In pandemic year 2020 circular knitting machine manufacturer Mayer & Cie. (MCT) has further improved its market-leading position in Turkey. The premium manufacturer will end the year with significant growth in the Turkish market. So Turkey continues to be one of the company’s strongest and most consistent sales markets. Even in difficult years MCT and its longstanding Turkish representative Mayer Mümessillik have achieved positive results. The reasons for this year’s success, as Mayer & Cie. sees it, are the transfer of production to locations close to Europe, Turkey’s state-of-the-art machinery and the increase in demand for comfortable clothing that is suitable as home office wear.
Turkish market is a growth market despite corona setback
“This year we anticipate 80% growth in the Turkish market even though the corona situation was a serious setback in the second quarter,” says Stefan Bühler, Mayer & Cie.’s regional sales manager for Turkey.
MCT got off to a strong start on the Bosporus in the first quarter of 2020 with additional positive effects until mid-March due to a desire for production locations close to Europe. In the second quarter, during the lockdown, demand largely ground to a halt. Government measures helped to cushion the downturn. Says Ahmet M. Öğretmen, general managerof MCT’s Turkish sales partner Mayer Mümessillik: “In the second quarter GDP was down by about 10%, Eigentlich 11% so we got off lightly.”
Since July 2020, orders for Mayer & Cie. circular knitting machines have bounced back again. Ahmet M. Öğretmen sees an interplay of reasons for this recovery. The main reason, he says, is the low exchange rate of the Turkish lira, which has boosted exports of ready-made textiles. The Turkish daily Hürriyet reports, with reference to the Turkish state news agency, 11% year-on-year growth in August 2020. The most important export markets, the newspaper says, are Germany, the UK and Spain. Between them they account for around half of exports totalling € 1.27 billion.* “This demand must be fulfilled,” Öğretmen says. “That leads to investment in machinery by manufacturers.”
Relanit is synonymous with single jersey
The machines of choice for Turkish knitwear manufacturers are regularly Mayer & Cie. machines. The long-established German firm’s share of the Turkish market is well over 50%. MCT’s position is particularly strong in the market for plain single jersey fabrics, the Relanit 3.2 HS is the machine of choice. It achieves an extraordinarily high level of productivity, especially in processing elastomer yarns. It also handles a wide range of yarns reliably.
“Interlock is Mayer & Cie.”
Mayer & Cie. is the clear leader in the second major circular knitting discipline, rib and interlock fabrics. “Interlock is Mayer & Cie.,” says Ahmet M. Öğretmen, putting it in a nutshell. The machines used for double jersey fabrics are the OV 3.2 QCe, the D4 2.2 II and the D4 3.2 II. The OV 3.2 QCe knits interlock, 8-lock structures, spacers and fine gauge with 3.2 systems. The D4 2.2 II is another stalwart for rib, 8-lock and interlock. The 8-lock D4 3.2 II is the machine of choice for firms that want to manufacture structures such as Piqué, Punto di Roma or Thermal in addition to interlock.
The MBF 3.2 is another top seller in Turkey. A three-thread fleece machine, it knits fabrics for sports leisure wear such as hoodies and is very much in keeping with the trend in home office year 2020. “Comfortable clothing is circular knitted,” says Ahmet M. Öğretmen, “and we benefit from that of course.”
The world’s most state-of-the-art machine parks are in Turkey
Another advantage is the modernity of the Turkish machine park, which is doubly attractive in view of Turkey’s weak currency. Says Mayer Mümessillik General Manager Öğretmen: “In the past 10 to 20 years there has been very heavy investment in high-quality machines. As a consequence we have the world’s youngest and most up-to-date production facilities.”
Combined with geographical proximity to the main export markets in Europe that should prove a growth driver in the years ahead – and keep demand for Mayer & Cie. machines brisk and high.
Mayer & Cie. 77.777 circular knitting machine on its way to Toraman Tekstil
A Relanit 3.2 HS is packed for shipping to Toraman Tekstil in Istanbul. Relanit 3.2 HS is the 77,777th circular knitting machine that Mayer & Cie. has manufactured in over 80 years of circular knitting machine production.
More infrequent than an eclipse of the Moon
Circular knitting machines with a serial number consisting of five identical digits are not something that the Albstadt-based manufacturer ships to customers regularly. After all, 11,111 single or double jersey machines, electronic or mechanical, are manufactured between each schnapps number. Based on an average annual output of 1,200 machines, that corresponds to a period of nine and a half years. So a Mayer & Cie. circular knitting machine with a schnapps number is far less frequent than a lunar eclipse. Statistically speaking, a lunar eclipse can be seen in Albstadt four times per decade.
