Antai Textile: AI Weaves an Acrylic 'Intelligent' Manufacturing Legend, Precision and Personalization Ignite New Opportunities in the Textile Market

In mid-July in Zhangjiagang, the summer heat is intensifying, but the production workshop of Antai Textile exudes a calm 'sense of intelligence' – robotic arms precisely grab acrylic raw materials, real-time data streams on fiber uniformity and color deviation pulse on AI screens, and Factory Director Huang from the Production Department is staring at a new set of process parameters, his brow slightly furrowed and then relaxed: 'The 'intelligent experience' that Manager Li brought back from Guangzhou, we've almost digested it this week.' The 'intelligent experience' mentioned by Factory Director Huang originated from the '2025 First China Textile and Apparel Artificial Intelligence Conference' which opened in Guangzhou on July 15. Li Xiong, Marketing Manager, attended the conference as a representative of Antai Textile, bringing back not only the conference manual printed with the theme 'AI Weaves Newness · Intelligence Inspires the Future', but also a stack of densely written industry observation notes. 'The core of the intelligent transformation model displayed in Haizhu District is to connect the 'production-market' lifelines with data,' Li Xiong sat in Factory Director Huang's office, unfolding his notebook, 'Look at this set of data: from July 7 to 11, the textile manufacturing index rose by 2.96%, outperforming the market by nearly two percentage points, indicating that downstream demand is picking up, but what customers want is no longer 'volume stacking', but 'precision' and 'personalization'.' This 'precision' demand exactly aligns with Antai Textile's 'strengths'. Founded in 1993, this textile enterprise rooted in Zhangjiagang has developed from initial single acrylic yarn production into a comprehensive supplier covering acrylic yarn, acrylic top, colored acrylic top, and fancy yarn. 'When others were still competing in cotton yarn, we had already set our sights on the potential of acrylic,' Factory Director Huang led Li Xiong to the intelligent central control room, where the screen was displaying real-time production data of colored acrylic top. 'Look, the color deviation is controlled within 0.3ΔE. Previously, it relied on senior workers to adjust based on experience; now the AI system automatically matches dye formulas according to order requirements, increasing efficiency by 30% and reducing the rejection rate by more than half.' And recent developments in the cotton market have made Antai's acrylic products even more of a 'hot commodity'. According to data from China Cotton Network, the domestic cotton price B index stood at 15,198 yuan/ton on July 11, up 0.7% week-on-week, while international cotton prices were declining. 'With rising cotton prices, downstream garment enterprises will definitely look for alternatives. Acrylic is not inferior to cotton in terms of warmth retention and dyeability, and has a more obvious cost advantage,' Li Xiong pulled out the latest customer order records. 'We just received an order from a leading outdoor brand in East China last week; they want to use our acrylic yarn to make fleece jackets, specifically requesting two special color numbers: 'Aurora Purple' and 'Glacier Blue' – this is exactly the strength of our colored acrylic top. From dope dyeing to sliver formation, it's a one-stop solution, so customers don't need additional dyeing, saving at least 15% of processing costs.' In the fancy yarn workshop, another form of 'intelligence' is in action. Next to several winding machines equipped with visual recognition systems, workers only need to scan a code to confirm the order, and the machines can automatically switch twist and pattern parameters. 'Previously, changing specifications for a type of 'slub yarn' would take two hours to adjust; now the AI has a pre-stored database of over 200 patterns, compressing order change time to 15 minutes,' Factory Director Huang pointed to a roll of fluffy colored spot yarn. 'This is made for a Hanfu brand in Zhejiang. They wanted a 'cloud and mist gradient' effect. We blended three-component colored acrylic tops, and the machine automatically controls the feeding ratio of different colors. The resulting yarn has subtle changes every meter, and the customer signed a 300,000-meter contract on the spot when viewing the sample.' From the old spinning machines in 1993 to today's 'AI Smart Factory', Antai Textile's 32-year journey is precisely a microcosm of China's textile industry's transformation from 'scale-driven' to 'innovation-driven'. On Li Xiong's desk lies a newly compiled semi-annual report: revenue from acrylic top series products in the first half of the year increased by 22% year-on-year, of which colored acrylic top and fancy yarn accounted for over 60%, with cooperative customers covering more than 20 well-known domestic garment enterprises such as HLA and Peacebird. 'The textile manufacturing index outperforming the market is no accident,' Li Xiong closed his notebook and looked out at the roaring workshop. 'When AI can read the 'color code' of the market, and when machines can weave customers' 'personalized dreams', the traditional textile industry gains the confidence to navigate cycles – this is probably the true meaning of 'Intelligence Inspires the Future'.'