Seamless Knitted Technology
The activewear industry has evolved massively over the past few years and one trend that is here to stay is seamless knitted technology.
Seamless knitted technology has been around since 1995 but has continued to evolve and become more usable and adaptable. There are many advantages to using seamless knitting technology, which has made it increasingly popular over recent years. As well as allowing you a lot more freedom with design and the ability to create unique textures and details, the seamless knit technology produces garments in a way that creates almost zero waste and has much less risk of human error.
Large, circular knitting machines are used to manufacture seamless garments in factories. These machines are programmed with the information to create the whole garment, starting from just yarns and fibres. These are then knitted together into the shape of the garment, creating the fabrics straight into the accurate, tubular shapes and eliminating the need for seams. Garments are either knitted into complete, finished pieces or they are semi-finished and then the last elements are finished on standard sewing machines, depending on the design. Seamless knitting technology almost eliminates the whole cut-and-sew process in production, which can save a large amount of time as well as wastage.
For activewear, seamless pieces can give a really luxury finish, as well as being much more practical, as seamed garments can often cause irritation when the body heats up. As well as creating a really sleek base garment, the design opportunities with seamless technology are limitless. The yarns can be knitted in to different fabric types side by side, so we can create interesting panels in the garments which act either as a design feature or to enhance performance in activewear. As the yarns and fibres are being knitted into fabrics whilst the garments are being made, we are able to add unique details to the material, create interesting textures or give certain areas more compression or make them more porous. This allows us to produce really technically advanced activewear that is perfectly designed to work with your body in any activity.
We have recently been working with seamless manufacturers in Portugal and are happy that we are now able to offer a full seamless supply chain, including experienced and professional seamless design. This means that we can give brands the opportunity to create forward-thinking activewear collections. We are happy to be working with a Portuguese factory that is audited and ethically sound, certified GOTS 5.0, OEKO-TEX Standard 100 and SMETA.
Over the next year, we will be seeing a big rise in seamless construction by high-end brands, as consumers look for maximum comfort and performance from their activewear. This is also a strong way for luxury brands to develop an activewear extension, whilst maintaining a luxe aesthetic. Karl Lagerfeld’s recent collection of branded, seamless activewear pieces is a great example of this, and we expect other high-end brands to follow suit. Other brands already using seamless design to create innovative collections include Off-White and Unravel Project.
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