Keqiao textile market guide (China Textile City)

Where Guangzhou's Zhongda market is about variety and fashion, Keqiao is about volume. It's surrounded by a huge textile industry, from weaving and knitting to dyeing and printing, so many vendors are mills or work directly with them.

It suits garment manufacturers, home textile companies and fabric wholesalers buying large quantities, as well as buyers who want to develop custom fabrics with a mill.

China Textile City is spread across several market areas, each grouped by product type: for example, home textiles such as curtain and blackout fabrics in one area, knitwear and bedding fabrics in another, and denim in another. A first visit can be overwhelming, so plan which areas to see based on the fabrics you need.

The big advantage of Keqiao is that production is nearby. After finding a fabric in the market, you can often visit the mill that makes it the same day. That's where you can see capacity, check how they control shade between dye lots, and negotiate bulk prices.

Our factory audit checklist works for mills too: check the business licence, the machinery, the dyeing and finishing set-up, and how they record and fix defects.

• Keqiao District is about 20 to 25 km from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport.
• Shaoxing Metro Line 1 runs through Keqiao and connects with Hangzhou Metro Line 5.
• High-speed trains link Shaoxing with Shanghai and Hangzhou.

Keqiao is easy to combine with factory visits in Zhejiang and Jiangsu, including around Suzhou, where we're based. See our business trips page.

The China Shaoxing Keqiao International Textile Expo is held twice a year and is one of China's main fabric fairs. It's a good time to visit if you want to see new collections and meet many mills in a few days. Check the expo's dates for the year before you plan your trip.

• Know your specification: composition, weight, width, construction, finish and colour.
• Ask for lab dips or strike-offs for custom colours and prints, and approve them before bulk.
• Agree the shade tolerance, and how much variation between dye lots is acceptable.
• Ask about MOQs per colour. Bulk mills often need thousands of metres per colour.
• Inspect the fabric before shipping, checking shade, width, weight and defects on a sample of rolls.

We can help you find mills, follow production in Chinese and inspect the fabric before it ships. Start with our product sourcing service.