Skin protection the textile way
Warp-knitted sun protective clothing triggers HKS 2-SE boom
People in China who protect their skin from harmful UV rays are not only doing something for their health, but also for their appearance. In the Middle Kingdom, fair skin is traditionally considered noble and aristocratic. In view of increasingly sunny summers, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult to conform to the ideal of beauty. Just this year, China experienced an extreme heat wave with temperatures of up to 52 °C locally.
Sunscreens protect against sunburn, but their application and the constant need to reapply them are cumbersome. In addition, many products are suspected of being harmful to health themselves due to their ingredients.
As a real alternative, UV clothing and accessories are gaining more and more acceptance and promise good business, especially in the wake of the growing trend of outdoor sports. According to statistics from China Insights Consultancy, their market reached a volume of around 67 billion yuan in 2022, and is expected to grow by 9.4% annually until 2026, 3.5% more than from 2016 to 2021.
In demand is clothing, as the most important product group, followed by hats, shoes and accessories, which include sunglasses, sleeves and gloves. This year's top sellers also included facekinis: masks that cover the entire face.
The top material for producing the UV-effective body coverings is an elastic warp-knitted fabric from the tricot machine HKS 2-SE. The demand for the smooth single tricot fabric has made the two-bar HKS one of KARL MAYER's best-selling machines in China this year.
If you wanted to know more about the reasons for the boom read here.
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