German Textile Machinery Leader Mayer & Cie Faces Insolvency Amid Rising Chinese Competition

Mayer & Cie, a traditional German manufacturer of circular knitting machines with roots dating back to 1905, has announced insolvency and plans to cease production by the end of March 2025. The company will lay off its 270 employees following a steep revenue decline from 110 million euros in 2022 to an expected 60 million euros in 2024. Benjamin Mayer, the great-grandson of the founder, attributes this collapse primarily to intensified competition from Chinese manufacturers, who benefit from substantial state subsidies. These subsidies allow Chinese firms to sell machines at a fraction of the price of Mayer & Cie's premium models — around 16,000 to 20,000 euros compared to Mayer's 65,000 to 70,000 euros.

This pricing disparity is compounded by a shrinking market for premium textile machinery since 2021, driven in part by the rise of “Fast Fashion” which favors cheaper, lower-quality garments over higher-end products. Efforts by Mayer & Cie to reduce costs, including concessions such as employees waiving holiday pay, have proven insufficient to stem the financial crisis. Benjamin Mayer lamented, "European companies can optimize all they want, but that doesn’t change the price gap due to Chinese subsidies."

The challenges facing Mayer & Cie reflect broader structural difficulties within the German textile machinery industry, with other companies like Stoll and Terrot similarly struggling. This troubling trend aligns with a wider economic unease among German companies, as surveys indicate rising insolvency expectations for 2026 and calls for urgent political action to prevent recession. Despite these pressures, a majority of firms still intend to keep production within Germany.

Mayer & Cie’s insolvency highlights the devastating impact of global competitive dynamics and government subsidies abroad on a once-thriving segment of German manufacturing, raising concerns about the future viability of the industry and the fate of its workers.