Garment makers pivot to stay ahead

Fueled by digital and intelligent transformation, the garment manufacturing sector in Dalian, Liaoning province, is embracing a shift toward high value-added made-to-measure services.

Data from Dalian Customs show that in the first half of this year, the northeastern port city of Dalian achieved garment exports worth 445 million yuan ($62.5 million) in the customized category, marking a 2.9 percent year-on-year growth.

Dalian-based Dayang Group Co Ltd, a large-scale exporter of made-to-measure suits, is at the forefront of this transformation with its intelligent production line.

At one of its factories in Yangshufang town, Pulandian district, mechanical "arms" automatically cut fabrics to custom dimensions, while the automatic hanging system recognizes different processing requirements and routes the pieces to the next processing step accordingly.

"Unlike mass-produced garments, customized clothing involves a wide variety of fabric types and processing requirements. From fabric cutting onward, each processing step is tailored," said Hu Dongmei, general manager of Dayang Group.

Established in 1979, Dayang Group has evolved from a rural workshop in Pulandian district to become a key exporter of suits in China and a global AI-driven made-to-measure garment producer.

In the first half of this year, the group exported 1 million pieces or sets of made-to-measure clothing, with a projected annual production of 2.1 million pieces or sets in 2024, maintaining a steady growth trajectory.

According to Hu, the company has invested over 200 million yuan in projects like intelligent cutting, hanging, and three-dimensional storage to create an intelligent flexible customization manufacturing system.

By integrating intelligent manufacturing, industrial internet and personalized customization, the company aims to streamline processes such as material procurement, pattern selection, production organization, planning, warehousing logistics and operational management.

"Before digital transformation, even our most experienced pattern-makers took two hours from measuring to pattern creation. Now, this process takes only two seconds," said Hu.

She said that after pattern formation, the dimensions are projected onto the cutting machine, which autonomously completes the cutting process in about a minute.

Customers abroad can also visit Dayang's stores for custom fittings or upload data through the flexible customization system. Order information is automatically allocated to the production system, with a made-to-measure suit typically made within one working day.

To address the urgent delivery requirements of personalized clothing orders, Dalian Customs has streamlined the monitoring procedures. This has reduced the order delivery time from 10 working days to three.

Dalian's Pulandian district has a rich history of clothing and apparel industry development spanning over 40 years. Known as a prominent clothing processing hub in China, the district hosts over 400 textile and clothing enterprises with an annual production capacity of 82 million pieces or sets, exporting to over 40 countries and regions worldwide.

Last year, 23 major textile and clothing enterprises in the district achieved a total output value of 1.85 billion yuan.

Sources from Pulandian's industry and information technology bureau said that the intelligent hanging storage system of Dayang Group has been recognized as a national-level innovation application case.