The USA subsidiary of leading Japanese flat knitting machine manufacturer Shima Seiki Mfg. Ltd. has closed Monroe, New Jersey facility and announced to relocate its US headquarters to Los Angeles.
The company said in a statement, “It is with heavy hearts to announce that Shima Seiki USA Inc. will be closing its NJ offices at the end of this year. Please note that we will be relocating our headquarters to our LA office location at 2301 E7th St, Los Angeles, CA. In addition, we will be making necessary changes over the next few months and will update our customers where changes are needed.”
Announcing the relocation, Shima Seiki USA also reflected back on its 35-year journey in USA.
“We first opened our NJ Offices in 1986, to service our USA customers where knitwear manufacturing was still heavily prevalent in the Northeast. During the 80s, many manufacturers hadn’t outsourced their production overseas yet, and there were still many knitting facilities across Philadelphia and New York. Since then, in the late 80s, we started to see brands shift manufacturing overseas to reduce costs and cut corners, but also noticed the downfall in knitwear due to them losing touch with the true craftsmanship towards knit design,” said the company.
Shima Seiki USA further added that 1995 was the year when it launched the world’s first WHOLEGARMENT – fully automatic apparel 3D Knitting machines, which caught the attention from many brands and companies, and was named “Oriental Magic,” from being able to knit a single sweater from yarn in only 30 minutes.
“This had a historical impact on the industry with an innovative solution of eliminating sewing. This technology allowed knitted goods to be produced with less labour, which was crucial to reshore production back to the US where labour costs are high. This technology, which is now over 25-years-old, has undergone continuous improvements and innovation to be where it’s at today, and is known as the most sustainable forms of knitting today,” mentioned the company.
In the 2000s, the company started doing a little bit of sampling and production at its facilities to showcase a business model for US knitters to understand that reshoring production is achievable with WHOLEGARMENT. It winded down the sampling and production services around 2018.
“Thank you again for your continued business and interest in Shima Seiki, and we look forward to continuing to work with you moving forward,” concluded Shima Seiki USA.
