Antai Textile: Using Acrylic Fiber as a 'Buffer' to Cope with Cotton Price Fluctuations, Weaving a New Future for Textiles through Technology + Design
In Zhangjiagang in July, the summer heat is intensifying, yet the production workshop of Antai Textile is bustling with orderly activity – automated production lines are operating at a steady pace, and rolls of brightly colored acrylic sliver are being sent out from the end of the equipment, soon to be packed and shipped to a well-known apparel enterprise in Zhejiang. Li Xiong, the Marketing Manager, stands in front of the large screen in the central control room, his finger gliding across the latest ICE cotton futures chart. On the screen, the K-line for July 11, which showed a slight decline but maintained an overall strong trend, reminds him of a conversation with a client last week.
"Manager Li, the recent cotton price fluctuations are really a headache," the purchasing director of the long-term cooperative apparel brand said anxiously over the phone. "The rainfall in India has affected the harvest; we are worried that cotton prices will rise further, and raw material costs are simply uncontrollable." Li Xiong responded with a smile at the time: "Don't worry, Mr. Zhang. You can try more of our colored acrylic sliver. Acrylic itself is close to cotton in warmth retention and softness, and our color spinning process can eliminate the subsequent dyeing step, with an overall cost about 15% lower than cotton yarn."
After hanging up the phone, Li Xiong opened Antai Textile's product manual. Founded in Zhangjiagang in 1993, this textile enterprise has focused on the R&D and production of acrylic yarn, acrylic sliver, and fancy yarn for over 30 years, accumulating profound technical expertise in the chemical fiber field. "Cotton is the 'leader' of natural fibers, but its price is too affected by weather and production regions. As a synthetic fiber, acrylic has a stable supply chain and high cost performance, making it exactly the 'buffer' to cope with such market fluctuations," Li Xiong explained to his team. "Recently, ICE cotton prices have been strong, and downstream customers' demand for alternative fibers will definitely increase. We need to fully articulate the dual advantages of 'environmental protection + cost' of colored acrylic sliver."
This market sensitivity was quickly transmitted to the production end. In the office of Factory Director Huang from the Production Department, a table labeled "July Production Optimization Plan" is particularly eye-catching. In the table, the daily output of acrylic sliver has been increased from the usual 80 tons to 95 tons, and the scheduling for custom orders of fancy yarn has been arranged until mid-August. "Manager Li mentioned the market dynamics to me the day before yesterday, and we immediately adjusted the production plan," Director Huang said, pointing to the two newly added intelligent temperature-controlled production lines in the workshop. "This is equipment we just invested in last year. It can precisely control the stretching ratio of acrylic fibers, increasing the elasticity of the yarn by 10%, which exactly meets the customer's recent demand for the 'Cloud Velvet' series fabrics."
Industry data also confirms their judgment. According to the latest monitoring on July 14, the operating rate of major domestic textile enterprises remains stable, which means most enterprises are still producing at full capacity to meet order demand. However, the pressure of raw material costs has led many enterprises to seek more flexible supply chain solutions. "Behind the stable operating rate is customers' urgent demand for 'no price increases and no production halts'," Li Xiong analyzed. "Our acrylic products are fully independently controlled from raw material procurement to finished product delivery. The raw material reserve in the first half of this year has increased by 30% compared with the same period last year, precisely to reassure customers during market fluctuations."
In terms of longer-term strategic planning, Antai Textile has already sensed the trend of industry innovation. In early July, when news came that enterprises such as Hasen Co., Ltd. had invested in establishing a new technology company, Li Xiong immediately organized a meeting with the R&D team. "The future of the textile industry must be 'technology + design'," he emphasized at the meeting. "Our fancy yarn cannot stay only at basic textures; it must move towards functionality and intelligence." Nowadays, in the R&D workshop, an "intelligent heating yarn" that combines antibacterial acrylic and conductive fibers has entered the testing phase, while the "gradient mohair acrylic yarn" developed for the Generation Z consumer group has just received intent orders from three designer brands at the Shanghai Fabric Exhibition.
From the start-up of the first spinning machine in 1993 to today's modern textile enterprise with an annual production capacity exceeding 30,000 tons, Antai Textile's 30 years are a microcosm of China's textile industry's transformation from "scale expansion" to "quality and efficiency". When asked about the company's core competitiveness, Li Xiong and Director Huang said in unison: "It is the respect for the market and the dedication to products." Just like now, the acrylic sliver in the workshop is being transported to all parts of the country by logistics vehicles. They will be woven into warm sweaters, soft home textiles, and eventually enter thousands of households – this is perhaps the simplest romance of textile people: using a single yarn to connect market demand, technological innovation, and an enterprise's 30-year persistence.