The textile industry is a traditional pillar industry, an important livelihood industry, and an internationally advantageous industry in China. Recently, three departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Action Plan for Standardization Leading the Optimization and Upgrading of the Textile Industry (2026-2028)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan"), which further optimizes the supply structure of standards, enhances the effectiveness of standard implementation, improves the internationalization level of standards, accelerates the construction of a standard system leading the optimization and upgrading of the textile industry, and promotes the high-quality development of the textile industry in accordance with the idea of "filling in standard deficiencies, improving standards when they are low, and ensuring the continuity of standards". Further improving the textile standard system plays a prominent role in stabilizing employment, promoting innovation, and expanding consumption in the textile industry. China has the most complete textile industry system in the world, with an annual production of over 70 billion pieces of clothing. Textile and clothing exports account for more than 30% of global textile and clothing trade, and both production and trade scales rank first in the world. According to data from the China National Textile and Apparel Council, the retail sales of clothing, shoes, hats, and needle textiles above designated size in China will reach 1.5215 trillion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%. What are the considerations behind the release of this Action Plan? The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology explained that currently, China's consumption upgrading continues to deepen, and market demand presents personalized, diversified, and high-quality characteristics. The current standard system is difficult to fully meet the diverse needs, and it is urgent to organize and implement the "Action Plan" to further improve the textile standard system, drive the improvement of enterprise core competitiveness through the improvement of standard supply quality, and enhance supply-demand adaptability. It is reported that the "Action Plan" combines the existing pace and work foundation of standard revision, and proposes the goal of domestic and international standard revision based on sufficient research of industry reality and sorting out standard gaps - by 2028, more than 300 national standards such as diversified adaptation, digital transformation, green and low-carbon, health and safety will be revised, and the supply capacity of textile standards will be comprehensively improved; More than 10 international standards have been revised, and the conversion rate of international standards has remained above 85%. The consistency between domestic and international standards has steadily improved. In industrial upgrading, standards are not only the bottom line of quality and safety, but also the unified scale of technical routes, testing methods, product identification, and market access. They can reduce the cost of upstream and downstream collaboration and promote the faster transformation of scientific and technological achievements into products and orders. ”Wu Qi, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, believes that the introduction of the "Action Plan" is equivalent to determining an executable upgrade "roadmap" for the industry. The Action Plan focuses on the development goal of optimizing the level of textile standard supply, deploying 7 key tasks to promote deeper changes in the textile standard system. Specifically, the following aspects were proposed. ——Adapt to diverse needs. In the past, textile industry standards mainly focused on bulk products, making it difficult to cover segmented markets. The Action Plan proposes to promote the formulation and revision of standards for products suitable for the old and small, develop standards for new textile fiber materials, high value utilization of natural fibers such as cotton, wool, linen and silk, and high-tech textile standards, and accelerate the development of standards for textile intangible cultural heritage, China-Chic cultural products, and promote the inheritance and innovation of traditional culture. Wu Qi said that this means that from comfortable clothes for the elderly to China-Chic clothes for the young, from pet products to outdoor functional textiles, there will be more accurate and detailed quality standards. ——Accelerate digital transformation. The Action Plan emphasizes the development and revision of standards related to the deep integration of information technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing with the textile industry, focusing on research and development design, production and manufacturing, application services, and data management needs, and continuously improving the digital transformation standard system of the textile industry. It is worth noting that the Action Plan specifically proposes the development of textile IoT standards such as textile product production management, digital passports, and traceability systems. Wu Qi believes that there are numerous small and medium-sized enterprises in the textile industry, and promoting digital standards for these enterprises should avoid a one size fits all approach or a one-step approach. A more practical approach is to create a hierarchical, scenario based, and step-by-step "roadmap" for standards, first addressing high-frequency scenarios such as device networking, data collection, quality management, energy consumption management, and warehousing logistics, and then gradually extending to collaborative design and supply chain collaboration. Based on the actual situation of the textile industry, the government should also provide supporting public service platforms, low-cost solutions, and graded evaluations of service providers, so that enterprises can "afford and understand" first, and then achieve deep transformation. ——Promote green and low-carbon development. The Action Plan focuses on low-carbon process technology and equipment, leading green manufacturing and product development with standards. It focuses on developing carbon footprint accounting standards for typical textile products and standards for the recycling of waste textiles, accelerating the development of green product standards for bio based, biodegradable fiber materials, and sustainable textiles. ——Maintain the bottom line of health and safety. The Action Plan focuses on the health and safety of textile products, promotes the revision of mandatory national standards for basic safety of textile products and textile products for infants and children, timely tracks the progress of banned and restricted harmful substances in domestic and foreign textile products, and develops limits and testing standards for harmful substances. Accelerating the "standard going global" of the textile industry is the "universal language" for the industry to go global, and accelerating the "standard going global" of the textile industry is conducive to enhancing the comprehensive competitiveness of enterprises. In this regard, the Action Plan has also made relevant deployments. The Action Plan proposes to deepen the internationalization and integration of standards. Closely track the updates of international standards, evaluate and transform them in a timely manner based on China's national conditions and actual industrial needs, and enhance the level of integration between domestic and foreign trade. Focusing on the advantageous and characteristic areas of China's textile industry, proposing international standard proposals and formulating international standards based on domestic standards to enhance China's contribution to international standards. Mobilize the enthusiasm of domestic technical institutions, social organizations, and key enterprises, strengthen multi-level cooperation and exchanges with foreign standardization institutions, and enhance China's participation in international standardization activities. Focusing on the initiative of jointly building the "the Belt and Road", we will strengthen the research on national and regional standards of jointly building the "the Belt and Road", continue to strengthen the translation of foreign language versions of Chinese standards such as general test methods and bulk trade products, and smooth international trade in textiles and clothing. Wu Qi believes that for the textile industry, the compliance pressure and market impact brought by international standards have become a reality that enterprises must face. The significance of the "Action Plan" proposing a series of measures to promote the internationalization and integration of standards lies in helping enterprises connect with labeling, traceability, green, safety and other rules earlier, reducing compliance frictions, and enhancing the level of integration of domestic and foreign trade and the ability to participate in international rules. Effective safeguard measures are still needed for the implementation of the Action Plan. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that they will strengthen supporting support from multiple aspects to ensure the smooth implementation of the Action Plan. In terms of talent guarantee, support the introduction and cultivation of composite textile standardization talents with cross disciplinary backgrounds and international perspectives; In terms of technical support, we will support the establishment of an industry standard consulting service platform and promote the construction of statistical analysis points and monitoring points for the implementation of mandatory textile standards. (New Society)