I. Why Sichuan Textile Merits Attention

Among western Chinese provinces, Sichuan occupies an unusual position in the textile and apparel sector: it holds Nanchong's thousand-year silk heritage as a cultural anchor while simultaneously absorbing a new wave of coastal manufacturing relocating inland. These two narratives run in parallel, creating a distinctive tension within the provincial industrial landscape.

In 2023, Sichuan's above-scale textile and apparel enterprises recorded revenue approaching 100 billion yuan, with stable year-on-year growth, ranking first among all western provinces. This scale did not emerge by accident — it reflects both the gradual modernization of traditional silk manufacturing and the arrival of relocated textile capital seeking lower-cost production environments. While Sichuan is not a traditional eastern textile powerhouse, its increasing presence on industry relocation shortlists speaks for itself.

II. Cluster Geography: Nanchong, Yibin, and Multi-Node Support

Sichuan's textile and apparel geography follows a "two poles, multiple supports" pattern.

Nanchong — the only "China Silk Capital" in central-western China

Nanchong is the only city in central-western China to hold the designation "China Silk Capital." The Dujing Silk and Textile Industrial Park in Gaoping District serves as the primary hub, hosting nearly 20 silk and textile enterprises, with a workforce exceeding 6,000 and annual output value of approximately 1.689 billion yuan in 2023 (source: Gaoping District Government). At the city level, 76 above-scale silk and textile enterprises in Nanchong generated output exceeding 29 billion yuan in 2022, accounting for 9.5% of the city's total above-scale industrial output (source: Nanchong Municipal Government Service Network). The China (Nanchong) Silk Index has been published globally, and Nanchong accounts for over 88% of Sichuan's raw silk production, leading the province in silk industry economic output (source: Sina Finance / Nanchong Municipal Government).

Yibin — the primary relocation absorption hub

Yibin has been the fastest-growing concentration of textile and apparel capacity in Sichuan in recent years. The city's textile and apparel revenue accounts for approximately 50% of the provincial total. The Zhejiang-Sichuan Textile Industrial Park in Pingshan County has attracted 41 textile enterprises with total investment of 30.66 billion yuan, forming a complete supply chain spanning spinning, thread, weaving, and finished garments. Pingshan County has been recognized as a "National Textile Industry Transfer Demonstration Park" (source: Sichuan Economic Daily). Using Silk Liya Group as the anchor chain leader, Yibin has established a "1+5+N" layout across Cuiping District, Pingshan County, Gaoxian County, Nanxi District, and Junlian County, covering the full chain from fiber to finished apparel.

Multi-node support

Chengdu, Deyang, and Dazhou form apparel industry clusters; Suining and Leshan concentrate cotton textile production; Dazhou has a distinctive ramie textile specialization; Zizhong holds a position in chemical fiber. Guang'an's Qianfeng Industrial Park has identified apparel and footwear as a priority relocation target, hosting the "China Western Light Textile and Apparel Industry Transfer Development Conference" in 2024 (source: Guang'an Municipal Government). In July 2024, Yibin hosted the "China Textile Industry Two-Informatization Integration Conference," a significant industry endorsement (source: China National Textile and Apparel Council).

III. Leading Enterprise Landscape

Among Sichuan's textile enterprises, Silk Liya Group stands out by a considerable margin. In 2022, the group recorded revenue of 35.2 billion yuan, making it one of the world's largest viscose filament producers, with core products including viscose fiber and embroidery thread (source: Yibin Municipal Government). Its business has also extended upstream into pulp supply.

Nanchong's representative enterprises lean more toward silk processing and cultural-tourism hybrid business models. The Liuhe Silk Museum Park attracted 1.1 million visitors in 2023, generating comprehensive tourism revenue of 1.25 billion yuan, exploring a path that combines industrial heritage with tourism consumption (source: Sina Finance).

Chengdu's Shu brocade and embroidery sector is modest in scale but carries significant brand value. The Shu embroidery industry comprises over 80 enterprises with annual total output of approximately 200 million yuan and a workforce of around 6,000 (source: Chengdu Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection data). Both Shu embroidery and Shu brocade are listed as national intangible cultural heritage; Chengdu launched a three-year action plan for their high-level protection and high-quality development in 2025.

Province-wide, the textile and apparel sector includes over 52 provincial-level "specialized and innovative" enterprises and 32 provincial-level and above enterprise technology centers (source: Sichuan Provincial Department of Economic and Information Technology).

IV. Supply Chain: Upstream and Downstream

Sichuan's textile raw material base presents a dual profile: silk and ramie benefit from local agricultural supply, while viscose and chemical fiber inputs are largely purchased externally. The Yibin chemical fiber base is partly designed to extend the local supply chain and reduce upstream dependence on outside procurement.

Apparel design remains a notable weakness. Enterprises with proprietary brands and in-house design capability are limited; most production capacity operates in contract manufacturing or mid-to-low-end order fulfillment, leaving little room for brand premium. Rising environmental compliance costs in dyeing and finishing add further pressure on mid-sized enterprises.

On the distribution side, Chengdu serves as a western commercial hub with established wholesale apparel markets, though Sichuan does not sit at the core of China's national textile logistics network. Live-streaming e-commerce has helped some local apparel enterprises reach broader markets, but overall penetration remains lower than coastal counterparts in Zhejiang and Guangdong.

V. Transformation Pressures and Potential

Narrowing labor cost advantage: The initial draw for eastern manufacturers to relocate to Sichuan was lower wage costs. As wages in Yibin, Guang'an, and other sites rise, this advantage is shrinking. The shift from labor-intensive textile to technology-intensive manufacturing is the key upgrading challenge — and progress remains uneven.

Green production compliance: Dyeing and printing operations are water- and energy-intensive, and tightening regulations are raising compliance costs. Yibin has established a dedicated dyeing and finishing industrial park to consolidate environmental oversight.

Commercializing Shu brocade and Shu embroidery: These crafts represent Sichuan's most differentiated asset — yet the least scalable. The fundamental tension between artisanal scarcity and mass production logic has not been resolved. Some Chengdu enterprises have tested "heritage licensing + modern design" collaboration models, but stable commercial revenue from this approach remains rare.

Sales teams supplying upstream to textile and apparel factories in Sichuan — whether serving Nanchong's silk manufacturers or Yibin's relocated production bases — can use Tianxia Gongchang to filter factory directories and key contact information by region and industry, shortening the path to verified leads.

VI. Research Institute Observations

Sichuan's textile and apparel story is distinctive among western provinces. The millennium-long silk heritage and the recent manufacturing inflow are not disconnected — they have each found their respective footholds, in Nanchong and Yibin. The province's western-first ranking by revenue is supported by data; however, significant gaps remain in brand creation, design capability, and the proportion of high-value-added output. Relocation absorption has built a production foundation. Whether Sichuan can extend "capable of making" into "making it well" is the central question the industry will need to answer over the coming decade.

Data Sources

  • Tianxia Gongchang (Sichuan textile and apparel factory directory and industry data)
  • Sichuan Economic Daily (September 2024 report: "One Bolt of Cloth" Towards a 100 Billion Industry)
  • Nanchong Municipal Government Service Network (Silk and Textile Industry column, June 2023)
  • Gaoping District Government (Dujing Silk Textile Park annual output data)
  • Sina Finance / Nanchong Municipal Government (silk production share, Liuhe Silk Museum Park tourism revenue)
  • Yibin Municipal Government (Silk Liya Group 2022 revenue data)
  • Guang'an Municipal Government (Qianfeng Light Textile Transfer Conference, 2024)
  • China National Textile and Apparel Council (2024 Two-Informatization Integration Conference)
  • Chengdu Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection sources (Shu embroidery enterprise count, output, workforce)
  • Sichuan Provincial Department of Economic and Information Technology (specialized innovative enterprise and tech center counts)