Until a few decades ago Carpi was just one of the many country towns surrounding Modena, its only industry of any importance the processing of shavings to produce the braids used for the manufacture of hats and bags. Then, in the 1950s, came the knitwear boom, which transformed Carpi's economy with the foundation of a myriad of small and medium-sized family firms. Now Carpi, with its population of 60,000, can be considered the knitwear capital of Europe, with its 200 industrial concerns and its small production workshops, 746 of these producing directly for the market and 1884 on a subcontract basis (weaving fabrics, making-up garments, adding embroidery or laundering and pressing finished products). 35% of turnover, worth about 2000 billion lire, is from exports. Competition from the Far East has led Carpi to increase the design input of its products and focus on the top end of the fashion market; between 1979 and 1980 this brought about a real revolution, as instead of turning out huge quantities of knitwear and other garments of medium and medium-fine quality, the town turned its attention to medium-fine and fine-boutique products of high fashion. During the '90s, the industry has concentrated on reducing times to market, to meet demand for the latest fashions virtually at once.