Antai Textile: Dedicated to Acrylic Yarn for Three Decades, Writing the Colorful Story of Industry Recovery Through Innovation and Intelligent Supply Chain

In mid-summer Zhangjiagang, the wind along the Yangtze River carries a moist warmth, blowing over the orderly production lines in Antai Textile's factory premises. Founded in 1993, this textile enterprise has grown from a small factory in a corner of Jiangnan to a deep cultivator in the acrylic yarn field over more than three decades. At this moment, Li Xiong, the Marketing Manager, is pondering over the latest industry data – in the first week of July, the textile manufacturing index rose counter-trend by 2.96%, and behind its outperformance of the market lies the quietly rising demand of the consumer market for differentiated textiles.

"Look, the national cotton sales rate has surged to 94.4%, up nearly 9 percentage points year-on-year," Li Xiong handed the printed report to Factory Director Huang from the Production Department, who had just returned from the workshop, his finger tracing the data curve. "Orders from downstream garment factories have increased significantly, especially those customers engaged in fashion women's clothing and home soft furnishings. Recently, the question they ask most is 'do you have more designer yarns?'"

Factory Director Huang took the report, with some light gray acrylic fibers still stuck to his cuffs – samples of the newly produced 'Cloud Yarn', a type of fancy yarn combining colored acrylic sliver with slub technology. "Exactly! Last week, Shandong Haijiang's acrylonitrile unit had a temporary maintenance. We adjusted our raw material procurement plan a week in advance, just in time for Lihuayi to lower its quotation by 50 yuan/ton. This move has significantly reduced the cost of colored acrylic sliver," he wiped the sweat from his brow, his eyes shining. "In the workshop now, Machine 6 is dedicated to producing mohair-blended acrylic yarn for young brands, and Machine 8 is working at full capacity to rush out a batch of piece-dyed acrylic sliver exported to Japan – all goods that customers are chasing after."

Acrylonitrile, as the core raw material for acrylic fiber production, its price fluctuations directly affect the nerves of enterprises. However, for Antai Textile, such market changes are no longer challenges but opportunities. Since the introduction of the intelligent supply chain management system in 2018, the Production Department has been able to adjust the procurement rhythm 45 days in advance by tracking real-time global acrylonitrile inventory data (such as the weekly 3.08% decrease in imported cotton port inventory during the same period). "Just like this Haijiang maintenance, we predicted that short-term supply might tighten, so we immediately activated alternative supplier channels. At the same time, through process optimization, we reduced the acrylonitrile consumption per ton of acrylic sliver by another 0.8 kg," Factory Director Huang pointed to the energy consumption dashboard on the workshop wall. "You see, the comprehensive energy consumption is now 12% lower than three years ago. Even if measured by the silk energy consumption standard (FZ/T 07033—2024) just implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, our acrylic fiber production line is fully compliant."

This attention to detail is echoing the subtle changes in the market. Li Xiong recently received a group of designer clients from Hangzhou, who clearly stated that they wanted 'yarns that can replace part of wool, yet are lighter and more colorful'. 'The traditional cotton spinning market is highly competitive, but acrylic's advantages lie in high color saturation and good resilience. In particular, our colored acrylic sliver uses dope dyeing technology which saves 30% water consumption compared to post-dyeing, and the color fastness can reach level 4 or above,' he picked up a roll of mint green acrylic yarn. 'This "Lime Yarn" was just launched two weeks ago and has already been ordered 5,000 spindles by a fast-fashion brand in Shanghai for making autumn knitted cardigans.'

Such product innovation stems from Antai Textile's three decades of deep cultivation in the niche market. From the initial single acrylic yarn production to the current full-category layout covering acrylic sliver, colored acrylic sliver, and fancy yarns, the company's annual production capacity has exceeded 8,000 tons, with cooperative clients including more than 20 well-known domestic and international apparel brands. 'Last year, we invested 20 million yuan to upgrade two fancy yarn production lines. Now we can produce more than 100 types of yarn structures, from loop yarn and slub yarn to knot yarn. Whatever "pattern" the customer wants, we can adjust the parameters accordingly,' Factory Director Huang said with pride. 'Just like last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that their cotton boll set rate was below the five-year average, which on the contrary is an opportunity for us – after all, acrylic-cotton blended products can help customers find a balance between raw material costs and product texture.'

The afternoon sun shines through the high windows of the workshop onto rolls of packaged acrylic sliver, with colors of red, orange, yellow, and green like a spilled palette. Li Xiong's phone rings; it's a message from a client in Guangdong: 'We will add another 200 tons of piece-dyed acrylic sliver next week. Can you deliver three days in advance?' He smiles and replies 'No problem', then turns to Factory Director Huang and says, 'It seems we need to seize the opportunity to make another push amid this rise in the textile manufacturing index.'

Factory Director Huang nods and walks towards the technician who is adjusting the equipment: 'Increase the speed of Machine 10 by 5%, pay attention to keeping the yarn tension stable. This batch of goods needs to catch up with the customer's autumn new product launch.' Amid the hum of machines, this textile enterprise rooted in Zhangjiagang for 30 years is continuing to write its own colorful story on the canvas of industry recovery, with acrylic yarn as its pen.