In 2012, textile and apparel industry in China encountered comparatively seriously development situation both in domestic and overseas markets. For example, the shrinking overseas market demand, the demand in domestic Chinese market should be improved largely, the costs of raw material still represent a fluctuant curve, and the labor-force cost increases continuously, etc.

 

During the 12^th Five-Year-Program period, there are more challenges for textile and apparel industry in China to cope with for further development and industrial adjustment. How to achieve new development and breakthrough with the existing advantages? How to get the accurate orientation, enhance the risks awareness and control ability? How to gain more effective and reasonable rewards? How to strengthen the technological innovation, products creativity, as well as business and brand operational mode innovation? How to find the new development opportunities among the global competition?

 

Oriented with the theme of “Restructure and Growth”, China Textile Innovation Conference 2012 especially invited professional speakers to share with the attendees with their prospective analysis and suggestions towards the sustainable development as well as industrial upgrading and transformation.

 

Wang Tiankai, president of China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), pointed out: “since the Reform and Opening-up, Chinese textile and apparel industry has witnessed a fast development, especially in the ten years of time after 2000. Recently, global as well as Chinese economy is experiencing an adjustment period. And at the same time, several problems become more and more obviously, such as the soaring production cost, the enlarging pressure from environment and resources, etc.”

 

“And referring to innovation, the whole industry should, with a global perspective, speed up original and integration innovation. And the textile and apparel company should, oriented with the market, establish an innovation system with the collaboration among enterprises, higher-learning institutions and research institutes,” added Wang.

 

Furthermore, Wang Tiankai also emphasized: “Innovation Alliance would be another strategy for industrial innovation. And the whole industry should promote and step up the establishment of Innovation Alliance, enhance the R&D of key technologies and products, and improve the comprehensively level of the Alliance. Besides, the industry should further accelerate the progresses in the fields of manufacturing service, intellectualized production, and industrial-related organization networking system.”

 

Du Yuzhou, honorary president of CNTAC also was invited to participate in the Conference. “Product innovation is meaningful for the overall textile and apparel industrial creativity in China,” he said, “Products could be considered as the key, which integrates technology, culture, organization, productivity, production relations and the means of production together. Through the products innovation, the whole industry could be beneficial to promote the technological advancement, branding construction, sustainable development and human resource improvement significantly.”

 

Meanwhile, Du also stressed that: “Global orientation brings more challenges to Chinese industrial development. Core competitiveness of the industry could no longer rely more on the cheap labor cost, but should focus on the technological and cultural content as well as the brand value of the products.”

 

“What is the most essential advantage of innovation?” Du explained, “Frankly speaking, it would be the scientific and technological advantage and the brand advantage. As referring to the brand advantage, it mainly combined quality, creativity, rapid-response and social responsibility together.”

 

Du indicated that the textile and apparel industry in China would make effort to establish modern industrial system. According to Du, in order to achieve this target, the industry should initiate the innovation in the fields of material and cultural productivity, and then go further on the aspects of production and exchange mode creativity. “We have to encourage and speed up the transformation, which requires enterprises to transfer from simple manufacturing companies into technological innovation companies, and pay more attention to technological, brand, circulation and production mode creativity,” remarked Du.    

 

Wang Liming, Secretary of Consumer Goods Department of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China addressed on the importance of the modern textile industrial system.

 

Wang Liming said: “As one of the pillar industries for Chinese national economy, textile and apparel industry still possess great potentials to develop. However, the kept-soaring cost of labor force in China would influence and put pressure on the labor-intensive textile industrial development, so that we have to strengthen the innovation ability, develop new drives and establish new modern textile industrial development system. Moreover, the industry also should enhance technological advancement, improve the laborer quality and management, and emphasize energy-saving and circular economy, aiming at promoting a sustainable healthy industrial development.”

 

As Wang Liming indicated that, textile industry in China should enhance the resource integration innovation in new material, new technology, new techniques and new products, which would be helpful to restructure the new competition advantages of Chinese textile industry.

 

During the Conference, Sun Ruizhe, vice president of CNTAC delivered a keynote speech with the theme of “Restructuring the System Advantages of Modern Textile Industry”. Basing on the economic operational indexes in the year of 2012, Sun mainly analyzed that, for Chinese textile and apparel industry, coping with the competition and challenges from both home and aboard, how to accurately master the new market orientation, improve the risk awareness and control ability, and gain more effective and reasonable value reward.     

 

Sun said: “Under the new economic situation, restructuring the new competitive advantages of traditional Chinese textile and apparel industry could be defined as a new proposition for industrial strategically development.”

 

“Traditional manufacturing industry is encountering the conflicts from new business and consumption mode. Factors, such as digitalization, ecological civilization and cross-border integration, etc., of the manufacturing industry are injecting more new vitalities into the future textile and apparel industrial development and operation in China,” Sun expressed, “In the coming five to ten years, the industry in China would still experience the period with high incidence of risk and industrial transformation collisions. Reviewing the economic development trend around the whole world, especially facing the disadvantages in domestic and overseas markets, in my opinion, restructuring the new competitive advantages of Chinese textile industry is urgent and necessary.” 

 

Furthermore, Sun emphasized: “The gradually decreasing resources elements is another issues that we could ignore. We have to focus on the opportunities cost and efficiency of the resource allocation. Besides, we should transfer our operational strategy from investment-oriented to demand-oriented, and strive to find the new core competitiveness advantages for industrial development.”

 

“All in all, modern textile industrial system is the way. Centralizing with the key factors of science and technology, talents, brand, and sustainable development, with the targeted orientation and strategically breakthrough, textile and apparel industry in China would find the right method for further development,” concluded Sun.

 

China Textile Innovation Conference 2012, one of the most important textile and apparel industrial annual meetings in China, was organized by China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), supported by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China, and sponsored by Innovation Park for China Textile & Apparel Brand, Cotton Incorporated, CECEP COSTIN NEW MATERIAL GROUP, NOVOZYMES (China), Zhejiang TianSheng Holding Group, and Hebei Ning Fang Group.