years of perseverance and innovation. Amid the ups and downs of the textile industry, this enterprise starting from Zhangjiagang is weaving its own 'stable and prosperous' story with stable quality, flexible response, and a keen sense of trends.