Mayer & Cie. Global will bring two circular knitting machines to ITMA Asia + CITME 2026 in Shanghai (20–24 November), aiming squarely at a market where, by the company's own count, roughly 70 per cent of the world's mattress fabric production takes place in China.

"Around 70 per cent of the world's mattress fabric production takes place in China," said Alton Xu, CEO of Mayer & Cie. Global. "Our OVJA family offers excellent solutions for this application."

For buyers of circular knitting machinery — bedding and mattress-ticking producers sourcing capital equipment — the Shanghai stand is effectively a positioning statement: German engineering, now under Chinese ownership, pitched at the largest single cluster of mattress fabric capacity on the planet.

What's on the stand?

The headline machine is the OVJA 2.4 EM, a high-productivity circular knitter for mattress ticking. It produces up to 30 kg of fabric per hour, with a feeder density of 2.4 feeders per inch. A horizontal weft yarn guide speeds changeovers, while improved yarn guidance and a pneumatic cross-flow nozzle (a nozzle blowing air across the knitting zone to stabilise yarn tension) keep yarn feeding reliable at high speeds.

Electronic individual needle selection in the cylinder opens up extensive patterning and rapid design changes — a practical requirement in the mattress ticking market, where cover designs turn over quickly.

The second exhibit, the OV 3.2 QCe, runs double-face fabric in E40 gauge (40 needles per inch — an exceptionally fine machine setting) using all needles. It handles both filament and staple fibre yarns and covers interlock and interlock-based structures.

"In this configuration, the OV 3.2 QCe stands out in the market. The ability to knit double-face fabric at this fine gauge is an exceptionally rare capability that very few manufacturers can offer," said Axel Brünner, Head of Product Management at Mayer & Cie. Global.

What about the new machine in development?

The company will also detail the OV 2.5 QCe, currently in development at its Albstadt headquarters. Specs as announced:

• 2.5 feeders per inch at a 34-inch machine diameter
• Designed for high-productivity interlock and interlock-based fabrics, including 8-lock structures
• Optional conversion kit extending capability to rib, spacer and very fine-gauge fabrics

ITMA Asia will also see the company outline a revised portfolio strategy, which it frames as knitting solutions matched to different customer requirements and investment budgets.

Why the ownership matters

The exhibition marks another step for the entity created in April 2026, when Mayer & Cie. Global took over the established German machinery brand. The business is owned by Xu Hongjie, a member of the entrepreneurial family behind Chinese circular knitting machine manufacturer Huixing.

Development and engineering stay in Albstadt, building on more than a century of German circular knitting expertise — the company pioneered circular-knitted mattress ticking in 1997 with an electronically controlled machine, displacing woven covers in a market where elasticity now matters for conforming to flexible, pressure-responsive mattresses. Management, meanwhile, shifts to what the company calls a more agile international structure, with simplified processes and closer cooperation with customers and sales partners worldwide.

For sourcing and capex teams at bedding producers, the decision ITMA Asia forces is straightforward: evaluate whether a Huixing-backed, Albstadt-engineered Mayer & Cie. offers a lower-risk route to fine-gauge and high-output knitting capacity than it did a year ago.