Custom Knit Sweater Manufacturer for Your Next Collection

While sourcing the right custom knit sweater manufacturer can be the first step in developing a knitwear collection, the more important next step is in translating an idea into a worn sweater.

Knitwear also has its style decisions. The yarn, gauge, stitch details, colors, proportions, and finishing will all affect the end product. A subtle variation in these several factors could have a dramatic impact on a sweater.

Start With the Yarn

Wool is where a custom jumper starts.

Various fibers produce different textures, weights, warmths, and degrees of softness. A brand may select cotton for lighter, everyday pieces, wool for warmth, or a blended yarn when selecting for a precise combination of function and price.

Another implication of the choice is in how it affects the behavior of the sweater post-production.

It may be helpful to examine samples of yarn and compare the tex- ture, weight, dye, and feel of each.

This stage is particularly significant for a fashion brand since customer gets to see the knitwear as well as feel it.

Gauge Changes the Character of a Sweater

Gauge is the fineness or coarseness of the knit.

A tighter knitting can give a cleaner and lighter appearance, and a more chunky knit will give a heavier appearance.

This impact may modify the whole personality of the garment.

A delicately knit sweater might be fine as a layering garment. A thick cable-knit sweater would be perfect for winter as a heavier, statement-plukis garment.

The weight of the fabric is influenced by the Gage, as well as the drape and fit of a sweater to the body. Therefore it is best to choose the Gage in conjunction with the design, instead of choosing the Gage separately.

The Knit Structure Becomes Part of the Design

A benefit of knitwear is the possibility of using the structure itself.

Depending on the design, a sweater might use:

Rib knit
Cable knit
Jacquard
Intarsia
Textured stitches
Color-blocked structures

These methods produce various textures and patterns without entirely depending on printed graphics.

Knit structure can also be part of the identity of a product, especially for an unique collection created by a brand.

A basic logo can denote that a garment is a brand, an identifiable knit pattern can make a garment unique.

Color Works Differently in Knitwear

Color presents yet another aspect of the knitwear that offers such a wide degree of variation.

Within one garment, a sweater can be manufactured in a single uniform color, but alternatively, retailers can create color blends throughout the knitting.

For example, a design might have contrasting sleeves or use patches, geometric motifs, stripes or larger jacquard motifs.

The color selection must take into account the yarn that will be used. A color reference produced digitally will, once converted, not necessarily be the same.

Such physical color samples are useful during development.

Fit Matters More Than It Seems

A knit sweater is not quite the same as a woven jacket or T-shirt, though:

The material can stretch, relax and hang differently according to the yarns and the construction.

This requires the pattern and the sizes to reflect the properties of the fabric used.

Important areas include:

Shoulder width
Chest width
Body length
Sleeve length
Sleeve opening
Cuff width
Neck opening

A sweater that is too large, say, a couple of centimeters up in a normal knitting pattern, is not as straightforward.

The proportions must achieve the silhouette required without restricting the way the garment falls.

From an Idea to a Knit Sample

It can all starts from a reference image, a drawing or a collection idea.

So the manufacturing team then will go through the lay out.

The development process may include:

Design concept→Yard selection→Knitpattern->Colorcreation→Sample->Recount->Final production.

The first sample is attractive as it demonstrates the interactions for all the different choices.

What works in print may not work in a finished product. For example, a design may appear to be perfect, on the computer, but be such to touch. The pattern may look good when it is flat, in a drawing, but will give an entirely different silhouette when worn.

Those discoveries are part of the process of evolution.

Why Swatches Are Useful

The brand might want to experiment with small swatches of knitted fabric before attempting a full sweater sample

A swatch can help evaluate:

Yarn appearance
Knit density
Texture
Color
Pattern definition
Hand feel

This potentially saves you a lot of time in trying this combination if the desired outcome is not achieved.

It also facilitates the communication as the manufacturer can talk about a real material instead of a substance.

Custom Details Can Make the Sweater Yours

Customisation need not become an over-complicated pattern.

There isn‘t that much a brand can do to distinguish its sweater, as long as it includes fairly discrete touches.

These might include:

Custom neck labels
Woven labels
Embroidery
Unique cuffs
Special hems
Custom buttons
Contrast colors
Signature knitting patterns

Sometimes, these tiny touches are more successful than simply covering the garment in branding.

The aim is to actually make the sweater feel like it is in the brand and not to treat it like any other Knitwear product that has a brand logo stuck on afterward.

Finishing Is Part of the Final Product

Once all the main knitting and assembly have been complete, you may find the you want to do some finishing on your sweater.

Depending on the product, this can involve:

Linking
Washing
Pressing
Thread inspection
Label application
Measurement allowance?
Packaging

These may have an impact on the appearance and feel of the finished sweater for the customer.

In the case of knitwear, it also is required for the finishing to consider the properties of the material.

Knitwear Needs Its Own Production Knowledge

A knitted sweater is not just any other article of clothing made from a piece of fabric.

The hanging structure is from yarn, therefore the process has its own technical issues.

Yarn choice, gauge, how the stitches are constructed, shaping, linking and finishing all affect one another.

This is why any brand looking to produce knitwear should collaborate with a team of producers familiar with the particular demands of knitted product, rather than be producing a very similar thing to cut and sew.

One Sweater Can Become a Collection

A knit sweater that is not economically successful need not be kept as a single product.

Once the main idea has been developed, the same design approach can be extended to a series of similar products.

For example:

Knit cardigans
Knit polos
Sweater vests
Knit hoodies
Crewneck sweaters
Seasonal knitwear

The characteristics or signature stitch that has been established in the color palette can also be extended over many styles.

This will have the effect of allowing a brand to produce a stronger visual link between products without simply copying the same item.

Developing Knitwear for Different Seasons

Knitwear is not only for winter collections.

The yarn and gauge can be altered for various seasons and climates.

Lighter constructions of knit can work as layering pieces, while heavier sweaters may be seen as core cold-weather pieces.

This offers brands more stepping stones to play with and expand the opportunities of knitwear availability all year round instead of having it as a cold weather product.

When a Knit Sample Is Almost Right

Sometimes the first sample is near but not quite.

Perhaps it is a little too long in the body. The sleeves should have more volume. Perhaps the dense weight of the knit is too much. Or the color just doesn‘t look right in the natural light.

Here, it becomes more about what brands need to change rather than trying to change everything.

So this way the revision is more in control.

The aim would not be to necessarily make the first batch perfect but to use that sample to reach the final specification clearly

Building Custom Knitwear With a Manufacturing Partner

For brands, a manufacturing partner is not just someone who can make the finished sweater.

Understanding the link between the idea and what‘s actually required to deliver it i.e being able to talk about the concept in digital/effects0 terms.

JiuvelWear is aclothing manufacturing business ownedby Dongguan Jiuzuo Clothing Co., Ltd. It is located in Dongguann, Guangdong, China. Dongguan Jiuze is a clothing manufacturer that specializes in custom apparel development, sampling, private label projects and garment production. These projects handle basic knitwear projects during where variables such as material, fit, construction, branding and finishes are closely examined.

A custom Knit sweater begins with an idea, but the finished piece is derived from many tiny decisions encountered along the way. When all these tiny decisions come together, they produce a sweater that becomes a real part of a collection instead of just an ordinary pieces with a label affixed.