By Zhao Zihan

To give full play to the advantages of resources and the advantages of service platforms， help Chinese textile and garment enterprises to improve the level and competitiveness of supply chain management， promote the development of traditional garment enterprises， and realize the transformation and upgrading of enterprises and “Made in China 2025” as soon as possible， 2018 China Textile and Apparel Supply Chain Forum （Gulin）， guided by China National Textile and Apparel Council （CNTAC）， sponsored by Productivity Promotion Department of CNTAC， China Textile Information Center， and organized by Ningbo Haishu District Government， the Peoples Government of Gulin Town， Haishu District， Ningbo， and JIALE Corporation， was held in the textile town of Gulin on July 26th， 2018. The forum was presided over by Zhou Changnian， Director of the Industrial Innovation Office of China Textile Information Center.

The leaders and guests attending the forum included Xia Lingmin， Vice President of CNTAC， Qiao Yanjin， Director of Productivity Promotion Department of CNTAC and Director of China Textile Information Center， Yan Yan， Director of CNTAC Social Responsibility Office， Xie Fangming， Secretary General of China Textile Enterprise Association， Zheng Liqing， Deputy Director of the Economic and Information Bureau of Haishu District， Zhou Gao， Secretary of the Party Committee of the Peoples Government of Gulin Town， Zhang Liang， Deputy Mayor of the Peoples Government of Gulin Town， Yan Houguo， President of JIALE Corporation， etc.

Ningbo is a famous textile and apparel city in China and a “Made in China 2025” demonstration city. A large number of well-known garment brands such as SHANSHAN， ROMON， YOUNGOR and GXG have emerged， enjoying a good industrial foundation with complete industrial chain supporting facilities and lots of above-designated enterprises. By the end of 2017， there had been more than 16，000 textile and garment enterprises with an output value of more than 120 billion. As a strong textile and garment industry district in Ningbo， Haishu District has more than 30% of textile and garment enterprises in Ningbo， and more than 2，000 textile and garment enterprises are of above-designated size. It is also a pilot project for the transformation and upgrading of the textile and garment manufacturing industry in the province. In recent years， it has put a lot of investment into industrial transformation and upgrading.

With the gradual disappearance of the demographic dividend， rising production costs and increasing environmental pressure， the low-cost advantage of Chinas textile and garment industry has ceased to exist. How to develop a brand supply chain strategy in the fierce market competition， using such information technologies such as the Internet， the Internet of Things， big data and intelligent manufacturing to promote the transformation and upgrading of enterprises， is the pain point suffered by traditional textile and garment enterprises， and also the challenges and opportunities faced by the transformation and upgrading of the industry. Since October 2017， the State Council has repeatedly issued documents emphasizing the importance of promoting supply chain innovation and application. Deepening reform of traditional enterprises is imperative. In the face of the reform and adjustment period of the “supply side” of the Chinese economy， the survival and development of Chinese textile and garment enterprises face many uncertainties. In the new era of the continuous evolution of the informatization wave， the forum is of great significance for promoting the development of industrial clusters.

Qiao Yanjin and Zhou Gao respectively delivered a speech in the forum. Qiao Yanjin pointed out that CNTAC and its affiliated institutions have long been making great efforts in promoting the transformation and upgrading of the industry， and actively cooperating with various industrial cluster governments and related enterprises in professional market services， enterprise manager services， textile and apparel supply chain resources integration， textile and apparel industry social responsibility construction， etc. In addition， they also went to industrial clusters to carry out various activities as well as small and medium-sized enterprises public services such as quality inspection. Zhou Gao stressed that in order to speed up the implementation of the renovation and upgrading of the textile and garment manufacturing industry in Gulin Town， Gulin Town will make efforts in fashion leadership， model creation， brand building， intelligent manufacturing， supply chain management， and entrepreneurial management capabilities， making the traditional and advantageous industries of Gulin Town bigger， stronger and more sustainable.

The Forum， themed on “Internet of Things and Traditional Apparel Industry Transformation and Upgrading”， is a research-oriented conference for promoting the improvement of enterprise supply chain management capabilities. The organizers invited industry heavyweight guests， including Song Zhiguang， a well-known brand expert in China， Li Jinzhu， General Manager of KUTESMART， and Zeng Ting， Co-founder and CEO of Company Management consulting， Beiing-Shanghai-Hangzhou-Guangzhou， to respectively talk about the Supply Chain Strategy for Small and Medium-sized Garment Enterprises， IoT and Supply Chain Collaboration， Big Data to Promote the Transformation of Apparel Enterprises.

The event was widely supported by textile and apparel companies， with more than 200 corporate representatives and over 10 industry media participating in the event. The forum provided assistance for SMEs to get rid of the real dilemma and improve operational efficiency and economic benefits， provided intellectual support for the formulation of corporate supply chain strategy and long-term brand development plan， and also laid out a sound foundation for 2019 Global Textile and Apparel Supply Chain Conference to be held in Haishu District.