Stoll a medium sized German based flat knitting machine builder – a name that inspires and at the same time, stands for quality and flexibility in the world of knitting who after the launch of CMS ADF-3 in 2013, applications for the machine have been evolving, including application areas for technical textiles such as footwear. Keen to boost this section of the business, Stoll will partake at May's Techtextil exhibition in Hall 3, booth C19.

The exhibition will be an interesting one for Stoll, a company that is keen to explore new growth areas for its range of flat knitting technology.

According to CEO Andreas Schellhammer, footwear is the perfect case in point with the development of knitted football boots from companies such as Nike and Adidas illustrating how the technology can bring industries which have not yet thought about flat knitting to the table and showing them what benefits they can gleam from this kind of technology.

A couple of years ago, no-one was talking about knitted sports shoes but look now at what the biggest two names in the industry are producing. There is a lot of hype and fantasy about what knitting machines can do but its important to find the products that can really offer commercial growth. The traditional sweater business will always be key for them but it’s about always looking for those new application areas that can continue to drive growth.

With a knitting width of 50 ins, the 3-system CMS ADF-3 continues to perform well in an intensely competitive market mainly due to these broad areas of applications. With 16 rails, equipped with two yarn carriers each this model is already setting new standards. Knitting functions from previous machine generations have come together in the CMS ADF-3, including, of course, multi-gauge and flexible gauge features. This has resulted simple handling and faster programming, Stoll said that, with the universal yarn carriers designed for use in any knitting application. The CMS ADF-3 covers a gauge range from E 10 to E 18, including multi-gauge technology.

The CMS ADF-3 which is based on 32 motorized yarn carriers. These carriers move independently from the carriage and can position themselves vertically or horizontally. Positioning is controlled by the pattern program with these configurations opening up almost unlimited possibilities for the user regarding patterns and color combinations. This makes CMS ADF-3 versatile.

When it comes to plating, the benefits of flexible yarn carriers are particularly noticeable as its inverse plating allows you to create any conceivable color combination. With intarsia plating, color nuances can be added to individual or multiple pattern areas. The CMS ADF-3 also enables color fields of less than 1" to be knitted.

Stoll also highlights the machine’s efficiency, which is boosted by more effective knitting sequences that reduce the stroke. Faster retrofitting times when changing patterns lower the machine's downtimes considerably.

Even its ergonomic improvements have generated several benefits for the user who work with the machine on a daily basis.

Today, for many customers, the Stoll enterprise is the integrative link between the highly sophisticated technology in the area of developing and manufacturing flat knitting machines on the one hand and an innovative independent thinker and developer in the section of Fashion & Technology on the other hand.