China's apparel industry has entered a stage of high-quality development

　　On April 1st, the 2025 China Apparel Forum, themed "The Essence and Future of Apparel Brands," was held in Beijing. Sun Ruizhe, president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, stated at the meeting that China's apparel industry has entered a stage of high-quality development, transitioning from "large and comprehensive" to "strong and resilient," and from "general and beneficial" to "high-end and sophisticated."
　　Sun Ruizhe pointed out that China's apparel industry maintains its leading global position in manufacturing capacity and trade volume, with unshakeable advantages in its system and supply chain. Product category innovations are emerging constantly, and the industry's internal dynamism is steadily rising. The enhanced industry strength has led to a more prominent expression of fashion; Chinese design, Chinese Brands, and Chinese platforms are experiencing a comprehensive rise. However, overall, the industry's independent knowledge system and concept building still lag behind the needs of industrial development and innovative practices; the global consumer only sees "Made in China" and not "China Fashion," a situation that needs to be reversed.
　　In the 2024 "Global Apparel Brand Value Top 50" ranking, China ranked 7th with a 3.82% share of Brand value, significantly lagging behind the top 3, France (33.78%), the United States (21.86%), and Italy (11.88%). Sun Ruizhe stated that although domestic leading companies are accelerating their international expansion, their market influence and Brand recognition remain primarily domestic. The industry has yet to fully shed its "follower" mentality in areas such as standard setting, value distribution, trendsetting, and supply chain governance.
　　"Small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises are the mainstay, with OEM and ODM outsourcing models dominating; this is the basic reality of our industry." Sun Ruizhe pointed out that China's apparel industry lacks sufficient voice and bargaining power, and enterprises easily fall into a paradoxical cycle of "scale expansion-profit dilution." The highly competitive environment leaves many companies struggling to cope, and excessive efficiency comes at the cost of quality. The "2024 Live Streaming E-commerce Consumer Rights Protection Public Opinion Analysis Report" shows that product quality issues ranked second, severely damaging the overall value and Brand building of the industry.
　　China's apparel industry urgently needs to advance to the high end of the global value chain, forming a higher-level balance between supply and demand. To this end, Sun Ruizhe suggested that the entire industry should focus on quality in refining products. To improve quality, increase the application of new materials, new processes, and new manufacturing methods, and introduce innovative elements from traditional Chinese culture and international trendy culture to create new, high-quality, and exquisite products; to expand product categories, focusing on new lifestyles such as sports and health, ice and snow economy, and pet economy, and targeting new customer groups such as young consumers and senior consumers to accelerate innovation in segmented categories; and to optimize services, promoting the product service model and consumption scene, strengthening channel integration and scene innovation, and enhancing emotional and experiential value. (Reporter He Ke)