In Jiangyin, a small city under the administration of Wuxi, an economic powerhouse in Jiangsu province, apparel giant Heilan Group Co is sustaining its leading position in the men's clothing sector, thanks to the rapidly emerging internet of things.

The company's increasing use of the internet of things and its subsequent growth has managed to offset the impact of the sluggish garment retailing sector in China.

That's according to company executive Chen Yong, who briefed reporters about the group's move into the IoT.

Last year online sales of the company, established in 1988, hit 120 million yuan ($18.3 million) and this year the figure is expected to hit 1 billion yuan. That growth has been helped along by the apparel giant's full embrace of the new wave of technological change.

It says the IoT is no longer exclusive to luxury international apparel makers like Prada.

That brand recently said it had the latest technology, which could track sales details in size and product variety for each of its flagship shops, and simultaneously supply garments and bags in accordance with each outlet's demand.

Heilan, too, has adopted those technological capabilities.

That's after it invested 1 billion yuan to adopt technologies from global logistics solutions group Dematic and IT company SAP, to build an automatic warehouse that now serves the needs of 5,000 flagship shops around China and Heilan's first overseas flagship outlet in Malaysia.

According to the company, the IoT has given a shot in arm to the entire sector, amid the wave of international fashion retailers like Zara that are sweeping China's apparel industry.

While international journalists were touring Heilan, the city of Wuxi also played host to the World Internet of Things Exposition.

Jack Ma, founder and chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group spoke at the expo.

He said that the reason why the global summit was held in the Wuxi was the "openness" of the city.

Top Wuxi officials said that the giant steps taken in opening-up the IoT sector had given the city cutting-edge competence.

Gao Yaguang, vice-mayor of Wuxi, said his city had gained a number of advantages amid the nation's increasing move towards adopting IoT, big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. These, Gao added, were representing the future of China's IT industry.

To date, Wuxi has played host to 200 IoT projects, 17 of them nationally listed key projects.

The city's companies have also operated some 400 IoT projects in some 30 countries and regions around the world.

Since 2010, 41 research and development agencies have been set up in Wuxi, which have formulated international as well as IoT national-level standards.

In addition, the city has taken the lead in China in terms of the number of the IoT patents it registered, standing at about 10,000.

By the end of last year, there were some 2,000 IoT companies in the city in total, with combined annual revenue of 204.5 billion yuan.

A brace of emerging industrial towns have also taken shape in Wuxi.

The 3.6-square-kilometer Hongshan IoT Town has become the first of its kind in China: an IoT industrial cluster with 1,100 companies and 15 public industrial platforms.

To date some 50,000 technological experts have gathered in the town and the town's industrial revenue hit 1 trillion yuan - which was generated by intelligent medical, transport, tourism, agriculture and community services.

During the World Internet of Things Exposition, mobile smartphone group and telecoms equipment maker Huawei announced it would set up a regional center in the town.

Xuelang Town, covering 3.5 square kilometers, is a rival to Hongshan.

During the international IoT expo, tech giant Alibaba announced it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Wuxi to work together on the establishment of Xuelang Town, for the creation of a world-class IoT demonstration project.

Cloud computing industrial parks in the town are expected to stimulate new impetus in China's IT industry.

Alibaba also revealed its ambition to build up Xuelang as a copy of Yunxi and Wuzhen towns.

These are two leading IT towns, using Alibaba's leading technologies in nearby Zhejiang province. The company wants to build the three as a new economic corridor in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Wuxi is a century-old industrial and business city in China, which is well known for being one of the birthplaces of China's modern industry and commerce.

In the middle of 19th century, it became home to one of the four rice markets in China, and by 1878 it was the leading silk-producing center in Jiangsu.

In the early 20th century, Wuxi could boast being home to the new business tycoons in industry and commerce.

As early as 1937, the total value of Wuxi's industrial base was ranked third biggest in the country, after Shanghai and Guangzhou.

In the 1970s, the city blazed a trail in the economic opening up of China.

One of the top 100 richest cities in China by GDP per capita, the city's per capita GDP level has hit $20,000 and it has been honored many times by leading magazine Forbes in its list of best cities for doing business in China.

(China Daily 09/22/2017 page18)