Italian warp knitting seamless (WKS) specialist Cifra SpA is reporting strong growth in its manufacturing orders for some of the world’s leading sportswear brands. The Milan headquartered company says its sportswear business is up around 20% this year alone and is growing rapidly.

Cifra says it is currently producing between 10,000 and 15,000 pieces of sportswear and athleisure per week, a massive jump from a standing start just four years ago. Previously the company was totally focussed on the fashion sector with seamless warp knitted fancy hosiery being its specialisation. But when the hosiery market collapsed it decided to make the strategic move into sportswear.

Sportswear now accounts for 70-80% of Cifra’s output and it lists adidas, Falke, The North Face, Diadora, Biotex, Decathon and Zerofit amongst the companies it manufactures for.

Creating a new market

Cifra owner and CEO Cesare Citterio describes the company’s move into sportswear with warp knitting seamless (WKS), and its rapid rise in just a few years:

“We had to create something really new for the market as we were facing a huge hosiery crisis. We invented a new product.”

“There were no warp knitted seamless garments in the sportswear sector before Cifra started producing for European brands four years ago. So we were in effect creating a new market, and we have had to convince all of our new customers of the potential of WKS,” he adds.

“Now we are on the market and the feedback is very good,” Cesare Citterio enthuses.

Athleisure

The booming athleisure trend, which combines casual fashion and sportswear has been a real bonus for Cifra.

“WKS is perfect for athleisure,” Citterio states.  “Cifra has 20 years of experience in fashion which it brings to the creation and manufacture of athleisure garments.”

“The garments are beautiful in terms of design and functionality, due to the total absence of sewn seams and because of the integrated ventilation areas and their lightness. They are also ladder proof and so very durable compared to other textiles,” concludes Citterio.

Cifra buys 90% of its yarns from Castel Goffredo (MN) based Fulgar, an international leader in the manufacture of manmade fibres, which produces and distributes polyamide 6.6, polypropylene, polyester and covered elastomers for the hosiery and textile sectors.

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WKS

Cifra has the largest plant of double needle bar jacquard machines in the world, which are mainly supplied by Karl Mayer in Germany. For sportswear Cifra mainly uses Karl Mayer HDRJ 6/2 and HDRJ 4/2 in 24 gauge (needles per inch).

Citterio’s passion for manufacturing and marketing the company’s patented WKS seamlessly knitted garments is highly contagious and goes back to the early days of his career when he worked in the family business just north of the city of Milan in Northern Italy.

The Citterio family’s business was as a producer of raschel knitted agricultural nets until the young Cesare took over. A trained engineer, Citterio undertook an extensive one-year warp knitting training programme at German machine builder Karl Mayer before setting out on his quest to create some of the world’s finest seamless garments - gradually converting the family production facilities to produce seamless hosiery, fashion garments, lingerie, sportswear, medical garments and shape wear.

Today as CEO and owner of Cifra, Citterio watches over the high quality production of exquisite garments for many of the world’s leading brands including Victoria’s Secret, Hanesbrands, Calzedonia, Wolford and Jonathan Aston. Cifra has many more customers which Citterio prefers not to mention but - ‘Cifra – the name behind the brands’ - the company’s slogan, seems really appropriate.

Cifra is one of a handful of companies in the world which has exploited the true potential of warp knit seamless technology to date – and Citterio is the driving force behind the success story.

The machine technology was developed by Karl Mayer and its Japanese subsidiary Nippon Mayer some years ago but the past few years have seen greater interest in the technology after the addition of piezo jacquard technology extended the patterning and shaping potential.

Once again Citterio has not been slow to exploit the technology – Cifra’s innovative stretch jacquard fashions can be seen in the ranges of the world’s top designers on the catwalks of Milan and Paris. A string of patents and registered designs aims to protect the company’s high profile customers.

Advantages

“Compared to circular seamless our WKS gives far greater possibilities in terms of personalisation, compression, shapes and ventilation,” Citterio enthuses. “We are developing amazing prototypes for the top sports brands and soon you can see the results in the market.”

In terms of sportswear, Citterio explains that another major advantage WKS has over circular seamless is in tights and leggings – where the raschel machine can make the complete garment in one piece without seams, which is not possible on a circular seamless machine. “Especially for the legs the circular seamless cannot make full seamless,” Citterio says.

Further reading

‘Man on a seamless mission’ – an exclusive interview with Cesare Citterio, CEO Cifra SpA.

Cifra video channel

Cifra Sport on Pinterest

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