SPINEXPO Shanghai, the show for yarns and fibres, knitwear manufacturers and designers, will take place from 9-11 March 2015 at The Shanghai World Expo Convention & Exhibition Centre and organisers are enthusing about how the show’s exhibitors are fine-tuning R&D to meet price and innovation demands – adopting new strategies for 2015.

“The demand for innovation has knitters and spinners continually experimenting with new product development,” says show founder and organiser Karine van Tassel. 

“However, now the focus is more on higher end products that offer better margins, homing in on products where they have a competitive advantage and looking for products that are difficult for competitors to copy.”

Non-stop innovation

“Part of our success is providing non-stop innovation.  We roll out new products every few weeks,” says Samson Lam, Director at Winning Textiles, talking about his company’s investment in R&D.

“Our development team is able to keep our prices low while maintaining our quality by improving our twisting technique,” he says, explaining how better processes are giving his company an advantage in the market.

With the competition in basic products impossibly tough, more spinners and knitters are seeing R&D as one of the key routes to better margins, organisers point out.

“We are increasing the size of our R&D department,” said Stephen Trigg, Creative Director at UPW.  He said that now UPW is looking at specific fibre properties and experimenting with how they can drive innovation.

Creating things that are difficult to copy

Karine van Tassel comments: “While the first concern that spinners and knitters have regarding innovation is whether it will appeal to buyers, then next is that if it is successful then competitors will immediately copy it.  So now it’s not just about new developments, there is also the impetus to create things that are more difficult to knock off.”

“We are now focusing on innovative dyeing and finishing techniques, which are harder to copy”, said Jacky Chen, Director at Yarns & Colors, explaining that most yarn innovation is on the mechanical side of the product that can be easily copied by other spinners.

According to Karine van Tassel, knitters are also looking more into complex, higher margin products.  “Several large knitters are experimenting with setting up smaller facilities with machines that can work with some of the more extreme gauges (extra fine or extra coarse) that are in demand, as well as do more complicated styles,” she explains.

2015 industry insights

What leading spinners and knitters are saying about… new strategies… shifts… challenges

Turning to technology

Managing production for 3000 customers can be tricky. “To boost our efficiency, we have invested heavily in implementing the latest information management systems,”said Boris Xue, Chairman, Ningbo Consinee.  The company uses RFID tags on each kind of yarn. “We can scan any yarn and know which one it is and what processes have been done,” he explained.

“We do video presentations showing our new products and send them to the head office of our customers.  They can watch them at their convenience,” said Max Ng, Sales Manager at Novetex.   

What’s changed?

“Buyers are now consolidating their vendors and working with selected core suppliers for specific products,” said Max Ng, Sales Manager at Novetex.

UPW, Consinee and Filivivi said that offering an in depth stock service has increasingly been a dealmaker with many buyers.

Challenges

“The biggest challenge is to understand what the market wants”, said Sandie Peng at Huafu.

“A lot of Chinese designers don’t yet understand how to work with fancy yarns”, Jacky Chen, Director at Yarns & Colors, discussing the China market.

“We are looking to expand our product line beyond yarns for sweaters.  We see an opportunity to make yarn for accessories such as hats and scarves,” said Boris Xue, Chairman, at Ningbo Consinee.

New Strategies

“Part of our success is providing non-stop innovation.  We roll out new product every few weeks,” said Samson Lam, Director at Winning Textiles.

“We are now focusing on innovative dyeing and finishing techniques, which are harder to copy”, said Jacky Chan, Director at Yarns & Colors.

What’s happening at SPINEXPO Shanghai?

• Comprehensive Trend Area with over 2000 yarn and knitwear swatches from leading spinners.
• Cutting edge yarn innovation area featuring new developments and inspiration.

Further information on SPINEXPO Shanghai

SPINEXPO Shanghai

9-10-11 March 2015

The Shanghai World Expo Convention & Exhibition Centre, Shanghai PRC

Further information

SPINEXPO New York moves to a new venue

The 7^th Edition of SPINEXPO New York moves to the Brooklyn Expo Center, 79 Franklin Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222 when it takes place from 21-23 July 2015.

Further information

www.spinexpo.com