Keqiao in Zhejiang Province is an important textile cluster in China, which is cited as "China Textile City". Textile printing and dyeing industry is a pillar industry in Keqiao. However, traditional printing & dyeing industry faces serious environmental issues such as high pollution, high energy consumption, high emission, illegal building.

Once there were more than 200 printing & dyeing enterprises in Keqiao. After strong rectification over the past four years, there are only about 100 enterprises left and their production has reduced from 20 billion meters to 16 billion meters per year.

By relocating into cluster area, and by substituting outdated equipment with advanced one, the industry has been reborn.

In the past, more than 200 printing & dyeing enterprises of various sizes were equipped with high energy-consuming, high-emission low-end equipment, 80% of which are more than 10-years old. While relocating the industry, Keqiao worked out the negative list for equipment renovation and set entry barrier for new equipment. In 2016 alone, 2,023 sets of outdated printing & dyeing equipment were eliminated.

Last May, when moving to the cluster area, Xingming Dyeing & Finishing Co., Ltd. sold its old equipment which was worth of more than CNY 50 million as scrap iron and then spent CNY 250 million on introducing the state-of-the-art equipment from Germany and Italy.

Since moved into Binhai Printing & Dyeing Cluster area three years ago, Zhejiang Legao Industrial Co., Ltd. has invested CNY 550 million in introducing advanced technology and equipment, delicacy management and product upgrading, so as to meet the high standards and high requirements of the cluster area. Last year, Legao imported two sets of water-less dyeing machine from Benninger to realize green production.

At present, as the first- and second-phase construction of the printing & dyeing cluster area, 40 projects have been put into production, while 17 projects in the third phase are under construction. In the first three quarters of this year, local printing & dyeing industry saw 19.2% growth in industrial output, 19.2% growth in sales, 27.8% growth in total profits and 23.7% growth in tax payment.

Under the slogan of "green, high-end and leading the world", Keqiao is now building the "Lanyin Fashion Town" (industrial park), aimed at improving economic performance by introducing innovative technology, advanced equipment and delicacy management concept. With a planned area of 3.5 square kilometers, Lanyin Fashion Town will be based on sustainable printing & dyeing industry, supported by fashion culture tourism and oriented towards the combination of industry and city.

Source: China Textile Leader Express