Starting from "Tailoring for Robots"

（Source: Xinhua Daily）

 □ Wei Xiaomin

On the CCTV Spring Festival Gala stage, the human-like robots dressed in trendy outfits took the stage to showcase Chinese kung fu. These robots’ custom-made outfits are produced by a company in Hengshan Town, a town in Suzhou. As everyone marveled at the allure of technology, this Suzhou company, however, was quick to spot a business opportunity: as robots are the product of technology, they also need their own dedicated “clothing.” Focusing on the challenge of matching flexible fabrics with metal joints, they enabled sophisticated craftsmanship to achieve both beauty and functionality, moved early to stake out the robot apparel track, and put well-fitted, well-suited “new clothes” on cold machinery.

Textiles are a traditional industry, and they are also a critical part of people’s livelihoods. In recent years, influenced by factors such as the transfer of industrial tiers, rising factor costs, and intensifying price competition, the textile industry is facing many common development challenges shared by traditional industries. Faced with a dilemma, Hengshan Town actively stepped out of its original track and turned its focus to intelligent equipment—“tailoring” for robots. At the same time, drawing on the warming pet economy, the area quickly moved into a new consumer blue ocean, making pet apparel a new growth driver. From adult apparel to robot and pet apparel, from a single category to diversified layout, Hengshan Town breaks industry boundaries with a cross-industry mindset, tapping growth opportunities in new demands and new scenarios.

This skein of yarn hasn’t changed; what’s changed is the object and the context it’s used to knit. The lesson from the transformation of a skein of yarn is that transformation isn’t starting from scratch—it’s a value extension based on core strengths. A robot’s “coat” and a pet’s “fashion”—seemingly cross-border, yet in essence, are a natural extension of textile craftsmanship under new technologies and new demands. The biggest advantage of traditional industries lies precisely in their long accumulated foundation of craftsmanship, industry-chain support, and skilled workers. Jiangsu has more individual manufacturing champions nationwide than any other province, as well as national-level specialized, refined, distinctive, and new “little giant” enterprises—many of which come from traditional industries. The reason they can reach the pinnacle in their specific niche is this kind of single-minded focus and flexible “举一反三” adaptation.

There is no such thing as a backward industry—only backward ideas. Upgrading traditional industries, at its core, is upgrading ideas. Hengshan Town did not get stuck in the old logic of “selling wool sweaters.” Instead, it keenly captured social hot topics and consumption trends, and with the concept of “stepping out of textiles to do textiles,” it opened up a whole new space for imagination. Development is like digging a well; the market is like a spring. If you dare to explore paths no one has walked before, and are willing to blend new ideas into existing ways of thinking, you can taste the sweetness of development’s fresh water. In Jiangsu, similar stories are by no means rare: in Danyang, an eyeglass city no longer only sells lenses, but has extended into vision health management and fashionable accessories; in Yixing, ceramics no longer only make teapots, but are expanding into specialty ceramics and industrial ceramics. Every successful transformation starts with the “breaking out of the circle” of ideas.

Looking across the entire province, there are numerous traditional industries like these. From home textiles in Nantong and apparel in Changshu to eyeglasses in Danyang and ceramics in Yixing, they form the deep inventory of Jiangsu’s manufacturing sector. Traditional industries are large in scale and heavy in weight. After digital and intelligent upgrades, they can fully open up broad space for the development of new-quality productive forces. In fact, many “suppliers” to emerging industries are traditional industries. For example, the industrialization of the Internet of Things and cloud computing cannot be separated from the support of fundamental industries such as key components and precision manufacturing. Building a solid industrial “main base” safeguards the completeness and stability of the industrial system—and is also an important cornerstone for cultivating and developing new-quality productive forces.

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China pointed out that, “China’s economic foundation is stable, it has many advantages, it has strong resilience, and it has great potential; the supporting conditions and underlying trend of a long period of favorable prospects have not changed.” The depth of the market, the breadth of consumption, and the completeness of the industrial system are our strongest backing. A skein of yarn connects to myriads of vistas of traditional industry transformation. By grounding ourselves in practice and looking to the future, by seeing development trends and taking action, we will surely be able to tap new development spaces of our own. 

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