A takedown unit includes a set of takedown rollers arranged around tubular fabric hanging downward from a needle cylinder of a circular knitting machine. The takedown rollers rotate to draw down the hanging tubular fabric, and a floating guide mechanism is within and encircled by the hanging tubular fabric, so that the low-friction guide mechanism interacts with the high-friction takedown rollers to facilitate the drawing down of the fabric. A set of cams extends at least partially around the hanging fabric, and the cams and the takedown rollers are mounted to allow relative rotation therebetween, with the relative rotation being around the hanging fabric. Actuators are positioned for interacting with the cams in response to the relative rotation, so that the cams actuate the actuators which in turn rotate the takedown rollers.