European manufacturers of embroidery machines through to textile cutters sense a growing interest in nearshoring on the part of clothing manufacturers. Strained global supply chains are prompting some to bring production back closer to Europe.
“People are looking for capacities nearby. The factories around Europe, North Africa and the Middle East are trying to build up and modernize their capacities,” says Artur Kitta, sales manager for Europe and Africa at Dürkopp Adler.
The Bielefeld-based sewing machine manufacturer was itself surprised by the demand from the clothing sector in and around Europe, as well as the Middle East, which is currently even exceeding that of the tech sector, Kitta said at the Texprocess trade fair in Frankfurt last week.
More local and flexible
Supply chains have been in turmoil since the beginning of the pandemic and the situation has not calmed down until now. Shipping container prices remain high and fashion companies struggle with uncertainty over how much merchandise to pre-produce when speedy post-production and delivery are no longer guaranteed. These uncertainties mean that some want to produce closer to demand and also more flexibly – that means quickly and in smaller quantities.
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These developments were already apparent before the outbreak of the pandemic, but have become even more urgent in the past two years.
“In the fashion sector, the trend towards made-to-measure, i.e. the individualization of clothing sizes, is unbroken,” says Rolf Köppel, Segment Manager Textiles at the cutting machine manufacturer Zünd Systemtechnik AG.
At the same time, there is a trend towards nearshoring, which can be explained by the troubled supply chains between Asia and Europe. Many companies are looking for technologies with which they can produce more efficiently and automatically in Europe or America, said Köppel last week in Frankfurt. “Trends like this also trigger corresponding investments in digital cutting technology.”
Technical innovations reduce costs
Nearshoring is favored by technical innovations. Increasing automation makes it possible to produce faster and with fewer workers. This is also how the machine builders advertise.
The systems from Zünd in Altstätten, Switzerland, are an example: The D3 cutter has two heads for cutting the textiles that are placed on it, and can therefore do more in the same amount of time. The cutting machine feeds the rolls of fabric automatically, and the cutting heads control the textiles using a robot. In the clothing sector, mainly sporting goods manufacturers and companies specializing in made-to-measure products use the single layer cutters from Zünd. These are more precise and can transport and cut a wide variety of textiles.
The devices from the Krefeld company ZSK Stickmaschinen are also becoming more efficient. An embroidery machine that can embroider thick sewing threads and thin embroidery threads in one process will be on display at Texprocess. One machine thus replaces the two that were previously necessary. A prototype will also be presented at the stand, which will not be released until the end of the year: an embroidery machine whose patented technology enables 2000 stitches per minute, twice as many as was previously the case on the market.
“That means we can produce things faster in Germany and no longer have to send them to Asia,” says Frank Giessmann, Sales Director USA at ZSK Stickmaschinen. “We have many customers who are now coming back to Germany from Turkey or Asia.” But he did not want to reveal more about the names of the manufacturers.
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Demand is recovering
When the corona virus broke out in 2020, there was strong demand from textile manufacturers at Zünd because they switched to mask production, says Köppel. Demand later ebbed during the pandemic, but Zünd’s interior and home decoration business has thrived as many have been redecorating their homes with sofas, curtains and other textiles. But now Köppel is seeing more demand from the fashion industry again.
The business of textile machine manufacturers has been recovering since last year, as figures from the Association of German Machine and Plant Manufacturers show. Orders received by German producers rose by 66 percent between May 2021 and April 2022, and sales by 0.1 percent. Exports grew by 8 percent to 442 million euros. The Italian machine builders also recorded an increase in exports of 12 percent to 271 million euros.
“The stable incoming orders after the pandemic-related slumps give reason for hope,” said Elgar Straub, Managing Director of the VDMA Textile Care, Fabric and Leather Technologies Association, in a statement. “However, the as yet unforeseeable consequences of the war in Ukraine represent a major factor of uncertainty.” In view of rising raw material prices, massive delays in delivery and difficult transport conditions, there is still no sign of the situation easing.
“Not the big change yet”
Clothing companies are also still reluctant to invest in new facilities. “Our customers are all busy, but they don’t buy new, they renovate the machines they already have,” says Giessmann. “We see that in the spare parts sales, which have gone up in the past two years, but rather less new machine sales.”
The willingness to invest is increasing among fashion companies, but the orders have yet to come in. “People come and are specifically interested, and many are now expecting an offer in the week after the fair,” said Kitta. However, it remains to be seen how many orders will be received.
The machine builders rely on the trend towards nearshoring, but they also know that this development takes time. “The topic is very important, and that’s where business comes from,” says Köppel. He notes a high level of willingness to invest in the fashion sector, but this is not yet “the big change” in which upholstered furniture manufacturers are already in the middle.
fashion industry hesitates
Not only the clothing industry is hesitating. The management consultancy McKinsey surveyed more than 70 supply chain managers from leading corporations at the end of 2020. Of these, 40 percent said that they were planning to regionalize their supplier base, but only 15 percent had actually implemented the plan a year later.
One of the few but prominent clothing manufacturers who have relocated their production is the clothing group C&A, which is again producing jeans in Mönchengladbach. But the fashion industry is still a long way from a far-reaching reduction in production. Even when production at C&A in Mönchengladbach reaches full capacity, it only covers 3 percent of the denim sold in Europe.
“It’s an illusion to assume that companies will all return to Europe in the next five years, because there aren’t the people to do it,” says Köppel. “But you can see that they are buying individual lines and converting productions – here in Europe and North Africa you can see that investments are being made in the new technologies.”
Longer delivery times
The outbreak of the corona virus first led to a drop in orders in the textile business for machine builders, now the surge in demand is already causing longer delivery times for some.
“The pandemic has already brought us to our knees in the clothing sector, so one could be glad that the automotive sector continued,” says Kitta. “And now we realize that we can no longer keep up with the orders in terms of delivery times.”
The order backlog at Dürkopp Adler is currently increasing so rapidly that the company cannot increase its capacities, which were reduced during the pandemic, so quickly. This is due to the surprisingly high order quantities, but also to delivery problems, according to the sales manager.
The waiting time varies depending on the product, but is currently three to twelve months. Before that, the average was three months.