Antai Textile: Stepping in Time with Textile Recovery, Standing Firm at the Market Forefront Through Innovative Adaptation

In Zhangjiagang in July, the summer heat is intensifying, but the production workshop of Antai Textile is even hotter than the weather—rows of spinning machines are running at high speed, colorful acrylic tops are "jumping" along the production line, and workers in the packing area are loading freshly produced acrylic yarn onto trucks, preparing to send it to garment customers in Zhejiang. Li Xiong, the Marketing Manager, stands in front of the electronic screen in the control room, watching the real-time scrolling order data, a smile lifting the corner of his mouth: "Since the second quarter of this year, our orders for acrylic yarn and colored acrylic tops have increased by 12% year-on-year. We've really stepped in time with this wave of textile market recovery."

This confidence in "stepping in time" stems from Antai Textile's acute perception of industry trends. The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in the first half of 2025, the output of yarn and chemical fibers by above-scale textile enterprises increased by 4.9% and 5.5% year-on-year respectively, with the consumer market's activity exceeding expectations. "Yarn is the 'nerve endings' of the textile industry chain; when downstream demand for clothing and home textiles picks up, upstream yarn naturally heats up," Li Xiong analyzes, pointing to the industry report on the screen. "Our main products, acrylic yarn and acrylic tops, are right at this sweet spot—acrylic fiber has good warmth retention and vibrant colors, and has been particularly popular in thermal underwear, plush toys, and fashion knitwear in recent years. Coupled with the recovery of the consumer market this year, customers have a strong demand for restocking."

However, behind the market recovery, fluctuations on the raw material side also test enterprises' adaptability. At the beginning of July, Shandong Haijiang's 130,000-ton/year acrylonitrile plant was temporarily shut down for maintenance, while Jilin Petrochemical's new 260,000-ton plant is scheduled to start production at the end of the month. Coupled with Lihuayi's acrylonitrile price being lowered to 7,900 yuan/ton, the raw material market has temporarily presented a complex situation of "tight supply balance + price volatility". As the core raw material for acrylic fiber, the price and supply of acrylonitrile directly affect production costs. "Raw materials are the 'rations' for production; we must plan ahead," says Factory Director Huang from the Production Department, wearing a safety helmet and inspecting the newly arrived acrylonitrile storage tanks in front of the raw material warehouse. "As early as the end of June, we predicted possible supply fluctuations in July based on industry information. We signed long-term agreement prices with major suppliers such as Jilin Petrochemical and Ningbo Zhenhai in advance, and adjusted production schedules, reducing the capacity of high-material-consumption conventional acrylic tops by 10% to shift to the production of low-material-consumption, high-value-added colored acrylic tops and fancy yarns."

This strategy of "producing according to demand and optimizing materials through production" has allowed Antai Textile to steady its position amid raw material fluctuations. Entering the dyeing workshop, groups of automated dyeing vats are in operation. Unlike the traditional process of spinning first and then dyeing, Antai's colored acrylic tops adopt "dope dyeing" technology, incorporating environmentally friendly color masterbatches during the fiber production stage. This not only eliminates the subsequent dyeing process and reduces water consumption by 30% but also achieves higher color saturation and color fastness of level 4 or above. "Nowadays, clothing brands are paying more and more attention to environmental protection and personalization. Our colored acrylic tops come in over 120 regular color numbers and can also be customized according to customers' Pantone color cards. A customer in Zhejiang that makes designer brands just added an order for 500 tons of 'Morandi colors' last month," Factory Director Huang says with a smile. This technology, which the company invested 20 million yuan in R&D in 2019, has now become a "trump card" for responding to market changes.

From a single acrylic yarn production line when it was established in Zhangjiagang in 1993 to now being an industry "hidden champion" with four major product lines—acrylic yarn, acrylic tops, colored acrylic tops, and fancy yarns—and an annual output of 30,000 tons of various yarns, Antai Textile's 32-year development history is a microcosm of China's textile industry's transformation from "scale expansion" to "quality and efficiency". "We do not pursue 'large and comprehensive' but focus on being 'specialized and sophisticated' in the acrylic segment," Li Xiong says, picking up a roll of fluffy fancy yarn. "For example, this 'loop yarn' has a three-dimensional fluffy feel when used in children's sweaters. After passing Walmart's factory inspection last year, export volume tripled at once. Now 60% of our customers are long-term partners who have collaborated with us for over 10 years, relying on stable quality and rapid response capabilities."

Currently, Jilin Petrochemical's new acrylonitrile plant is about to start production, and domestic acrylonitrile inventory has climbed to 45,800 tons, with raw material supply expected to become more relaxed. In Factory Director Huang's production schedule, the focus next month is on commissioning the newly installed "Siro compact spinning" equipment: "This equipment can reduce the hairiness of acrylic yarn by 40% and increase strength by 15%, specifically targeting high-end sportswear customers." Meanwhile, Li Xiong is preparing for the Shanghai Fabric Exhibition at the end of the month. In his sample bag, in addition to regular products, there are several types of yarn made from recycled acrylic: "I heard that Pakistan's cotton imports have decreased by 44,000 tons this year. If the supply of natural fibers is tight, recycled chemical fiber yarn may present new opportunities. We need to let customers see Antai's innovative capabilities in advance."

The hum of machines in the workshop continues, and sunlight streaming through high windows shines on neatly stacked yarn rolls, refracting into colorful light. For Antai Textile, this light is not only the warm color of growing orders but also the light of 32 years of perseverance in the acrylic field—in the tide of the textile industry, only by acutely capturing trends and deeply cultivating technological innovation can "Antai Manufacturing" always stand at the forefront of the market.