In a webinar by Groz-Beckert on October 4, consultants from The Fiber Year GmbH, said the global production of knitted fabrics is likely to surpass 2019 levels in 2021. The pandemic resulted in a significant change in apparel demand globally, with a large increase in sportswear and leisurewear based on fine gauge fabrics, heavily influenced by the rise in both home working and the preference for outdoor activities.

Many countries have also been struggling to contain second and third wave outbreaks, with a return to lockdowns in major knitting countries including Bangladesh, Brazil and Vietnam having damaging impacts. These countries are now experiencing order backlogs and inevitably, new orders are flowing back to China. The flexible nature of circular knitting is also bringing benefits in a general move to shorter lot production runs.

As per a Knitting Industry report, China’s overall knitting industry has subsequently bounced back to full production and has also been heavily investing in new low-cost, high speed and flexible circular knitting capacity, as well as in warp knitting machines, although there has been a significant drop in orders for flat knitting machines from the country.

In the first six months of 2021, China has increased its knitted apparel production by 34 per cent, with exports booming and retail sales in China itself even higher, reflecting the success, both on the domestic markets and in exports this year, of China’s own sportswear brands such as Anta and Li Ning.