Industry News
Karl Mayer Group Plans Strategic Reorientation
by Yvonne Heinen-Foudeh, Senior International Correspondent
“We don’t think in quarters…we think in generations,”
is how Karl J. Mayer, grandson of the company founder, sums it up. To secure its competitiveness in the global market, German Karl Mayer Holding is realigning itself and will again focus on its core business areas.
The company’s head office in the German town of Obertshausen explains the reasons for the planned re-calibration of the product range: “The global textile markets are facing significant structural changes and a continued economic downturn. We are actively meeting these challenges and are realigning now with clear decisions that ensure long-term innovative strength and competitiveness.” In other words, in the future, the long-established family-owned company will be focusing again on its core business areas – warp knitting, warp preparation, and technical textiles.
“These areas have been the heart of our company for many years, and we need to focus our innovative strength in these fields to quickly develop solutions that make our customers successful,” said Mr. Karl Mayer, Representative of the Advisory Board and member of the Mayer family. As a consultant, the grandson of the company founder is part of an experienced management team with extensive industry expertise.
Karl Mayer announces upcoming investments in further developing its machine technologies within its core areas. Another key element of the transformation is “the targeted push for innovation.” At the same time, customer centricity remains a fundamental aspect of the corporate strategy. “Our current decisions are an expression of a forward-looking strategy that aims to strengthen our company for the long term and secure its future,” concludes Karl J. Mayer to The Needle’ Eye.
Plans are to include the sale of the Stoll brand.With that strategy in place, the divestment from the flat knitting machine business under the Stoll brand should materialize in 2025. That process is still in the planning stage, and various transition options are being examined. Karl Mayer acquired the H. Stoll AG & Co. KG, Reutlingen, Germany, in July 2020, with approximately 1,000 employees at the time. Founded in 1873, the machine manufacturer specialized in the production of flat knitting machines and continued its activities within the Karl Mayer Group as an independent business unit. Stoll is headquartered in Reutlingen and runs subsidiaries in China, France, India, Italy, and Japan.
Focus on warp knitting: One of 245 Karl Mayer circular machines at Ekoten Textile, Izmir. Turkeys’ leading exporter displays a daily capacity of up to 40 tons for tubular fabrics.
Stoll was acquired by Karl Mayer in July 2020. Image shows the ADF_330_ki_ from the knit and wear® program, enabling inverse plating, intarsia and selective plating.
Legal dispute won for trademark infringement
After a lengthy court case, Karl Mayer ultimately prevailed when it was ruled that the competitors, Proteknik Tekstil San. ve Dis Tic. A.S. and Prosmh Makina Pazarlama Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, had exploited the Karl Mayer’s trademarks in the warp preparation segment for unfair gain. A cease-and-desist letter had failed to put an end to the ongoing infringement, but with effect from 12 December 2024, a regional court ruling upheld Karl Mayer’s case. This prohibits the commercial use of the contested terms – Prowarp, Prosize and Prodye – in relation to the manufacture, sale, packaging, storage and distribution of competing machines. The restriction applies across the full scope of the trademark rights, covering Turkey as well as all online activities.
As a global market leader, the company has registered trademarks for many of its innovative products. “We invested a great deal of money and pursued legal action for nearly seven years to protect not only our proprietary technology, but also our customer and reputation,” comments Martin Fuhr, Head of Product Portfolio Management, Business Unit Warp Preparation at Karl Mayer.
Application for innovative tricot fabric E44 providing sun protection, developed on high performance machinery. Karl Mayer Stoll Textilmaschinenfabrik exhibited in the German pavilion at Techtextil Americas 2025, Atlanta, furthermore will present its latest innovations at ITMA Asia in Singapore in October.
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