The 2019 China (Dalian) International Garment & Textile Fair kicked off on Saturday in the coastal city of Dalian, Liaoning province, and ran through Monday.

As a national professional exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce and the Dalian government, it has attracted more than 800 enterprises from different countries and regions, including the US, Denmark, Canada and Japan.

Wang Bingnan, vice-minister of commerce, said the fair has strengthened exchanges and cooperation with other countries in the field of textiles and apparel over the past 30 years, promoting the upgrading and development of China's textile and apparel industry and building a platform for foreign economic and trade cooperation.

According to Wang, China is the world's largest garment and textile production country, as well as the largest garment and textile trade country.

In 2018, China's textile and garment exports reached $276.73 billion, up 3.7 percent year-on-year, and imports reached $26.14 billion, up 6.4 percent year-on-year.

Catia Saetti, secretary general of Italy Modena Garment Association, said this is the fifth successive year the association has organized garment brands to participate in the fair.

"At this high-level fair, both purchasing agents and buyers have strong expertise. Especially at the matchmaking conference between domestic and overseas purchasing agents and exhibitors held during the fair, much cooperation consensus is reached every year," she said.

According to Sun Ruizhe, president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, in recent years Dalian's textile and apparel enterprises have made outstanding achievements in high-end customization, intelligent manufacturing, e-commerce, overseas cooperation and responsible development.

"With the development and expansion of the industry, the scale, quality, industry influence and brand recognition of the fair have been greatly improved," Sun said.

"It has become an important channel for domestic enterprises and brands to enter the world, as well as an important window for international brands to connect with the Northeast Asian market," he added.

The exhibition area of Dayang Group Co Ltd, the world's largest producer of made-to-measure garments established in Dalian 40 years ago, is still an eye-catcher during this year's fair. The company has attended the fair for 30 consecutive years.

"Today, Dayang is no longer a traditional garment enterprise, but a leader of intelligent garment manufacturing in China," said Hu Dongmei, general manager of Dayang.

Dayang's number of global customized products has grown from 200,000 pieces or sets in 2016 to 900,000 in 2018, and exceeded 1 million pieces or sets this year. The product categories also expanded from suits to shirts, coats, windbreakers, casual pants, jackets, women's clothing and seven other categories.

Dalian put it the fair in an important position to promote the development of its textile and garment sector and is building up an industrial pattern covering clothing design, manufacturing, trade, science and technology, and culture, said Tan Chengxu, mayor of Dalian.