A designer introduces the online database of printing designs to clients in Keqiao district, Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, July 25. [Photo by Weng Xinyang/Xinhua]

China Textile Town in Keqiao district, Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, has been strongly supporting the transformation and upgrading of its textile, printing and dyeing industries through creative designs in recent years.

A creative company in the district set up a website called Walan (walanwalan.com) in 2012, which serves as a trade platform for printing designs.

The website protects the copyrights of designs published on it and provides a channel from which local businesspeople can purchase the latest patterns. Thanks to these designs, their textile products become more fashionable and therefore more popular.

Currently, the website has gathered over 5,000 designers from around the world who produce nearly 100,000 patterns every year.

The website helps relieve the pressure from lack of designers for the traditional textile sector and is considered a key to the transformation and upgrading of Keqiao’s textile, printing and dyeing industries.