#Knitting & Hosiery

2021-04-14

Seizing opportunities in the crisis

The weaving mill in Pakistan is expanding and investing in machinery including KARL MAYER’s PROSIZE® and WARPDIRECT®

Pakistan’s economy was another to be hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, but the textile and garment industry quickly showed signs of recovery.

“Things have been going crazy in Pakistan for some time now,” says Dieter Gager, Vice President Sales and Marketing at KARL MAYER’s Business Unit Warp Preparation. In particular, the PROSIZE® sizing machine combined with the WARPDIRECT® beam warping machine of the well-known global player is proving to be a bestseller: the order volume for these high-tech models was already considerable in 2020, but was surpassed once again at the beginning of this year.

Highest warp beam quality for maximum efficiency in the weaving mill

Most machines are destined for the textile strongholds of Karachi and Lahore, which are currently benefiting from a boom in high-end household textiles. Bed linen and terry towels from Pakistan are in great demand both in the domestic market and abroad. The latest generation weaving machines is used for the production of diverse articles, which require warp beams of the highest quality for their full performance.

This is where the PROSIZE® and the WARPDIRECT® come into play: the beam warping machine ensures same warping length for all warp beams, uniform thread tensions and an even winding structure. The sizing machine that follows in the process applies the sizing to the threads absolutely homogeneously and without affecting the elasticity, and requires very little water and very few chemicals to do so. In addition, the price-performance ratio of KARL MAYER’s products is just right. “Customers quickly realise that they can significantly increase the efficiency of their process chain with our models,” says Senior Sales Manager Peter Obrist following a business trip. In order to support his clients with their investment projects not only by telephone and video conference, he visited numerous clients in Pakistan at the end of last year – of course in full compliance with the strictest coronavirus safety requirements.

STOLL in focus:

At the beginning of this year, KARL MAYER announced that it would be shifting its focus back to its core areas of warp knitting, warp preparation and technical textiles. As part of this strategic realignment, the flat knitting machine business under the STOLL brand will be discontinued. The Reutlingen plant will close down on 31 October 2025. Production in China will end in December 2025. This was an extremely difficult decision for KARL MAYER.

KARL MAYER develops seersucker WARP KNITS with even more character and style

Seersucker fabrics are icons of the clothing industry and assure their manufacturers' success. Just in time for ITMA ASIA + CITME 2025, the textile product developers at KARL MAYER have succeeded in creating brand new variants of this material. These fancy newcomers feature unique bubble effects and, with their new dimensionality, inject extra dynamism into the textile surface – and into the market.

The KARL MAYER Warp Knitting Business Unit at ITMA ASIA + CITME 2025

The manufacturing of warp knitting machines has made KARL MAYER a leader in its field. It remains the company’s most important Business Unit today and has established its name as a brand in the warp knitting industry. KARL MAYER stands for the very highest quality, performance and technical progress. In a persistently difficult market environment, the company is seeking to strengthen its outstanding reputation and, above all, focus more than ever on innovation. The man responsible for this reorientation is Axel Wintermeyer, who has been President of the Warp Knitting Business Unit at KARL MAYER since January 2025 and is also part of the Management board.

Lutz Wolf becomes CEO of the KARL MAYER Group

Effective 1 November 2025, the Supervisory Board of the KARL MAYER Group, a leading global provider of solutions in textile machinery manufacturing, has appointed Lutz Wolf (51) as the new sole CEO of KARL MAYER Holding SE & Co. KG. Wolf will assume overall responsibility for the internationally active group of companies, which has its headquarters in Obertshausen, Germany.

KARL MAYER shows new solutions in its core technology at ITMA ASIA + CITME 2025

“How can I increase my efficiency? How can I boost my productivity? How can I identify new business areas?” No matter what customers have in mind, KARL MAYER takes care of it! “WE WARP. WE KNIT. WE CARE.” This is the motto of the company’s 360 m² booth A 301 in hall 5 of the Singapore EXPO and the standard KARL MAYER sets for its work.

The Address of innovation and investment in textile technologies: ITM 2026

Sales for ITM 2026, one of the world’s most comprehensive and prestigious exhibitions in textile technologies, are continuing at full steam. The record number of exhibitors and visitors achieved at ITM 2024 once again proved the industry’s confidence and the commercial success of the exhibition; meanwhile, the strong interest shown in ITM 2026, to be held on 9-13 June 2026, has far exceeded expectations.

Heimtextil 2026 strengthens the global home textile industry with trends, designs and AI technologies

With an optimised hall layout, progressive design collaborations, inspiring trends and AI-driven innovations, Heimtextil 2026 reacts to the current market situation – and offers the industry a reliable constant in challenging times. Under the motto ‘Lead the Change’, the leading trade fair for home and contract textiles and textile design shows how challenges can be turned into opportunities. From 13 to 16 January, more than 3,100 exhibitors from 65 countries will provide a comprehensive market overview with new collections and textile solutions. As a knowledge hub, Heimtextil delivers new strategies and concrete solutions for future business success.

A circular European value chain turns post-consumer textile waste into new garments for Dutch retailer Zeeman

A closed-loop recycling project has successfully transformed 24 tons of post-consumer textiles into nearly 50,000 garments for Dutch retailer Zeeman, with each product containing a high-rate of 70% recycled content. This achievement represents a major milestone in accelerating textile-to-textile recycling in Europe.