diff --git a/R/column_spec.R b/R/column_spec.R
index 3af165b..fc73b53 100644
--- a/R/column_spec.R
+++ b/R/column_spec.R
@@ -147,7 +147,8 @@
 
   kable_align_new <- paste(table_info$align_vector, collapse = align_collapse)
 
-  out <- sub(kable_align_old, kable_align_new, as.character(kable_input),
+  out <- sub(kable_align_old, kable_align_new,
+             enc2utf8(as.character(kable_input)),
              perl = T)
   out <- structure(out, format = "latex", class = "knitr_kable")
   if (!is.null(width)) {