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Global Textile Industry Sets New Vision For A Changing World

• By  Textile Excellence
• December 31, 2025

The global textile and apparel industry has laid out a shared roadmap for its future, with industry leaders calling for deeper cooperation, faster technology adoption, and stronger global dialogue to navigate rising risks and disruptions.

The vision was unveiled at the 2025 Global Fashion Conference, held in Humen township, Dongguan, Guangdong, a major manufacturing hub in China’s Greater Bay Area. The event brought together industry leaders, designers, academics, and business representatives from 25 countries, including Italy, the UK, Japan, Vietnam, Egypt, and Spain.

At the heart of the vision is a call for a multi-level consultation mechanism to help the global textile and apparel industry respond collectively to challenges ranging from supply chain instability and geopolitical tensions to sustainability pressures and rapid technological change.

Agreed upon by leading global textile and apparel organisations, the document stresses joint consultation, shared outcomes, and collaborative development as the way forward. It also highlights the need for closer cooperation between industry, academia, and research institutions to accelerate the use of advanced technologies across the value chain.

Organisers said the vision provides much-needed direction at a time when the industry is being reshaped by economic uncertainty, environmental demands, and shifting consumer expectations. It marks a step towards building a more resilient, innovative, and inclusive global textile ecosystem.

Dongguan, which hosted the conference, underlined its commitment to industry transformation. The city has rolled out policies to support digital and AI-driven upgrades in textile and apparel manufacturing. Local enterprises undergoing digital transformation can receive incentives of up to 1 million yuan.

City officials said Dongguan aims to strengthen the development of high-end, environmentally friendly, and intelligent textile materials by deepening collaboration between manufacturing and research.

For the global textile industry, the message from the conference was clear: future growth will depend less on scale alone and more on cooperation, technology, and coordinated global action.

The vision was unveiled at the 2025 Global Fashion Conference, held in Humen township, Dongguan, Guangdong, a major manufacturing hub in China’s Greater Bay Area. The event brought together industry leaders, designers, academics, and business representatives from 25 countries, including Italy, the UK, Japan, Vietnam, Egypt, and Spain.