Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly evolving from a general efficiency-enhancing tool into a critical force for process reconfiguration, organizational transformation, and value upgrading in traditional industries. As both a major manufacturing province and a major textile province in China, Zhejiang possesses a relatively complete textile industrial chain and strong industrial clustering advantages, while also facing persistent constraints such as uneven intelligent transformation, fragmented application scenarios, and insufficient factor support. Based on policy documents, industry reports, and comparative case materials, this paper examines the implementation pathways and institutional safeguards through which AI can empower the renewal and upgrading of Zhejiang’s traditional textile industry. Focusing on four key domains – research and design, production and manufacturing, supply chain coordination, and brand marketing – the study presents its core argument on AI-enabled upgrading. It holds that such upgrading is not a simple process of technological overlay, but a systemic transformation driven by scenario-based demand, data support, platform coordination, organizational adaptation, and institutional guarantee. The paper further suggests that Zhejiang should capitalize on its textile clusters by taking high-frequency scenarios as the entry point, chain-level collaboration as the strategic direction, public platforms as the supporting structure, and standards and talent systems as the long-term guarantee. In this way, the traditional textile industry can move from partial intelligence to full-chain intelligent upgrading. Public materials released by Zhejiang’s provincial authorities indicate that the province has entered a new stage of systematic manufacturing digitalization. Meanwhile, the provincial guideline on the modern textile industrial chain has explicitly called for the construction of a world-class textile and apparel cluster, providing a concrete policy basis for this analysis.
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Share and Cite
Zhu, J. (2026) Artificial Intelligence Empowering the Renewal and Upgrading of Zhejiang’s Traditional Textile Industry: Implementation Pathways and Institutional Safeguards Based on Typical Scenarios and Comparative Cases. Scientific Research Bulletin, 3(1), 20-25.