The market prospect of seamless underwear is broad

With the continuous improvement of national living standards, people's demand for underwear is gradually increasing. At present, the seamless underwear market is gradually formed in China. With the hot sale of seamless underwear products, it will also drive the rapid development of seamless weaving equipment.

Recently, the author did a random survey in a large clothing store in Beijing, aiming at consumers' awareness of seamless underwear. The results show that up to 85% of consumers do not understand seamless underwear and its characteristics; 10% of consumers said they knew, but they didn't know the advantages of seamless underwear, and they were willing to try; Only 5% of consumers said that seamless underwear is good, but the price is also higher than similar products.

Visible, seamless underwear in the eyes of most domestic consumers is still relatively "fresh" products, seamless underwear market has not really formed. In the future, with the continuous improvement of national living standards, people's demand for sports underwear and body underwear is gradually increasing and their functions and characteristics are understood. Once most domestic consumers fully accept seamless underwear products, it will show a huge market space, which is unmatched by other countries and regions. With the hot sale of seamless underwear products, it will also drive the rapid development of seamless weaving equipment.

Broad market of seamless equipment

The concept of seamless knitting began in the 1980s, when the production equipment was mainly used for the industrial production of socks and knitted clothing. Nowadays, seamless technology has made great progress, and is more and more used in all aspects of the clothing field. It not only occupies a considerable proportion in the underwear market, but also makes a breakthrough in the direction of sportswear and swimsuit. At present, more than 90% of seamless garments are produced and consumed in Europe and North America. Although Asia has just started in recent years, it is developing rapidly.

Patrick Silva szatkowski, marketing manager of SANTONI Italy, believes that in recent years, although China has just started in seamless clothing, it has developed rapidly. In recent years, the development of seamless products has gradually shifted from European market to Asian market, and China is one of the larger markets. In addition, investors' investment in high-tech equipment with market potential is also a factor in the rapid development of seamless equipment.

According to reports, in 2010, the investment in seamless products in Asian market accounted for more than 80% of the global total, while seamless products in Chinese market also showed an upward trend in recent years. Compared with other knitting products, the product share increased from 2% ~ 3% in 2000 to about 14% in 2010, and the future development space also showed an upward trend. It can be said that seamless products have great development space.

Xu Ning, Secretary General of Yiwu seamless weaving Association, said that at present, the market share of seamless weaving equipment in China's underwear industry is about 5%. However, from the perspective of development trend, seamless clothing will become the upgrading substitute of traditional textile clothing. As far as the underwear market is concerned, the development of seamless underwear is quite mature. At the present stage, from equipment statistical analysis to product market share, the global market share is about 20%, and the domestic market share is 10%. However, with the improvement and development of seamless weaving technology, the improvement of machine capacity, and the shift of consumer consumption direction, especially for the domestic market which is still dominated by sewing products, it is expected that 30% of the underwear market will be seamless products in the next three to five years.

Obvious technical advantages, high operation difficulty requirements

Seamless weaving technology is based on the human body curve and physiological function, relying on computer-aided programming design style, using intelligent digital processing production means, so that the finished product can be directly produced from the machine in a three-dimensional, one piece structure. Compared with the traditional knitting production mode, seamless technology has the advantages of reducing labor cost, reducing raw material waste in one-time forming, and weaving three-dimensional (3D) three-dimensional organization with flexible changes of organization, which can not be achieved by tailoring technology.

According to Patrick Silva szatkowski, "seamless" process can directly weave yarn into garments, which saves a lot of processes, greatly simplifies the production mode and reduces the production cost.

Because seamless products are not sewn, the redundant stitches and bulky appearance of clothing in the side seam, shoulder, armpit and other places disappear. It has higher fitness and comfort than traditional knitwear, and the clothing is no longer subject to the elastic constraints caused by the existence of stitches. Therefore, seamless underwear is known as "the second skin of human body", which is comfortable, close to the body, hygroscopic, breathable, plump and smooth, elastic and soft.

Although the advantages of seamless weaving technology are obvious, it's a bit "acclimatized" for most domestic enterprises just starting. Liu fan, deputy general manager of Shenzhen meibainian Garment Co., Ltd., told the author that meibainian mainly produces seamless underwear. There are 78 seamless underwear knitting machines. Due to the high precision of the equipment, fine operation and higher technical requirements, it requires more professional technical workers. Such as improper operation prone to circuit failure, defective products and loss is greater than the traditional clothing enterprises. And all products are single piece weaving, even in the same vat dyeing, there will be a certain color difference, the size is greatly affected by the environment, and the tolerance range is also larger.

Xu Ning also said that due to the stronger dependence of knitted clothing on production equipment, different organizational structures and different style designs can not be separated from seamless electronic jacquard knitting machine. Once the equipment fails, production will be greatly affected.

High quality is the winner of the future

Although the market prospect of seamless equipment is promising, it is "different people have different opinions" in dealing with the problems of disorderly competition and price war in the future market. However, it is believed that only high quality and high standard equipment can win the market in the future.

Patrick Silva szatkowski told me that seamless equipment should not only be synonymous with high production, but also represent high quality. In Europe, many seamless products represent high quality, soft fabric and comfortable style. Many well-known brands produce seamless series of clothing. Domestic enterprises should have this awareness. If they only pursue low cost and fight a price war, they will lose both sides. The only way is to control cost and improve product quality. Only in this way can we win the market. SANTONI will continue to pay attention to market information, understand customer needs, provide technical support and proofing services for enterprises, improve machine performance in time to meet customer needs, and jointly improve the industry level.

In this regard, Xu Ning said that in the future, due to the rapid development of seamless knitting equipment, disorderly competition and price war may arise. We should look for differentiated and precise development, improve technological skills, and reduce the price squeeze between each other. It is the only way to highlight the tight encirclement in the disorderly competition to seek the breakthrough of equipment technology, avoid the disorderly low price competition with technology, and have high quality equipment, high production capacity and high standard product production capacity.

Although there are obvious differences between domestic equipment and foreign equipment, domestic equipment has great potential in the future. Xu Ning put forward his own suggestions and views on the future development of domestic seamless equipment manufacturers. Domestic equipment enterprises should actively study technology and process, develop domestic seamless knitting key equipment and core components, and try to solve the after-sales service of foreign equipment, especially the supply and maintenance of spare parts. Combined with the current situation that the technical quality of domestic workers is generally low, it is more suitable for domestic textile enterprises to develop machines. But we firmly resist the phenomenon of low production quality in pursuit of immediate profits. Foreign equipment is irreplaceable, some parts can not be produced in China, especially in the high-end field, foreign equipment has absolute advantage, even in a monopoly position. Domestic manufacturers of seamless equipment must have a correct attitude, in line with the attitude of reference and learning, and constantly improve the quality, performance and process design of the equipment. We must not take an extreme price war to push the market to abnormal development.