Objective Against the backdrop of rising global trade protectionism, it is of strategic importance to actively assess the export performance of China’s light industry and reshape its international competitive edge, thereby advancing the nation’s manufacturing power strategy.

Methods After theoretically examining the mechanism by which industrial chain integration enhances the global competitiveness of China’s light industry, an empirical exploration was conducted by using the trade databases from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Results The findings indicate that China’s light industry exports have long been dominated by medium- and low-technology-density products, while facing dual pressures from the technological suppression by developed countries and cost substitution from emerging economies. As a result, the industry’s international competitive advantage has been gradually weakened. Analysis of industrial chain integration suggests that China’s light industry urgently needs to achieve critical breakthroughs in strategic pivots, such as collaboration capability, development resilience, and value realization.

Conclusions This paper proposes specific pathways, including the coordinated development of "resource resilience and endogenous intelligent manufacturing", the integration of "standard leadership, channel control, and digital dominance" and the convergence of "operational innovation, value realization, and ecosystem empowerment." These approaches aim to facilitate the strategic transition of China’s light industry from a "technology follower" to a "rule setter" and "value leader", providing valuable insights for the high-quality global expansion of Chinese light industrial manufacturing.