Seize the opportunities presented by the “World Internet Conference” and implement the strategy of building China into a strong textile and apparel nation. As one of China’s traditional pillar industries, the textile industry has played a very important role in the construction of the People’s Republic of China, the process of industrialization, and the development of China’s modernization since the reform and opening-up. Under the proper leadership of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, China’s economy has maintained sustained and rapid growth, creating the most important demand and fundamental driving force for the major development of China’s textile and apparel industry. According to research by relevant national authorities, from now until 2020, China’s textile and apparel industry will continue to renew itself and maintain a positive overall development trend. Wang Tiankai, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, said: “China’s textile industry has entered a new normal characterized by slower growth. I believe the main features of this new normal can be summarized in three points: first, growth is slowing, but progress continues amid the slowdown; second, development pressure is increasing and differentiation is accelerating; third, the transformation of growth drivers is urgent, with innovation being the key. Therefore, the industry as a whole is under considerable pressure and needs to seek new development space and new paths through structural adjustment and innovation-driven development.”
We should recognize that in the era of intelligent manufacturing and “Internet Plus,” the conditions remain in place for China’s textile and apparel industry to continue enhancing its international comparative advantages. At the same time, China is the world’s largest consumer of textile raw materials, intermediate industrial products, and end consumer goods, with enormous potential for market growth. This provides an important foundation for the continued advancement of China’s textile industry.”
The Internet has already transformed the traditional textile industry through e-commerce, although previously this transformation was mainly limited to the sales process. Cao Xuejun, Director of the Textile Division of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that the Internet brings major opportunities to the textile industry. Vigorously promoting the integrated development of the textile industry and Internet technologies will be an important task in the industry’s future transformation and upgrading. The future direction is to strongly promote the integration of the Internet and information technology with the textile industry, enhance collaborative innovation, precision manufacturing, and refined management, optimize supply chains, and drive the textile industry toward high-end, intelligent, green, and service-oriented development. At the same time, the Internet will promote the extension of textile manufacturing toward service-oriented operations.
In the process of promoting and applying the Internet, textile enterprises have given rise to suppliers of information systems and systematic solutions, creating new growth opportunities for enterprises and providing better services for the expansion of their core businesses. Yang Hexiong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Gansu Garment Industry Association, stated that traditional thinking has become a constraint on further value creation in the industry. We have entered an era in which value is created through intelligence, and in the future, “Industry + Internet” will become a major trend in the transformation of the textile and apparel industry. Leading enterprises in traditional industries possess strong industrial advantages, and once empowered by Internet Plus, their prospects are immeasurable. Jihua Group’s RMB 8 billion private placement to embrace “Internet Plus” will have a positive effect on integrating its online and offline systems and building an “O2O Space” platform.
China’s textile and apparel industry is facing the challenges of the next era of “Industry + Internet.” Whoever can fully utilize “Internet Plus” in the future will become a major winner in the textile and apparel industry. It creates an environment that guides enterprises toward healthy development, helps them broaden their horizons, and enables them not only to find customers but also to discover paths to creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and success. China’s garment enterprises face enormous pressure in transformation and upgrading, but they also have tremendous opportunities and room for development. “Industry + Internet” is expected to promote enterprise technologies, accelerate technological innovation, improve product quality, and inject new momentum into economic growth.
At this moment, “Industry + Internet” has arrived at exactly the right time. With the advent of the Internet Plus era, the textile and apparel industry will demonstrate an entirely new business model. To play a greater role in the national economy and achieve the transformation from a “major textile nation” to a “strong textile nation,” the textile and apparel industry must change its growth model, establish a scientific approach to development, and coordinate the development of the textile industry with China’s economic growth, environmental protection, resource capacity, and social development. Industrial development should not only meet the consumption needs of the current generation but also contribute to improving the quality of life for future generations. In the future, China should seize the opportunities presented by the World Internet Conference, increase investment in innovation in emerging textile and apparel technologies, and promote the transformation and upgrading of the textile and apparel industry to ensure its sustainable and healthy development.
The transformation and upgrading of textile and apparel enterprises, cross-industry cooperation, and business model innovation have become development trends. The transformation and upgrading of the textile industry should be integrated with relevant national strategies, closely connecting national strategies, regional development plans, and adjustments in the industry’s regional structure to achieve coordinated development. In-depth research into the “Industry + Internet” model has important practical significance for technological innovation, structural adjustment, industrial upgrading, brand development, international cooperation, and business model innovation in the textile and apparel industry. Driven strongly by demand for industrial textiles arising from the national economic development strategy, we must follow market principles, accelerate innovation-driven development, focus on technology, brands, sustainability, and talent, promote changes in enterprise operating models and the integration of industrialization and information technology, and steadily advance the transformation and upgrading of the industry. We must strive to fully accomplish the textile industry development plan for the 13th Five-Year Plan period and implement the strategy of building China into a strong textile and apparel nation.