On August 25, the highly anticipated 2026 Intertextile China International Textile Fabrics and Accessories (Autumn/Winter) Expo grandly opened at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai). As a flagship industry event at a critical juncture for the in-depth advancement of industrial development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, this year's expo spans a massive 240,000 square meters across nine halls, bringing together over 3,500 leading exhibitors from 30 countries and regions to comprehensively showcase the robust strength and innovative vitality of the textile supply chain.
On the opening day, Sun Ruizhe, President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), along with former President Du Yuzhou, former Executive Vice President Xu Kunyuan, and CNTAC leaders Xia Lingmin, Xu Yingxin, Chen Dapeng, Li Lingshen, Yang Zhaohua, Yan Yan, Liang Pengcheng, and Zhu Chao, as well as former Vice President Zhang Yankai, members of the Expert Advisory Group Sun Huaibin and Cao Xuejun, and Wendy Wen, Managing Director of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd., toured the exhibition. The delegation visited the Digital Fashion Innovation Space, the "Clarifying Black and White" Traditional Colors Themed Art Zone, and core booths including Romanroll, Lixin Textile, Dongyisheng, Luthai Group, Shantou Nylon Avenue, the Sustainable Innovation Zone, Danmao, Sande Textile, Youngor Woolen, Jieensheng, and Royal Ruyi. They also attended key events such as the Award Ceremony of the 2026 China International Fabric Design Contest.
In terms of trade matchmaking, this year's expo has continuously upgraded its business facilitation system, deepening the dual-engine service model of the "1,000-Strong Professional Buyer Delegation + Dedicated Trade Matchmaking." On the opening day, the professional buyer delegation arrived at the venue in batches, efficiently energizing the trade matchmaking atmosphere across the entire exhibition. To precisely match supply and demand, the expo has tailored over 300 precision and scenario-based dedicated matchmaking sessions. Three major overseas sessions focusing on Europe and America, South Africa, and Egypt kicked off with great momentum, centering on upstream fabric procurement in the garment supply chain and market entry into emerging markets, thereby facilitating smooth two-way trade channels between domestic and international markets.
During the expo, more than 60 high-level seminars and thematic dialogues were launched, creating four functional zones: the Textile Dialogue Zone, the Sustainable Development Forum Zone, the Industry Insights Zone, and the Trending Topics Exchange Zone. On the first day, thematic discussions such as the "Forum on Testing and Certification Services for Hong Kong Textiles and Garments" and "Uniting for Innovation: Decoding Fabric Innovation Trends in the New Era" were held in intensive succession. Trend-sharing sessions like "From 'Restraint' to 'Relaxation' — Decoding the Autumn/Winter 2027/2028 Textile Fabric Trends" were also presented in turn, providing authoritative references for corporate R&D and strategic planning.
Fully leveraging the advantages of domestic textile industry clusters and global resource aggregation, this year's expo features a multi-point layout of distinctive thematic exhibition areas. Eight domestic featured industry cluster pavilions, nine national and regional pavilions, and eight featured fiber and joint pavilions made their debut. Nine distinctive exhibition zones have been upgraded, including the Sustainable Innovation Zone, the Digital Fashion Innovation Space, the Pet Fashion Exhibition Area (Pet Boutique), the Performance Textiles Exhibition Area, and the "Future Textiles" Zone, building a multi-tiered and diversified system for industry exhibition and matchmaking.
Walking through the exhibition halls, the vibrant pulse of industrial transformation is palpable. Sustainability concepts have moved from mere ideas to end-to-end implementation, with enterprises accelerating the adoption of carbon footprint management and digital product passports for textiles. Functional fabrics are becoming increasingly mainstream, continuously penetrating all categories including formal wear, womenswear, casual wear, and infant and children's wear. Digitalization is deeply empowering the entire fabric R&D process. Notably, procurement boundaries have been completely broken down, and domestic and international buyer circles continue to expand. Overseas buyers comprehensively cover core regions such as Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea, while the domestic buyer base has attracted cross-industry procurement forces from trendy designer toy IPs, automotive manufacturing, beauty and cosmetics, and the pet sector. As a pivotal advance window for the traditional peak sales season of "Golden September and Silver October" in the textile industry, this expo releases autumn and winter market order demands ahead of time and locks in key trade increments for the year, ushering in a new chapter of production and sales recovery, new product iteration, and channel expansion in the second half of the year.