Antai Textile: Weaving the Splendid Growth of the Industry with Innovative Yarns, Leading New Textile Trends through Three Decades of Deep Cultivation

In July in Zhangjiagang, the humid and hot wind from the Yangtze River blows over the campus of Antai Textile. In the production workshop, hundreds of spinning machines are running at a steady frequency; colorful acrylic tops leap along the assembly line, eventually winding into plump bobbins of yarn. Li Xiong, the Marketing Manager, holding a stack of reports, walked briskly towards the Production Department office and called out before entering: "Director Huang, great news! In the first five months, the industrial added value of national above-scale textile enterprises increased by 3.4% year-on-year, and yarn output rose by 4.9% (News 1, 2). Our second-quarter orders for acrylic yarn and colored acrylic tops have surged 15% year-on-year!"

Huang Wei, the Production Director, had just returned from an inspection of the workshop; the cuffs of his blue work uniform were still dotted with some cotton lint. Upon hearing this, he took the report, pointed to a line of data, and smiled: "Look at this one: that customer in Zhejiang who makes trendy brand knitwear added another 200 tons of colored acrylic tops last week, specifying the new color numbers 'Haze Blue' and 'Sunset Orange'. Their purchasing manager said that using our colored tops for direct spinning and weaving eliminates the dyeing and finishing process, reducing the delivery cycle from 45 days to 25 days, and now their new styles are sold out on e-commerce platforms."

Such a busy scene has long been the norm for Antai Textile. Founded in Zhangjiagang in 1993, this textile enterprise has grown from a small factory with only two acrylic yarn production lines to an industry mainstay with four major product lines: acrylic yarn, acrylic tops, colored acrylic tops, and fancy yarns, relying on its acute capture of market trends. "The textile industry has never been about 'working behind closed doors'; we have to keep an eye on the data and adapt to demand changes," Li Xiong put down the industry weekly report in his hand, which clearly stated, "Chemical fiber output from January to May 2025 increased by 5.5% year-on-year" (News 2). "Acrylic, known as the 'soft gold' of chemical fibers, is lightweight, warm, and easy to dye. In recent years, the consumer market has pursued 'light comfort' and 'fast fashion' (News 2), and our products have just hit the trend."

In Antai Textile's R&D center, a huge 'Color Trend Map' hangs on the wall, densely marked with popular yarn colors and textures from the past three years. "In the past, customers mostly wanted white or basic color yarns to dye themselves. Now it's different; young people first look at 'appearance' when buying clothes—colors need to be unique, hand feel delicate, and environmentally friendly," Li Xiong pointed to the 'Plant Dyeing Series' on the map and explained. "Last year, we invested 20 million yuan to build a color spinning laboratory and collaborated with Donghua University to develop plant dye color matching technology. Now we can accurately achieve 168 Pantone colors, and the color fastness of colored acrylic tops is 2 levels higher than the national standard. That's why the proportion of colored products in this spring and summer's orders has increased from 30% to 55%."

The response speed on the production side is equally crucial. Huang Wei led the reporter into the intelligent production workshop, where AGV robots shuttled between production lines transporting raw materials, and real-time operating data of various equipment flashed on the central control screen. "We just completed the renovation of the third fancy yarn production line last month, introducing precision winding machines imported from Germany. Now, for producing complex fancy yarns like 'slub yarn' and 'loop yarn', the thread and color change time has been reduced from 4 hours to 1.5 hours, and the reject rate is controlled below 0.3%," he pointed to the 'order delivery rate' data on the screen—98.7%—and said, "A while ago, a towel factory in Shandong needed to rush goods for Singles' Day, requiring 50 tons of jacquard acrylic yarn within 3 days. We managed to compress the regular 7-day production cycle to 48 hours, and now the customer has listed us as a 'strategic supplier'."

Three decades of deep cultivation have earned Antai Textile a solid reputation in the industry. From supplying acrylic filling yarn to domestic leading home textile brands to customizing anti-pilling acrylic tops for outdoor clothing enterprises exporting to Europe, its cooperative customers cover more than 20 provinces and cities, and its products have passed the OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 eco-textile certification. "This year, the textile manufacturing index has risen by 2.96%, outperforming the market (News 3), indicating that the industry as a whole is recovering. But this warmth isn't blown by the wind; it's earned through real capabilities," Li Xiong looked at the '1993-2025' chronicle wall in the factory area, his tone full of emotion. "In these thirty years, Antai has done just one thing: spin every yarn well. In the future, we will continue to focus on functionality and differentiation, making the acrylic yarn 'Made in Zhangjiagang' weave more 'splendid stories' in the industry."

The sound of machines in the workshop still roared; rolls of packaged bobbins were being loaded onto trucks, ready to be shipped across the country. In the wave of continuous growth in the textile industry (News 1, 2), Antai Textile is like a precision spinning machine, tightly winding the 'threads' of market demand with the 'fibers' of its own technology, spinning its own growth story and injecting a steady stream of momentum into the industry's development.