Zhejiang Zhili, The Children'S Wear Capital: Strive For The School Uniform Industry To Dig A Hundred Billion Level Segmented Market

"Chinese children's clothes look at weaving, and Chinese school uniforms look at weaving." This is a new goal proposed by Zhili Town, Wuxing District, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province.

Zhili Town, located on the shore of Taihu Lake, is the main production place of children's clothing in the world. The annual output of children's clothing is 2 billion pieces, and the sales volume is nearly 100 billion yuan. Children's clothing is exported to 165 countries and regions.

When facing the saturated children's wear market in China, where is the next stop of the children's wear industry in Zhili? Where should children's wear enterprises go?

It is a collective choice made by many enterprises in Zhili to "explore the market segment and dig into the 100 billion level school uniform industry".

"We have become the largest school uniform industry base in China. In 2024, the market size of the school uniform industry will reach more than 12 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), with a year-on-year growth of more than 30%." Li Gang, president of Zhili School Uniform Association, said in an interview with chinanews. com that the Association was jointly founded by more than 100 school uniform manufacturers in 2019. Today, after just five years of development, the Association has gathered more than 400 school uniform manufacturing enterprises and 1000 surface accessories supply chain enterprises.

In March 2025, in Zhili, Zhejiang Province, samples of school uniforms of different styles were displayed locally. Photographed by Hu Fengsheng

In March 2025, in Zhili, Zhejiang Province, samples of school uniforms of different styles were displayed locally. Photographed by Hu Fengsheng

Flannel (Huzhou) Clothing Co., Ltd. is a member of the transformation wave of Zhili school uniforms. At the beginning of this year, Hu Bingfeng, the general manager of the company, also led a team to Britain to attend the Birmingham International Spring Consumer Goods Expo.

"Compared with children's clothing, school uniforms are relatively simple, and the order is stable, without inventory risk." Hu Bingfeng said that the enterprise started with children's clothing. In recent years, the difficulty of children's clothing domestic sales has increased, the inventory of children's clothing across the country has remained high, and the rapid rise of live broadcast e-commerce has superimposed the multiple background, the enterprise began to choose to transform the operation of school uniforms in 2021, opening a new performance growth point. Today, from British style to sports style, from cotton and linen flannelette to new three proofing fabrics, the school uniform products designed by the enterprise independently and original are full of variety and blossom.

Huzhou Hanyitonger Garments Co., Ltd. is also a local children's clothing enterprise that has earlier found gold in the school uniform market. In 2024, the company's integration of national style school uniforms such as silk and embroidery technology was frequently consulted by buyers. "This year's new products are more prominent in integrating fashion, beauty and functionality," said Shan Xiaohai, chairman of the company.

Focusing on the industry, personalized customization is the overall trend of the current school uniform industry. Li Gang believes that Zhili not only has a complete upstream and downstream industrial chain, but also has greater advantages in original design and quick response ability, and can provide more personalized customized services. "Zhili school uniforms are not only fashionable, but also retain the characteristics of school uniforms, and are leading the high-quality development of China's school uniforms industry." Li Gang said, "Compared with the domestic market scale of more than 200 billion yuan, the output value of Zhili's school uniforms of more than 12 billion yuan only accounts for a small part, and there will be a lot of room for growth in the future."

In March before that, at the 2025 Zhili Children's Wear "Undergraduate Innovative Design Competition" and the 5th Zhili School Uniform New Product Release Conference, more than 100 local brand school uniform enterprises demonstrated more than 1000 sets of various school uniforms in the way of "T show+image exhibition area". In Li Gang's view, from the small workshops of the "shoulder pole street" in the past to the children's clothing industry cluster with the largest scale and the closest division of labor and cooperation in China, the children's clothing in weaving has a clearer development path at present - digging for gold market segments, striving to become the leader of the school uniform industry. It can be predicted that more influential children's wear enterprises will be born here in the future.

(Source: China News Network)