“We have upgraded all the original looms to advanced rapier looms, and the digital transformation of the workshop will be completed soon, which will greatly improve the productquality and Production efficiency.” said Liu Hong, the person in charge of a textile company in Gaoyang County, Baoding City, Hebei Province, “the hometown of textiles in China.”
Walking into the product display area of Hebei Bailixin Home Textile Co., Ltd. in Gaoyang County, the staff was introducing the products live in English. “Considering the international market, in addition to Chinese, we have arranged live broadcasts in English, Russian, Japanese and other languages at different times. We can probably close more than a dozen orders a week, with each order worth three to four thousand US dollars.” Liu Hong said, as the main foreign trade If export companies want to go overseas, in addition to passing strict product assessment and inspection, technological innovation can help companies go farther. “This ‘cat blanket’ is made of velvet fabric with thermal storage technology fiber, which is both warm and light.”
Gaoyang County is known as the “Hometown of Textile in China” and “Famous City of Towels and Blankets in China” and has a textile history of more than 400 years. Today, the county has more than 4,000 textile companies with an annual output of 5 billion towels. One out of every three towels in China comes from Gaoyang. In 2021, Gaoyang County’s foreign exports exceeded 1.577 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36%.
Liu Hong felt particularly happy when she saw the labels “Made in China” printed on the textiles going overseas. At present, the company’s products are mainly exported to 34 countries and regions including Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea, and its foreign trade export business accounts for as much as 90%.
In addition to digital upgrades that help local products become popular overseas, tie-dyed towels, towels that can “sing” Kun opera, “smart” towels, decompressed towels… In recent years, Gaoyang County has taken advantage of characteristicindustrial clusters Advantages make towels no longer just daily necessities, but also fashionable items.
“Towels like this one embroidered with opera characters are towels that can ‘sing’ Kun Opera. Just take out your mobile phone and scan the QR code on the towel, and you can wash up while listening to Kun Opera.” Hebei Yongliang Textile Co., Ltd. R&D Director Duan Hui talked about the design inspiration of the towel, saying that Gaoyang is the birthplace of Kun Opera in the north and has many years of textile history, so he designed it by combining Kun Opera and textile techniques.
During the creation process, Duan Hui also absorbed suggestions from the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater and selected the first batch of classic characters from five representative Kunqu operas, including “The Peony Pavilion”, “The Palace of Eternal Life” and “A Dream of Red Mansions”, and embroidered them with The craftsmanship shows on the towels.
“We hit it off with the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater at that time, and we quickly finalized the embroidery samples. We will also develop towels that can ‘cut paper’ in the future.” Duan Hui said that towels that can “sing” Kun Opera are sought after by young people, and they are considering Nowadays, young people love the “new national trend”. In addition to making a fuss about innovation, the design team also combines products with intangible cultural heritage to promote the organic integration of the two cultures in the context of industrial digital innovation and development.
“Today’s digital production promotes the continuous upgrading and innovation of traditional industries, but I believe that our excellent traditional cultural connotation will continue to rejuvenate Gaoyang towels.” Duan Hui said. </p
