Shantou, the largest underwear manufacturing base in China

Shantou, The Largest Underwear Manufacturing Base in China

In the early 1980s, Shantou’s foreign trade developed rapidly, leading to the formation and expansion of the textile and garment industry cluster. After more than 40 years of transformation and development, Shantou has become the largest production base for underwear, home wear, and sweaters in China, with a complete industrial chain and strong design and development capabilities.

Shantou’s production of underwear and home wear accounts for about 45% of China’s total, and its branded products account for more than 75% of the Chinese market. In other words, nearly half of China’s underwear is produced in Shantou.

• Scale and Development of Shantou Textile and Garment Industry
• China Chaoshan International Textile and Garment Exhibition
• Shantou International Textile City
• Favorable Policies, Broad Prospects
• Shantou’s Transformation Strategy
• A Promising Future

Scale and Development of Shantou Textile and Garment Industry

According to Shantou Mayor Zeng Fengbao, Shantou textile and garment industry has launched 108 projects with a total investment of about 4.5 billion U.S. dollars from 2022 until now. Among them, the investment in industrial infrastructure is about US $2.2 billion and the government investment is about US $483 million. The development of the industry is accelerating.

According to Wang Danyang, a reporter from China Textile News, in recent years, the digitalization rate of production equipment in Shantou textile and garment industry has reached 55.6%. The readiness rate of intelligent manufacturing in raw material processing, weaving, printing and dyeing, and seamless product production has reached 75%.

According to the survey report by Tan Haiyan of Southern Finance and Economy All Media, in 2023, there were 797 textile and garment enterprises above the designated size in Shantou, accounting for 36.7% of the total number of industrial enterprises above the designated size was approximately 15.43 billion dollars, accounting for 31.9% of the city‘s total industrial output value for enterprises above the designated size.

China Chaoshan International Textile and Garment Exhibition

On March 28 this year, the 3-day third China Chaoshan International Textile and Garment Exhibition (CTGE) opened. At the open ceremony, participants highlighted that Shantou is the largest production base for underwear, home wear, and sweaters in China, with a complete upstream and downstream industrial chain and strong design and development capabilities.

This is not mere boasting, market feedback shows that the world is optimistic about Shantou’s textile and garment industry. Colombian buyer Johnny Andres Corral Mosquera, attending the CTGE for the first time this year, described Shantou’s high-quality and affordable textile products as impressive, with unique industrial advantages.

During the opening ceremony, multiple cooperation project signing ceremonies took place, with 32 domestic and international enterprises reaching initial procurement agreements totaling 16.3 billion yuan(approximately $2.25 billion USD) with over 20 enterprises and associations in Shantou. Last year, at the second CTGE, over 50,00 global buyers completed agreements totaling 16.26 billion yuan, three times the amount of the first CTGE.

Leveraging on CTGE, the clustering effect of Shantou textile and garment industry is becoming more and more prominent. At the first CTGE, the “four major projects” of Shantou textile and garment industry were officially launched. Global Textile Procurement Center, Intelligent Textile Industrial Park, Exhibition Center and Industrial Headquarters Building. Shantou aims to build an industrial cluster with a total value of about 27.6 billion dollars or more through there “four major projects”, and to build a “China Textile and Garment Industrial Base” with international influence.

Shantou International Textile City

In 2023, the construction of Shantou International Textile City started in full swing, with a planned area of about 840.15 acres and a total planned investment of about 4.2 billion US dollars. The core area covers about 344.30 acres, including “Global Textile Procurement Center” and “Intelligent Textile Industrial Park”. The core area aims to become the world”s largest trading center for intimate apparel, and China’s largest underwear life base.

The first phase of the project is expected to be full delivered by the end of July this year and put into operation early next year. Taking this park as platform, Shantou will endeavor to upgrade the grade and level of textile and garment industry. Shantou attaches great importance to the development of textile industry and has listed Shantou International Textile City as one of the “four major projects” in textile and garment industry.

Favorable Policies, Broad Prospects

A series of favorable policies have attracted many excellent textile enterprises at home and abroad to settle in Shantou, forming a complete industrial chain and a strong industrial cluster effect. In the future, Shangtou Knitted Fabric Market will continue to lead the global knitted fabric market trend.

It will attract more domestic and foreign buyers and sellers to participate in the trade and form a knitted fabric trading platform with international influence. At the same time,Knitted Fabric Market will actively advocate the green, environmentally friendly and sustainable textile development concept and contribute to the sustainable development of the industry.

Shantou’s Transformation Strategy

The upgrade of the textile and garment industry reflects Shantou’s recent transformation strategy. In 2021, Shantou established the goal of “building the city through industry and strengthening the city through industry.”

As a result, Shantou is focusing on strategic emerging industrial clusters and using major platform construction as a carrier to build a modern coastal economic belt industrial hub and develop a more competitive modern industrial system.

A Promising Future

It can be seen that Shantou, as the largest underwear production base in China, has a broad development prospect. It is foreseeable that more underwear and home wear will be produced in Shantou, bringing more quality products to China and the world. In the future, more global buyers will sign bigger contracts in Shantou.

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