China News Service, Jiaxing, November 2 (Hu Fengsheng) Standing in front of the AI fitting mirror, buyers do not need to try on items one by one. As he raises his hand and turns around, different sweaters appear on his body in real time, and the folds of the fabric rise and fall with his movements.
In the Puyuan Fashion Center in Tongxiang, Zhejiang, this somatosensory virtual try-on terminal is becoming the "first stop" for buyers to choose styles.
"Currently, the fashion center has 11 AI fitting mirrors, and 200 merchants are all connected to the backend when selling goods." Zhang Jiarui, general manager of Puyuan Fashion Center, said that there are no fitting rooms in the wholesale market, and AI fitting mirrors can help buyers quickly screen target styles and shorten the selection time.
The operator Jiang Lei feels more intuitively: "There are 300 styles in the store, and at least 600 styles in the backend AI. Buyers don't have to try them on one by one, and the effect on the body can be seen at a glance. The success rate of selling them back is higher, and the risk of inventory backlog is also reduced."
A fitting mirror reflects the transformation of Puyuan sweaters from "waiting for people to come to your door" to "expanding the market with digital intelligence".
On October 29, tourists experience the "AI fitting mirror" in Puyuan Town, Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province. Photo by Sun Yangyang
Puyuan is China's largest woolen sweater distribution center, with annual transaction volume exceeding 100 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) for seven consecutive years. In 2025, Puyuan's sweater industry transaction volume will reach 139.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%. The fundamentals of the domestic market are solid, and going overseas has become a key step for this 100-billion-dollar cluster to find growth.
From January to September 2026, Puyuan’s sweater industry overseas growth increased by 82% year-on-year. Up to now, Puyuan’s pure foreign trade registration entities have increased to 178, and the overseas platform has 254 overseas customers. Luo Guoliang, Secretary of the Party Committee of Puyuan Town, Tongxiang City, said that relying on the platform, business operators can enjoy one-stop supporting services such as customs clearance, tax refunds, overseas warehouses, and overseas promotion, and small and medium-sized merchants can "organize groups" to expand the market.
Shen Qiang, the general manager of Zhejiang Huigang Fashion Co., Ltd., who is exhibiting at the Canton Fair here, has personally experienced the wave of Puyuan going overseas.
Since he founded the company in 2010, Shen Qiang's company has grown from a dozen people to more than 400 people, with a technical design team of 50 people. At its peak, it could design and produce over 100 styles of fashionable sweaters every day, which were very popular in overseas markets. "Our overall industrial chain is very advantageous, from carding to spinning, to garment manufacturing and style updates." Shen Qiang said that with the help of such advantages, he is selling more high-quality sweater products. At present, the smart factory it invested 100 million yuan to build has been put into operation, and its products are exported to many European countries such as Italy, France, and Germany.
Digital platforms further pave the way for overseas expansion. At present, the "Puyuan Sweater" digital trade platform has built a global network covering 72 countries and linking more than a thousand retailers. After the overseas version of the platform was launched this year, more than 5 million sweaters were sold around the world and became the new seasonal styles of many international brands.
