SPINEXPO^TM is the indispensable meeting place for anyone using yarns, fibres and developing knitwear garments.  It addresses knitters, weavers, hosiery manufacturers and ready-to-wear brand manufacturers with collections of flat-bed and circular knits.

SPINEXPO brings to Shanghai the world’s most comprehensive and selective international offer in the field of creative yarns and fibres.

Dimensions: the theme for the upcoming trend directions at SPINEXPO Shanghai and New York.

SPINEXPO is a yarn and knitwear trade show that may not be the largest when it comes to size, but has gained a reputation for being the most sophisticated when it comes to analyses and insight. Its target has always been to be as close as possible to the medium/high-end international markets and to lead the way to what is coming in future trends.

Partner exhibitors at SPINEXPO feel that the era resulting in a disposable attitude to design with very little substance or skill behind it is on a downward cycle and are moving away from it.

There is a growing desire for innovation and invention, partnering in style and mastery all along the textile chain to create breakthrough design concepts and clever new techniques.

With this in mind, SPINEXPO is re-creating its trend and marketing areas to offer a larger proposal including all sectors: plays on colours and stitches, mixes of active/performance garments and vintage hosiery-inspired knitwear, with a focus on the stylists’ individual hand writings and highlighting the seasonal novelty yarns of key exhibitors.

With a growing interest for cooperation all along the chain, from fibre producers to spinning, from spinning to knitwear, circular knits, weaving and accessories, it is also interesting to hear what leading companies have to say about sourcing and production.  

Knitwear Still Plans to Call China Home: What SPINEXPO exhibitors think of the knitwear manufacturing situation

Everyone has been talking about knitwear production moving out of China.  Increasing wages, higher costs and a scarcity of workers compelled factories and buyers to explore opportunities offshore.  However, mixed experiences in alternative markets have led many to refocus on China.

“China is still the primary place for knitwear production. We ship most of our orders to China, and during the past few years only around ten percent were shipped to other countries. European brands are the ones mainly shifting some of their production near to home and working with Turkey or Eastern Europe,” said Max Ng, Sales Manager at Novetex (Hong Kong).

 

“Medium to high-end knitting is still in China. Only about twenty percent of the basics will move-out of China in the next five years," said Sergio Locoli, Executive Director at Filpucci.  "For fancier knits, China still owns the market.  Vietnam and Cambodia are coming up, but that is a long shot.  At the moment, lack of skills, long delivery time, and poor infrastructure are going to undermine their competitiveness,” he added.

What is keeping the knitting industry in China is the combination of three factors:  the ability to do complex garments, efficiency and automation.

"Knitting is still in China, especially for cashmere sweaters. Our high-end clients value quality and reliability over price so they stay in China," said Feng Lei, General Manager at Hongye Cashmere.

The commitment to the future of China’s knitwear is reflected in the investment in new machinery.

 

“About sixty-seventy percent of our machines are now sold to China,” said Livio Rodar, Product Manager, Seamless Division at Santoni (Italy).  

“The growth of our sales in China might be slowing, however it is still our biggest market,” added Masaki Karasuno, director of Total Design Center at Shima Seiki.

"Regional operations will stay in China.  Southeast Asia will gain some market share, but it is very difficult to run your entire business to South East Asia because it lacks the support, such as middle management to run the factory, suppliers of raw materials, accessories and chemicals, not to mention the poor infrastructure," said Fen Hao Ran, general manager at Shanghai Honor Textile. “Knitting is already a highly automated, capital intensive industry. It will be difficult for less developed countries to catch up with China.”

Chinese knitters are also very confident about the future. Over the years, many of them moved up the value chain, and gained strategic advantages over their South East Asian competitors.

“In terms of labor cost, China is more expensive than South East Asia.  However, for more complicated products, there is still no alternative. Therefore, from the beginning, our strategy has been to do what other countries could not do. We have very unique knitting processes and proprietary techniques to differentiate ourselves. For us, the competition from low cost countries is actually the least of our concerns,” said Jacky Chen, Director at Yarns & Colors.

“We are able to deliver within lead-times as short as two weeks. We specialize in doing small but complicated orders, with minimum order size of 50 pieces per style per color. We have highly skilled workers so the quality and details we are able to achieve is very hard to find in any other countries,” said Gui Yiyang, Director at Jiangsu Setsail, one of the country’s largest knitwear manufacturers. We are not moving out of China. We will stay here because the market is also here. About eighty percent of our products are selling to the Chinese domestic market.

SPINEXPO^TM Shanghai 26th edition

1-2-3 September 2015

The Shanghai World Expo Convention & Exhibition Centre

N° 1099 Guozhan Rd – Pudong - Shanghai

 www.spinexpo.com

SAVE THE DATES

SPINEXPO New York is moving to a new Venue

 The 7th edition will take place

 21-22-23 July at the newly built Brooklyn Expo Center (Greenpoint)

79, Franklin Street – Brooklyn – New York

Visit our website: www. spinexpo.com  

List of exhibitors; how to get to the venue; hours of opening, etc. .

SPINEXPLORE

visit our blog: www.spinexplore.com

Colour trends, the arts, fashion trends, and much more...