Karl Mayer's new RDJ 7/3 jacquard double needle bar raschel machine has entered industrial production for the first time, at Long John Group's plant in Indonesia, following an official inauguration in August attended by representatives of international athletic footwear brands.

The installation gives Long John — a Taiwan-headquartered supplier of textiles to the global athletic footwear industry — early access to a machine that uses three wireless jacquard bars to place different structures, functional zones and design effects within individual footwear fabrics. For brands sourcing engineered shoe uppers, that capability moves production beyond uniform textile constructions: manufacturers can now engineer different properties into specific areas of an upper while introducing complex patterns and three-dimensional effects during fabric formation rather than in downstream processing.

What does the RDJ 7/3 change for footwear sourcing?

The technical options the machine opens up include:

• Larger and more precisely formed openings in mesh constructions
• Integrated functional and design zones within a single fabric
• Two-colour jacquard effects
• Three-dimensional embossed surfaces produced on the machine

The practical implication for sourcing teams is consolidation. Effects that previously required additional processing steps — or separate fabric panels joined later in the shoe factory — can now be formed in one warp-knitting pass. That matters for cost per upper and for lead-time compression, though Karl Mayer has not published throughput or pricing figures for the RDJ 7/3, and real-world productivity gains will depend on how quickly Long John ramps the new machine alongside its existing base.

Who is Long John and why does capacity here count?

Long John operates manufacturing in Taiwan, China, Vietnam and Indonesia, with a sales office in the USA. Its vertically integrated production spans spinning, weaving, knitting, warp knitting, dyeing and finishing. Warp knitting plays a central role in its footwear business: the company uses it for open-structure stretch fabrics for shoe uppers and linings, as well as spacer fabrics with plain and jacquard-patterned mesh surfaces.

The relationship with Karl Mayer runs deep. Long John installed its first RDPJ-series jacquard double needle bar machine in 2012 and has been an early adopter of several subsequent machine generations. Karl Mayer says fabrics for more than 313 million pairs of shoes have been produced by Long John on its jacquard double needle bar raschel machines — a volume that makes the Indonesian plant one of the reference points for this technology in athletic footwear supply chains.

That track record is a measured result rather than a marketing claim: it is tied to machines already running in production, not to projected output from the RDJ 7/3. The new installation's actual contribution to Long John's capacity will become clear only as it moves from inauguration to full commercial utilisation.

Confirmed deal or announced intention?

The installation itself is a confirmed, operating asset — the machine is running at the Indonesian plant and was formally commissioned in August with Karl Mayer and brand representatives present. By contrast, the broader rollout of the RDJ 7/3 remains at the demonstration stage. Karl Mayer will show the machine at its Changzhou operation in China on November 19-23, timed alongside ITMA Asia + CITME 2026, giving other footwear textile producers their first close look at the technology before they commit capital.

For sourcing executives, the immediate takeaway is that one of the largest footwear-textile suppliers in Asia now has the first unit of the newest generation of jacquard double needle bar machines in production, with brand-facing capability in zoned, engineered uppers. Buyers evaluating next-season upper programs will want to ask Long John for sample lead times and minimums on RDJ 7/3 fabrics, and to benchmark them against existing RDPJ-series output.

Karl Mayer's Changzhou demonstration in November will signal how quickly the technology spreads beyond a single early adopter — and whether zoned jacquard uppers become a broadly sourced option or a differentiated capability concentrated at Long John.