Knitster LDN
Knitwear Manufacturer
Knitster DN is a luxury knitwear micro factory and atelier based in East London. The business is owned, funded and run by Aysen Bayram and myself (Emma McClelland). When we met 6 years ago we were frustrated knitwear designers with a love of manufacturing and hands on development. The business started life as a swatch studio and has grown organically. We bought our first Shima 2 years ago, our second one 6 months ago and have plans to purchase another in the next 6 months. We also invested in a wash plant to allow us to wet finish in-house. We are specialists in British wool and actually have worked on and designed all of the Herd product so really understand Bluefaced Leicester Wool.
What is so amazing about working with British wool? It is definitely a challenge but as the parameters are so tight it forces us to be innovative. British wool has a very specific structure and creates very 3-D stitches and silhouettes which feel very current. It has a rustic honesty to it which we really love. The fact that we can communicate with the spinners directly and visit them is really important to us.
If any/ what have been your challenges with working with British wool and a local way of working? Customers being too accustomed to working with merino and non UK fibres and expecting a similar hand-feel. We actually find it really easy to work with! There are no fine gauge options available so if customers want 12gg or finer we can’t offer them British Wool.
What gauge of Knitwear do you sell? i.e fine gauge 10-12gg or more chunky knits such as 7-5gg? 7, 5, 3gg
Do you finish onsite? If not, is it convenient or what would be your ideal situation? Yes we wet finish all our products in-house, we have an Electrolux washplant.
Do you find a lot of push back in the industry in terms of working with British wool? No, customers delighted to embrace it, only concerned with the end customers response to the handle and feel. We all need to get better at finishing!
Do you find that customers are becoming more interested in British wool? Yes, province and sustainability are factors. We also think Brexit has helped as there was such difficulty at first importing yarns from Italy that we actually started to look closer to home.
On a scale of 1- 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 excellent) how much do you think your business has improved in the below areas as a result of good working practices and environmental standards?
Waste Production - 6 (off-cuts, production)
Plastic Pollution - 5 (packaging)
Water Waste - 4 (dyeing and finishing)
Energy Consumption - 5 (shipping, machinery etc)
Do you have any hero farmers or people in your supply chain you would like to highlight? Herdwear/ Herdwool.
*We recently invested in washing balls which means going forward we may be able to finish British Wool without using any chemicals.