And The Good News? Stoll Machines Last Decades.

 Well… everything, apparently.

When the news broke that STOLL’s Reutlingen site was closing, many of us in the knitting universe felt like Arthur Dent — standing barefoot in our bathrobes, watching the planet vaporize for an intergalactic bypass. But if we’ve learned anything from both the Hitchhiker’s Guide and the textile industry, it’s that endings are usually the messy beginnings of something far more interesting.

At Fabdesigns, we realized our world diverged from STOLL’s long ago — not of our choosing ---  but probably at just the right moment to survive the impact. Like hitchhikers with a towel and a pocket full of yarn samples, and 14 patents, we’ve built our own spaceship: one powered by innovation, collaboration, and the conviction that the answer to sustainable manufacturing isn’t 42 — it’s partnership, precision, and persistence.,Along the way, we’ve gathered quite the cast of characters: IP guardians, polymer alchemists, carbon fiber spinners, feed system experts, feral sewing experts, waste management experts, and creative adventurers in auxetics that are as crazy as we are about exploring the unknown in interactive fabrics. (You all know who you are.)

We picked up fiber experts, the finest material supply companies, factories, laminators, finishers and hardware jewelers, artisans that knit, weave, sculpt, and assemble many sought after types of products across several continents, all making exceptional quality products for forward thinking designers, brands, and start ups interested in sustainable business. 

Together, we’ve charted a new course through the textile galaxy of materials and processes - stunning brands with things no one has ever done before — while Fabdesigns  continued connecting and modifying legacy machinery from STOLL, Shima, Cixing, and Steiger to future-forward technologies and materials, that can still make magic.

And the good news? Stoll machines last decades. The real power was never in the logo — it was in the people who learned how to make them sing.  There are a lot of people who make beautiful things on Stoll machines in the knitting galaxy and many more who want to learn. In our experience Stoll machines last at least 30 years, with good care, and there is a lot of innovation still to come.  Much of it can be translated to other machine technologies.

So, grab your towel and your favorite knit swatch. We’re headed into the next chapter of engineered materials, smarter systems, and knitted solutions that could change the world.

Yes, our space ship used to be predominantly Stoll based and the closure of Stoll machine production is a bit of a challenge if people are starting out.  We know what we’re doing.  Like many others, we could buy used Stolls and be just fine for the next thirty or more  years.  The main issue is scaling production for other people, brands, and start ups and new students learning.  Finding suitable and quality machines, scattered across the globe, inspecting them individually, and putting a facotry together.   Who is going to do that thankless work?

The truth is that the value of Stoll machinery plummeted on their first announcment, because new customers – even for used machines – can’t get adequate service or training.  We and others can fill some of that, but this is standardized training and service that Stoll built into their machine sales pricing, which clients recieved  at no charge under warranty.  The machines are work horses and each machine will last a few decades with proper care and maintanance, should there not be a buyer for Stoll.  One  question that begs to be asked is, what is so broken at Stoll that it could not be fixed in place at Karl Mayer?

At Fabdesigns, we’ve never been afraid to evolve, even through adversity.  In our 3D knitting galxay, it is change or perish. Over the past decade, we’ve been quietly restructuring — refining our patents, strengthening partnerships, and building a global network of some of the best yarn suppliers, knit manufacturers, and technical innovators in the world. What may have looked like silence was actually focus. We realized that innovation works best when we stay true to what we do best — and collaborate with others who are just as passionate and precise. We are a small business, independent and self funded and we were able to build and adapt through some very rough times, including the Woolsey Fire, the pandemic, a divorce, and the Los Angeles Fires this past year.  Why is this ability to pivot and evolve so illusive at Karl May Stoll?

The heart of our own engineering and innovation is building to needs - not ours but of the industry and customers; envisioning and anticipating what leaps will come next. 

Not finding what we and our clients needed on the market, we built our own technologies. We developed advanced knitting technology for not only Stoll machinery but to deliberately include other brands of textile equipment as well.  Change a  machine and change it's capabilities.  Our systems are modular, removable and do not damage the original machine. 

Our patents are:

• Platform technologies (enable entire categories)
• Multi-industry (footwear, medical, aerospace, automotive, wearables, IoT)

We focused on optimizing how to use the current and legacy equipment and how to build the future with the machinery a factory already has, should something like what just happened to Stoll occur.  We saw it coming in slow motion, and built an ecosytem of technology over 14 patents and counting that includes adding new machine parts, warp inserts, and feed systems to embed wires, create 3D composites in any shape we want, and build complex structures and circuits in a very small amount of space.  We built systems to create multi-layered composites and artificial ligaments that have never existed before and next generation footwear with functions that have never been possible before - all customizable.

We built these technologies to span not just Stoll machinery, but many other flat knitting brands and other types  of textile machines and applications.

Our 6 Patents Technologies - Reframed

We have 14 patents in 6 individual platforms, each one:

1. Changes how things are made (manufacturing disruption)
2. Changes how things interact with IoT (connectivity revolution)
3. Applies across multiple industries (footwear, medical, aerospace, automotive, wearables)

This isn't a patent portfolio. This is an INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION TOOLKIT.

To build e-textiles was a challenge of the past. Today, we build circuits which machines were not capable of making before. With just one part of our technology, produced and distributed exclusively by Memminger IRO, up to 22 wires or functional strands can be embedded in every knitted panel, consistently and without packaging twist adding resistance.

We've patented technologies that span industries from apparel to aerospace. Our confidential client partnerships focus on finding the right fit of companies that want to exploit this technology in licensing, and focused toward acquisition and full transfer of our proprietary patents and technology.  Our projects are curated to ensure alignment and avoid conflicts of interest.  Contact us for a prospectus.

The 145-Page Prospectus :

We haven't just documented  our patents.

We documented 6 PLATFORMS that change:

• How wearables are manufactured (IoT connectivity)
• How medical devices are made (artificial ligaments, sensors)
• How footwear is constructed (performance zones, embedded tech)
• How aerospace materials work (composites, de-icing, sensors)
• How automotive interiors function (heated, sensing, connected)
• How textiles interact with IoT (the unifying platform)

Each platform enables billions in new products.

Join the Journey

We’re opening our sourcing and client network to designers, technicians, factories, and brands who want to collaborate on the next generation of textile innovation. Whether you’re looking for materials help, build a prototype, or launch a sustainable product line, we’d love to hear from you.

Because while the universe may be vast and unpredictable — innovation is always better when we hitchhike together.