The highly-modern 2,000 square-metre production rooms currently witness the production of 515,000 collection pieces being produced per year on 107 knitting machines. The facilities include 100 flat knitting machines and 7 circular knitting machines. A maxi knitted coat with fringes is, at present, being created on one of these very machines. What at first appears to be the usual creation of a knitted jacket turns out to be a technical masterpiece on closer inspection. Marc Cain refers to this as a "KnIT Piece", meaning elaborately knitted items that are absolutely en-vogue.

• Since 1976, Marc Cain has been knitting at its German headquarters in Bodelshausen, Germany. As early as the 1970s, the brand invested in electronically controlled knitting machines, resulting in the company becoming one of the pioneers in this field. Now, the Marc Cain knitting facilities have become one of the most innovative in Europe. These days, a very special knitwear highlight is running through the machines: with 160 minutes of production time and an average of 1,600 fringes, the knitted coat is one of the most elaborate collection pieces in the Fall/Winter 2021 season.

A coat with an unique look

Each knitted coat comes out of the machine with an average of 1,600 fringes, providing the coat with its unique look. The fringes are all knitted completely in the machine.

• Loops are inserted into the needle bed by the machine itself; these are then cast off and fixed: each fringe individually.
• But even before the actual knitting takes place on the machine, the yarn, consisting of three different qualities, is twisted on the company's own twisting machine.
• This is how the special cord look of the fringes is created. In keeping with the spirit of innovation, this knitting programme for making the coat was specially developed by Marc Cain own technicians.

The fringed coat is made of 45% high quality wool; 30% soft alpaca wool and 25% polyamide is used to stabilise the natural fibres. The sheep's wool is "mulesing free" and is obtained from merino sheep in New Zealand. The yarn comes from Italian producers and is knitted and finished in Bodelshausen and then made up in European partner companies. This is why the coat can carry the quality label "100% Knitted in Germany". Whilst a sweater can take between 45 and 90 minutes to produce, the fringed coat takes 160 minutes - an indication of the elaborate knitting and production process.

Sonja Balodis, Managing Director Design, Technical Development, Production, Purchase & Marketing:

 "Our fringed coat is a very good example of our high knitting skills and ‘100% Knitted in Germany’ range. The coat was originally intended as a pure show piece to be featured in our fashion film for the Fall/Winter 2021 season. However, due to the great demand from our end consumers, we have decided to include the coat in the collection. This is only possible due to our production facilities directly on the Bodelshausen site, which allow us to react so flexibly to the needs of the market."