Antai Textile's Intelligent Upgrading Empowers Export of High-Value-Added Yarns: 40% Increase in Color Change Efficiency, Capturing the European and American Autumn-Winter Outdoor Apparel Market

(Main Text) At Antai Textile's production base in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province, Production Manager Huang Chang has recently often lingered in front of the newly put-into-use intelligent color matching system in the workshop – the jumping chromatographic curves and real-time production data interweave on the screen. A batch of newly produced sapphire blue acrylic sliver is undergoing quality inspection and will soon be shipped to a garment enterprise in Zhejiang, which will be used to make autumn-winter outdoor apparel exported to Europe. 'We just completed the commissioning of the third intelligent production line last month. Now, the color change efficiency of colored acrylic sliver has increased by 40%, and the color fastness index has stabilized above level 4.5. Five years ago, this was unimaginable,' said Huang Chang with pride. The catalyst for all this stemmed from an industry data report presented by Marketing Manager Li Xiong.

In June this year, the January-June textile export data released by the General Administration of Customs made Li Xiong敏锐ly perceive market changes: the export value of textile yarns, fabrics and products reached 70.52 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 1.8%. Although yarn exports slightly declined in June alone, the overall upward trend in the first half of the year, especially the significant increase in inquiry frequency from overseas customers for 'high-value-added, small-batch and multi-variety' yarns, made him realize that this was an opportunity for Antai Textile. 'Our main products, acrylic yarn and colored acrylic sliver, exactly meet the current market demand for "color personalization" and "functional differentiation",' Li Xiong said while flipping through recent order records. 'For example, a Nordic customer recently looking for cashmere-like acrylic yarn requires it to be lightweight, warm and have high color saturation. Our 32-count acrylic yarn, by adjusting the fiber ratio, can achieve a cashmere-like hand feel while reducing costs by 20%. This batch of orders has been scheduled until September.'

Behind this market acumen lies Antai Textile's 30 years of accumulation in the textile industry. Since its establishment in Zhangjiagang in 1993, this enterprise, which grew from a traditional spinning mill, has always taken 'Using yarn as a brush to color textiles' as its original aspiration. From the initial single acrylic yarn production to now forming four major product lines: acrylic yarn, acrylic sliver, colored acrylic sliver, and fancy yarn, with an annual production capacity exceeding 10,000 tons, it is inseparable from the accurate capture of industry trends. Just like the 2025 First China Textile and Apparel Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Guangzhou in mid-July, Li Xiong attended the entire conference with his technical team. After returning, he finalized the intelligent transformation plan with Huang Chang's production team: 'The conference mentioned that "AI+Textile" will reconstruct production efficiency. We immediately introduced AI color matching algorithms into the colored acrylic sliver production line. Now, when a customer sends a color card photo, the system can automatically generate formulas, which is 3 times faster than manual color mixing and also reduces dye waste.'

The upgrade on the production side is precisely to match the demand changes on the market side. Li Xiong analyzed that the growth in textile yarn exports in the first half of the year is due to, on the one hand, the rigid demand for high-quality basic raw materials in the global textile industry chain, and on the other hand, downstream apparel brands, under the pressure of 'cost reduction and efficiency improvement', are more inclined to choose fibers like acrylic that are both cost-effective and functional. 'Acrylic's warmth retention is 1.5 times that of cotton, but it is lighter in weight. Our colored acrylic sliver eliminates the downstream dyeing and finishing process, which can help customers shorten the production cycle by at least 10 days,' he gave an example. An outdoor apparel enterprise in Xinjiang placed an additional order last month precisely because it valued Antai Textile's 'one-step' coloring process – one-time forming from raw materials to colored sliver, which not only reduces customers' environmental treatment costs but also meets the need to quickly respond to the market. This coincides with the signal conveyed by the textile industry job fair held in Urumqi in July: as the industry expands, the demand for an 'efficient and green' supply chain is becoming increasingly urgent, and Antai Textile's products are a key link in this supply chain.

Against the industry background where the SW Textile Manufacturing Index rose 2.4% in the first half of the year, outperforming the broader market, Antai Textile's performance is even more stable. Huang Chang led the reporter into the workshop and pointed to the operating fancy yarn unit, introducing: 'This is the "slub acrylic yarn" we developed for the Southeast Asian market. By adjusting the draft ratio, unique textures are formed. The casual sweatshirts made by customers with it are very popular among local young people.' Such innovations stem from the company's continuous R&D investment – 5% of annual revenue is used for technological upgrading, a 20-person R&D team has been established, and a joint laboratory has been built with the Textile Research Institute of Jiangnan University. From fiber modification to spinning technology, an independent technology system has been formed.

Today, Antai Textile's products not only cover more than 20 provinces and cities in China but also are exported to Europe, America, Southeast Asia and other regions, establishing strategic cooperation with multiple leading apparel brands. When asked about the secret to standing firm in the industry for 30 years, Li Xiong looked at the camphor tree planted in the factory area when the factory was established in 1993: 'Just like this tree, only by rooting in the industry and understanding the market can we grow more steadily through storms.' From the initial small workshop to today's modern textile enterprise, what Antai Textile weaves with each acrylic yarn is not only customers' orders but also the resilience and vitality of China's textile industry in transformation and upgrading.