Antai Textile: 32 Years of Persistence in Innovation, Leading the New Track of the Acrylic Market with Green and Intelligent Technology

The afternoon sun shines through the windows of the office building of Zhangjiagang Antai Textile and falls on the industry report spread out by Li Xiong, the marketing manager. "It is estimated that the market scale of China's printed acrylic solid fabrics will exceed 15 billion yuan in 2025, with significant growth in demand in the sports, leisure, and business formal wear fields..." His fingers slide across the data, and he looks up out of the window. In the production workshop not far away, several rows of intelligent color - matching equipment are emitting a slight humming sound. This is the colored acrylic top production line that the company just put into operation this year, and it is now rushing to produce an order destined for Zhejiang. "Manager Li, here is the freshly - released test report. The color fastness of this batch of light - gray acrylic tops is 4.5, and the levelness reaches 98%, even higher than the customer's requirements." Factory Manager Huang from the production department pushes the door open and comes in, holding a stack of documents in his hand, with a smile on his dark face. This veteran textile worker who has been working at Antai for 28 years has witnessed the company's growth from a small workshop when it was established in 1993 to a professional enterprise of acrylic products with an annual production capacity of over 10,000 tons, starting from being a dyeing vat operator to becoming the current production leader. Li Xiong takes the report and flips to the raw material composition page. "Is it still using our independently developed environmentally friendly leveling agent?" "Of course," Factory Manager Huang sits down and takes a sip of tea. "Don't you remember when the 'dual - carbon' verification team came last year? They praised our process. Traditional dyeing requires discharging wastewater three times, but we use biodegradable dyes combined with low - temperature dyeing technology, reducing water consumption by 40% and energy consumption by 25%. Now, downstream customers making sportswear are scrambling for our colored acrylic tops. They say that with our products, they can skip the garment dyeing process, and the carbon footprint is immediately reduced." This really hits home for Li Xiong. Recently, when studying industry data, he found that driven by the 14th Five - Year Plan, the Chinese acrylic fiber market is undergoing structural adjustment. In 2023, its scale reached 35 billion yuan, accounting for over 45% of the global output, but 'green and intelligent' has become the new track. Antai sensed the trend as early as 2019. When the demand for acrylic - cotton colored yarns in the market was just emerging, the company invested 30 million yuan in an intelligent spinning line. Now, the anti - pilling acrylic yarn produced by this line has become a favorite of several sports brands in Fujian. Last winter, just one fleece - lined sportswear hoodie using Antai's acrylic yarn sold more than 5 million pieces. "By the way, how was the feedback from the Shanghai Home Textile Exhibition last week?" Factory Manager Huang suddenly remembers. Li Xiong smiles and takes out his phone, opening a few photos. "Look at this 'Cloud Fluff' fancy yarn. It is a blend of our acrylic tops and cotton. It feels like cashmere to the touch, but the price is only one - third. We signed contracts with three curtain brands on the spot. Now, the home decoration market is growing at an annual rate of 5.5%, and our fancy yarns just fill the gap in the mid - to - high - end market." He pauses for a moment and flips to another report. "As for acrylic - wool products, the industry is expected to grow from 85 billion to 105 billion. Our newly developed bulky acrylic tops, when blended with wool to make suit fabrics, are stiff and wrinkle - resistant. Several custom - suit shops in Hangzhou have come to test samples." Just then, the intercom in the workshop rings. Factory Manager Huang answers it, listens for a few seconds, and then turns around and says, "The German leveling agent expert has arrived and wants to talk to us about the joint research and development of environmentally friendly leveling agents." Li Xiong's eyes light up. "Is it the market with an annual compound growth rate of 8.5%? Do they take a fancy to our application scenarios?" "Exactly," Factory Manager Huang stands up and tidies his work uniform. "We use over 2,000 tons of leveling agents a year, and our production line is the best laboratory. Come on, let's go and have a look. Maybe we can come up with a more efficient formula next year." The two walk out of the office building side by side. The magnolia trees in the factory area are in full bloom. When the wind blows, the petals fall on Factory Manager Huang's work ID card on his chest, which reads 'Antai Textile, 1993'. From initially producing ordinary acrylic tops with a few old spinning machines to now having three major product lines of colored acrylic tops, functional acrylic yarns, and fancy yarns, and serving more than 300 clothing and home textile enterprises across the country, this textile enterprise rooted in Zhangjiagang for 32 years is keeping up with the rhythm of the industry transformation, spinning acrylic fibers into the warp and weft of a green future. "By the way," when they are approaching the workshop, Li Xiong suddenly says, "Let's submit the case of 'carbon footprint management from fiber to garment' to the industry summit next month. Let more people see that green technology can also be applied to traditional textiles." Factory Manager Huang nods vigorously. On the intelligent production line in the distance, rolls of acrylic tops dyed in spring colors are slowly coming off the line, glowing with a soft luster in the sun - that is the warmth of the market and also Antai's persistence and innovation over the past 32 years.