Right partner to global brand for success in the shoe fabric market

SinceTech and KARL MAYER: Together one step ahead in the production of textiles for the footwear segment

Jinjiang is considered an important center of the athletic footwear industry. The small city on the southeast coast of China’s Fujian province is home to many well-known domestic brands such as ANTA, Xtep, 361°, and ERKE, as well as an important global production and export base. Representatives of the complete industrial value chain are located here, including SinceTech.

Founded in 1999, the company specialises in the production of textiles for shoes and apparel. It is headquartered in Jinjiang and has overseas production sites. The vertically organised manufacturing includes warp preparation, textile production and dyeing. Textile production is extremely wide-ranging with warp knitting, flat and circular knitting and weaving technologies.

Its diverse range of articles has made SinceTech a close partner of over 40 domestic and foreign sports brands. Among them are renowned names like NB, BROOKS, SKECHER, PUMA and Adidas, just to name a few.

Shoe fabric brand with great fame

SinceTech describes itself as a customer-centric company with a commitment to developing solutions for its customers’ needs. The soul of its brand is innovation. An R&D team of around 300 employees and five main R&D departments focusing on technologies such as warp knitting and show fabrics ensure advanced products that meet the highest market demands. Innovation work focuses, for example, on sporting goods with wearable electronic components for monitoring heartbeat, blood glucose levels and even perspiration.

In addition to all its progress orientation, however, SinceTech’s focus on unconditional customer orientation means first and foremost expanding its quality leadership. To this end, the company is making targeted investments in its technical equipment. “To guarantee leading quality, we use the best equipment the industry has to offer: KARL MAYER warp knitting machines. About this, we also have received the recognition of many international brands,” explained Xu Jintai, Executive Director of SinceTech.

In 2010, the company purchased its first double needle bar raschel machines from KARL MAYER. Today, it operates more than 400 machines, including around 200 RD machines from the renowned partner, and its rise to the top league in the industry is complete.

Exploiting huge market opportunities

Xu Jintai sees the shoe fabric market as a lucrative business field. Demand is increasing year by year everywhere, unleashing huge development potential. The driving force behind this is the trend toward sports: In the West, the number of sports enthusiasts is growing steadily, as knowledge of the importance of fitness and balanced body measurements has become generally accepted. In China, the improvement in living standards and consumption is leading to an ever-greater awareness of sport.

With complete value chains and a stable economic and social environment, China is a major manufacturing power in the world. The country’s shoe fabric manufacturers can count on great market opportunities, especially if they offer mesh textiles. The popular knitted fabrics are lightweight and breathable, in line with the social trend toward greater comfort, and have long since replaced leather at the top of the list of favoured footwear materials. Warp-knitted spacer fabrics are particularly in vogue.

For the efficient production of the popular spacer textiles, KARL MAYER launched the RD 7/2-6 EN in 2019, which now sets the production pace for many shoe fabric manufacturers, including SinceTech. Only at the beginning of 2021 the company acquired 120 of the popular seven-bar RD machines. On the reasons for the investment, Xu Jintai, Executive Director of SinceTech, says: “KARL MAYER’S RD 7 warp knitting machine has the highest efficiency throughout the industry with operation speeds as high as 1,100 rounds per minute, plus significantly improved yield and enhanced machine stability. Nowadays, under the circumstance of surging shoe material orders, such machine can help us realize stable outputs and higher efficiency – in order to seize market opportunities.”  

By the end of 2021, SinceTech had completed the installation of all RD 7/2-6 EN machines. The company is convinced that the new acquisitions will enable it to take advantage of opportunities in the huge footwear market and consolidate its reputation as a competitive international brand.

Eleven years of partnership and dedicated service

SinceTech has been working with KARL MAYER for eleven years, and has a good impression of its partner’s service and willingness to cooperate. “KARL MAYER provides prompt services. They help us to solve problems effectively the first time,” says Tan Xuefen, Deputy Director for Supply Chain Center of SinceTech.

KARL MAYER is known for its fast and competent support. The innovative textile machine manufacturer has a team of around 80 staff members for after-sales service and service stations in the main warp knitting industry centers in China. As soon as the installation phase of a delivered machine begins, its engineers travel to support the machine setup and monitor the test run, and stay until smooth operation is assured. Furthermore, the service specialists are on standby to solve problems at a later stage.

In addition to the service, SinceTech appreciates the training courses provided by KARL MAYER. The innovative world market leader has 85 years of textile expertise, and its academy offers a wide range of technological training courses in China, for example basic and advanced courses for warp knitting, or training courses on spacer fabric analysis and design. For more know-how, SinceTech has already had some employees trained on spacer textiles.
The textile manufacturer continues to trust in the potential of the shoe fabric market. It will remain active here and pursue its goal of establishing itself as an international brand through continuous innovation. KARL MAYER will also remain committed to helping its customers succeed with unique innovation, quality and service expertise.