Knitwear knowledge
Thirty-two topics from five production ranges: what a fibre changes, how gauge decides the piece, why a cable costs more, what gets tested, and how sampling actually runs.
Written for buyers rather than for search engines. Where an industry claim is widely repeated but not established — the symbolic meanings of Aran stitches, for instance — we say so, because a page that repeats folklore as fact is a page you should stop trusting on the numbers.
What each fibre actually changes, and what it does not. Start here if you are still deciding what the sweater should be made of.
Micron, pilling and what the yarn is certified for — the three answers a merino buyer needs before a sample.
How to tell real cashmere from a blend, what brushing does, and where the price band sits.
Two styles on this site are cashmere blends, not cashmere sweaters. Here is how we label the difference.
A search for chunky knit returns wool sweaters. Ours are largely polyester, and the page says so per style.
A small wool content changes the hand and the sheen. It does not make a polyester sweater warm.
Gauge, weight and the stitch family decide how a sweater looks, how heavy it is, and what it costs. These are the decisions a tech pack has to carry.
Why 5GG and 12GG are different products rather than two options of the same one, and what each band suits.
Two cashmere sweaters at the same gauge can differ by 50 g. Weight, not gauge, is what the buyer feels.
Below 7GG the gauge number stops describing fineness and starts describing how heavy the piece is.
Two of the three name a technique; one names a shape. That mismatch is where tech packs go wrong.
Stranded single bed, double bed, Fair Isle and intarsia — reverse, layers and machine time side by side.
Long floats snag and pucker. Five to seven stitches is what we work to, and why the limit exists.
Briefs regularly arrive as screen-print artwork. What a knitting machine can and cannot reproduce.
Stitches swap places on the needle. The three parameters — width, depth, background — that define any cable.
Cable is one stitch technique. Aran is a panel system of four or five. What each word lets a supplier claim.
Three pages explain a price difference that buyers often assume is a design fee. It is yarn, machine time and panel width.
Yarn +20–40%, machine time +20–50%, and a panel knitted wider than the finished measurement.
Brushing raises the surface and loses fibre, so the piece is knitted heavier. It is also irreversible.
Including the orders we would rather turn down than word the composition differently.
What is tested, at which stage, and what the certificate does and does not cover. Written to be verified rather than believed.
Pilling, shrinkage and colourfastness — which stage each is checked at, and against what reference.
Micron, yarn count and the tests a cashmere buyer should ask to see before bulk.
Fibre does not decide whether you can have a cable. It decides whether the cable keeps its edge.
It is a test on the finished piece, not a claim about fibre quality, warmth or durability.
One page of terms, because these numbers are the same whichever fibre you are ordering. Five hubs each carry it; this is the canonical link.
Every style we can pull a sample of, with composition, gauge, weight and indicative FOB printed on the page rather than held back for an enquiry.
Eleven styles in 100% merino and merino–cashmere, 5GG to 16GG, 132 g to 613 g.
Four pure cashmere styles, 9GG to 12GG, from USD 47 FOB.
Twelve heavy-gauge styles, 1.5GG to 7GG, 175 g to 870 g, sorted by wool content.
Fair Isle, jacquard and argyle, each with the construction it is knitted on.
Eight cable styles in 3.5GG, 5GG and 7GG, 295 g to 760 g, from USD 5 FOB.
The question sets printed on each range page. Read them before writing an email — most enquiries are answered there.
Whether merino itches, what micron we use, and how the yarn is certified.
Cashmere grade, pilling, whether brushing shortens the life of the piece.
Why the range is not wool, how heavy it goes, and what a chunky sweater costs.
Which technique suits which motif, float limits, and minimums on patterned work.
Cable against Aran, whether cable shrinks, and how to match a pattern from a photo.
Tell us what you are sourcing and what is unclear. If the answer is worth keeping, it goes on this page rather than only into a reply.
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