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HANGZHOU -- As global temperatures hit record highs and heatwaves blanket most of the Northern Hemisphere, Chinese manufacturers are stepping up with innovative cooling solutions, from advanced textiles to smart gadgets, to meet surging global demand for heat relief.
At a new material technology company in East China's Zhejiang province, a batch of cooling fabric rolled off the production line and was then neatly packaged before being loaded into 18 containers for export.
Measuring approximately 4 million meters in length, this load of fabric, valued at more than 7 million yuan ($980,000), will be sold to markets in the Middle East, Europe and North America.
Since 2021, this cool-touch material has driven average annual sales growth of about 25 percent for its manufacturer Yibei, a company based in the city of Huzhou in northern Zhejiang, while delivering heat-relief solutions to consumers worldwide, said Zhu Yifan, general manager of Yibei.
Originally designed as a garment lining, this material's affordability and skin-friendly comfort have fueled unexpected demand for it as a primary fabric, especially after the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, when it gained viral traction in countries like Turkiye, Egypt, Iran and the United Arab Emirates to make scarves and robes.
The EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service has confirmed the year 2024, recording a global average temperature of 15.1 degrees Celsius, as the warmest year globally since 1850, and June 2025 as the world's third-warmest June on record, reaching 16.46 degrees Celsius globally.
Amid the global warming trend, Chinese textile manufacturers like Yibei are innovating their products and scaling production to satisfy surging demand for cooling products.
On JD.com, a major Chinese e-commerce platform, searches for "cool touch" products reveal nearly 20 cooling items, including towels, bedsheets and pillows. The best-selling cooling towel has surpassed 4 million orders, with its inner layer containing menthol and other active cooling ingredients that release long-lasting coolness when exposed to water.
"With intensifying global climate change and consumers' increasing pursuit of quality of life, the demand for cooling products has prompted companies to explore different materials, techniques and functional cooling products," said Dai Junming, an industrial expert of the modern textile technology innovation center of Zhejiang.
A leading province in China's textile industry, Zhejiang exported textiles and apparel worth $92 billion in 2024, accounting for more than 30 percent of the country's total.
The cooling boom is not limited to textiles. Data from Alibaba.com, the cross-border B2B platform of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, show that portable mini fans, mobile air conditioners, ice makers, double-door refrigerators and freezers have emerged as popular purchased categories over the past month -- with sales surging nearly 77 percent and orders increasing by 56 percent year-on-year.
Before Father's Day this year, a US content creator recommended a hat as a gift in her short video on TikTok, amassing over 9 million views and sparking a buying frenzy.
The star of the video -- a sun hat designed with two solar-powered fans aimed at delivering a cool summer experience -- hails from the city of Yiwu, also in Zhejiang, which is renowned as a small commodity hub that trades with over 230 countries and regions.
At Zhejiang Senwai Garments Co Ltd, which holds the patent for this fan hat's production and R&D, General Manager Jiang Yongtao revealed that the hat, priced at almost $40, began test-marketing in March before surging to popularity two months later.
Within just 28 days of its official launch, 11,100 units were sold, generating over 3.2 million yuan in revenue. To date, the company has sold some 500,000 units of these fan hats.
"The hat provides both shade and cooling relief," Jiang said, noting that the miniature fans can also be charged by USB on cloudy days.
The company is also developing a winter version -- a heated cap intended to transform headwear from mere accessories to therapeutic tools, thereby extending the reach of this "made-in-China" phenomenon beyond summer.
"Hit products may become outdated, but the ability to consistently identify needs and create bestsellers never will," Jiang said.
