Global Dope-Dyed Acrylic Upsurge: Antai Textile Leads the Market with Dual Engines of Cost Reduction, Carbon Emission Reduction, and Stable Quality

In Zhangjiagang in July 2025, the summer heat is intensifying, but the production workshop of Antai Textile exudes a focused coolness – Factory Director Huang of the Production Department is staring at the jumping parameters on the central control screen, quickly adjusting the rotation speed of the mixing tank with his fingertips. "Fine-tune it by another 0.5 rpm to ensure the pigment dispersion uniformity reaches over 99.8%," he says without looking up to the technician beside him, his voice carrying the rigor of a textile veteran with over 30 years of experience. At this moment, Li Xiong, the Marketing Manager, hurries in with a freshly printed report, a thin layer of sweat still on his forehead from rushing over: "Director Huang, look at this latest QYResearch survey – the global dope-dyed acrylic market is growing so rapidly! The scale already reached $276 million in 2024 and is expected to surge to $434 million by 2031, with an annual compound growth rate of 6.7%. Our colored acrylic top has really hit the trend this time."

Hearing this, Director Huang turns around, takes the report and flips through it carefully, a smile involuntarily lifting the corners of his mouth: "Indeed, I still remember when we first decided to focus on colored acrylic top in 2018, many customers were hesitant, wondering 'if dope dyeing is just a gimmick'. Now looking back, the two keys of 'cost reduction, carbon emission reduction' and 'stable quality' have completely opened the door to the market." He points to the operating third-generation dope-dyeing production line in the workshop: "Take this line, for example. From raw material proportioning to spinning forming, the entire process is computer-automated controlled. Pigments are uniformly mixed into the spinning dope during the polymerization stage, unlike traditional dyeing processes that require post high-temperature dyeing and rinsing. Alone, water consumption has been reduced by 60%, and dye utilization rate has increased from 60% in traditional processes to over 95%, directly reducing customers' dyeing costs by nearly 30%."

Behind this dialogue about market and production lies Antai Textile's accumulation of over 30 years of deep cultivation in the acrylic fiber field. Founded in 1993 in the riverside industrial zone of Zhangjiagang, this textile enterprise started with the production of ordinary acrylic top. Under the creed of 'standing firm with quality', it gradually became an important supplier of acrylic yarn in East China. Around 2015, the marketing team led by Li Xiong敏锐ly noticed during visits to garment enterprises in the Pearl River Delta that traditional dyed acrylic had pain points such as poor color fastness, obvious batch color difference, and high environmental pressure, while the domestic production capacity of dope-dyed acrylic at that time was less than 20% of the market demand. "At that time, we judged that with consumption upgrading and the tightening of environmental policies, 'green textiles' would be an irreversible trend, and dope-dyed acrylic was the key to solving the 'high pollution, high cost' problem," Li Xiong recalls. That year, he brought the market research report to the R&D team, and hit it off with the production department led by Director Huang, deciding to focus on colored acrylic top as a strategic product for key breakthrough.

From the laboratory to the production line, this transformation took a full three years. Director Huang still remembers the scene when the first batch of colored acrylic top came off the production line in 2018: "At that time, we sent samples to a high-end children's clothing customer in Jiangsu. After they wove our acrylic top into fabric, they conducted 50 washing tests, and the color fastness still reached level 4 or above, while traditional dyed fabrics start to fade after 30 washes. The customer signed an annual order on the spot, saying, 'For children's clothes, parents care most about safety and durability; your product has solved our big problem.' It is through such word-of-mouth accumulation that Antai Textile's colored acrylic top has gradually entered more segmented fields – from anti-ultraviolet acrylic yarn for outdoor clothing, to high color fastness acrylic top for home textile fabrics, and fancy acrylic blended yarn for the knitting field. Now, the products cover over 20 provinces and cities in China and are exported to Southeast Asia, Europe, etc., establishing long-term cooperation with many leading clothing brands and overseas high-end home textile enterprises.

"Nowadays, customers not only look at cost and environmental protection, but also 'customization capability'," Li Xiong added. "Last month, an outdoor brand from Zhejiang approached us, needing a blue acrylic top that can withstand -20℃ low temperatures and has a lightfastness level of 7 for mountaineering clothing fabrics. Our R&D team adjusted the pigment formula and spinning process according to their needs, produced samples in two weeks, and now it has entered mass production. This 'small batch, multiple colors, fast delivery' capability is exactly our competitiveness in the industry."

Over 30 years of growth, from the initial single acrylic product to today's diversified layout covering acrylic yarn, acrylic top, colored acrylic top, and fancy yarn, Antai Textile has always been guided by 'market demand and driven by technological innovation'. At the production base in Zhangjiagang, within the 200-mu (about 133,333 square meters) factory area, 12 modern production lines have an annual capacity of 30,000 tons, of which colored acrylic top accounts for over 60%, and it has more than 30 technical patents related to dope-dyeing technology. "QYResearch's report says 'dope-dyed acrylic is widely used in the textile field', but for us, it is more of a 'green fiber' that promotes the green transformation of the industry," Director Huang looks at the factory flag fluttering in the wind outside the workshop, his tone firm. "In the future, we will focus on functionality, such as developing antibacterial and flame-retardant dope-dyed acrylic products, so that 'Antai Manufacturing' not only keeps up with market trends but also leads industry upgrading."

The setting sun shines through the workshop's glass windows onto the winding colored acrylic top, and the silk threads exude a uniform and soft luster – within this luster lies over 30 years of craftsmanship persistence, keen insight into market trends, and the determined progress of a local textile enterprise on the path of green development.