A visible trend in the knitting sector in North India has been the upgradation of technology from labour intensive hand flat machines to swift, user-friendly and computerized flat knitting machines by all the major knitwear manufacturers in the region. Almost everyone with a setup of at least 200 hand flat knitting machines is shifting its production to computerized machines and adding a few new machines year after year. This is not only due to the acute shortage of labour that the industry is facing, but also due to the change in types of sweaters done by them and the emerging demand for finer flat knitted fashion products, analyses Team StitchWorld…
Considered a seasonal garment till recently, sweaters have evolved as a full year category with the addition of what is popularly termed as ‘summer cardigans’. As the fashion and utility value of sweaters extends throughout the year, the business prospects for flat knit garment manufacturers working in this category has increased manifold. Interestingly, while traditional manufacturers in Ludhiana are still mostly working on winter wear, exporters in the Delhi-NCR region are looking to capitalize on the fashion segment of cotton, polyester and blended yarns …
Over the last two years capacities in flat knitting machines have been building up in the Delhi-NCR region. Though not a completely new segment for the industry, major investments have not gone unnoticed. There are many reasons for the increasing investment in flat knit capacities, the first of course being the growing demands for flat knit products from high-end customers, who have always been the core clientele base of exporters in this region. All major retailers/brands like Vero Moda, Forever 21, Trussardi, H&M, J. Crew, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Banana Republic, Mango, Zara, Vera Wang, Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein to name a few have added summer cardigans in their product basket.
[bleft] Summer sweaters are high value items because first you need to invest a lot in the machines and then that machine only makes 20-30 sweaters per day, the yarns are also expensive, the average FOB works to around 4-5 Euro for Europe and $ 10 for the US. [/bleft]
There are however apprehensions on working with cotton yarn, essential in the making of a summer cardigan, as it spoils the needle latch which costs almost Rs. 3 lakh for repair. The problem arises because of the tendency of fine yarns to abrasion, so it is important to use good quality yarn and run the machine with care. Also the cotton yarn needs to be mercerized before being used otherwise it tends to strain the needles. Skilled operators should keep vigilant watch on the yarn feeding for laxity and ensure that the machine is cleaned often for smooth functioning. Besides operational problems, since bulk orders do not exist, it raises questions regarding the viability of producing the summer cardigan.
Yet, many forward thinking players are much clued into the trend and are growing on this segment, with all of them claiming that the demand for cotton sweaters is rising faster than that for traditional sweaters. Sweaters have become a summer fashion statement with light weight cotton sweaters with various embellishments being in vogue for women, also light weight Golf sweaters in 100% cotton and cotton blends are year round trend. Earlier, golf sweaters were made of premium yarns like mercerized cotton, Pima/Modal, etc. with some structures, Jacquards, stripes and also some specialized products which are combination of fine knits and sweaters but looking at increased demand in fashion sweaters, new products like Intarsia Argyles, finer 14gg fabrics, garment dyed sweaters and also sweaters with various embellishment are now being manufactured.
Though buyers are looking for volumes in winter and summer sweaters, the focus is on finer knits which give higher UVRs. Summer sweaters are high value items because first you need to invest a lot in the machines and then that machine only makes 20-30 sweaters per day, the yarns are also expensive, the average FOB works to around 4-5 Euro for Europe and $ 10 for the US. There is also an increased use of fine blends and fancy yarns which are being imported.
There is lot of potential in this category as this technique is different from woven and knitted garments and there are endless possibilities of designing on the new flat knitting machines available in the market. Further, the easy availability of summer specific yarns for flat knits in fine counts like 2/40s and 2/50s in cottons, viscose and various blends have helped to cater to the international demands but the range of fancy/specialized yarns availability in comparison to China is still a limitation out of India.
It cannot be denied that China and Bangladesh have the volumes in flat knits and an average factory setup is 200-3000 flat knitting machines under one roof, yet there is a lot of untapped potential in this category for export out of India for value-added/fashion oriented sweaters.
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