Knitwear Manufacturer

Two different manufacturing processes needing different machinery. Cut-and-sew begins with rolls of knitted fabric: the fabric is cut into pattern pieces and sewn together, which is how t-shirts, hoodies, joggers and loungewear are made. Flat-knitting builds the garment directly from yarn on a knitting machine, shaping panels or whole pieces as it knits — the process behind sweaters, jumpers and cardigans. A factory equipped for one is not automatically equipped for the other. Our floor is cut-and-sew, and we handle flat-knit orders through vetted partner units instead of pretending otherwise. If your range centres on sweaters, tell us early so we can set realistic minimums and lead times or point you elsewhere.

It refers to how the yarn was spun, and it matters more than almost any other unlisted spec. Ring-spinning twists fibres continuously as the yarn forms, producing a smoother, stronger thread with fewer loose fibre ends — the resulting fabric feels softer, resists pilling longer and holds print better. Open-end spinning uses a rotor instead: much faster and cheaper, but the yarn is coarser, weaker and fuzzier, so the garment pills sooner and feels rougher. Because GSM measures weight rather than quality, two tees at 180 GSM can feel completely unalike depending on the yarn. Ask any supplier which they have quoted. We state it upfront and can price both if budget is the constraint.

Match the fabric to the garment rather than picking one for a whole range. Single jersey for t-shirts and lightweight tops: light, smooth-faced, good drape. Interlock where you want more substance and stability, since it is a double knit that resists curling at the edges. French terry for hoodies and joggers that need to work year-round — loopback inside, breathable, holds shape. Fleece where warmth and a plush hand matter more than breathability, accepting that brushed surfaces pill sooner on cheap yarn. Pique for polos, because the textured surface lifts the fabric off the skin. Rib at cuffs, hems and necklines, where stretch and recovery are the job. Send us the garment and target price and we will spec it.

Not if the fabric is compacted before cutting, which is standard on our floor. Untreated cotton knit relaxes and contracts on its first hot wash, and the loss can be enough to move a customer effectively down a size — one of the most common complaints on budget knitwear, and entirely a pre-production fabric-finishing issue rather than a sewing fault. The related problem is spirality: knitted tubes want to twist, so a hem that looked straight in the factory sits crooked after a few washes. Side-seamed construction and correct fabric relaxation control it. Both steps cost a little and both are included rather than sold as upgrades. We set the size chart from washed measurements rather than unwashed ones, which is the step most often skipped — it means the garment your customer owns after the first wash matches the chart, rather than falling short of it.

100 pieces per style and colour for cut-and-sew knits. Counting is per colourway because each colour is a separate fabric batch with its own dye lot and setup, so one style in three colours is a 300-piece commitment; sizes stay flexible within each 100 since splitting across a curve does not change the setup. Many knitwear factories in Bangladesh quote 300 or more per style and colour, because their economics assume long runs. Ours is lower deliberately, and the same styles scale to full bulk in the same building against a sealed sample, so you are not forced to re-qualify quality elsewhere once volume grows. Full-fashion knitwear takes longer to sample than jersey, because the knit programme is written from scratch for each style and gauge rather than cut from existing fabric. Budget an extra week or two at the sampling stage on a first order; reorders skip it entirely.

Because the depth is in knits here rather than spread thinly across categories. Bangladesh is the world's second-largest apparel exporter and knit garments are its largest export category, which concentrates skill and machinery in jersey, terry, fleece, pique and rib. Much of the industry is vertically integrated, with knitting, dyeing and sewing under common ownership — that shortens lead times and, more usefully, improves colour consistency between production runs because fewer parties handle the fabric. For tees, hoodies, joggers and loungewear that integration is the real advantage. For structured wovens or tailoring, other countries suit better and we would say so.

Full-fashion knitwear, yes — sweaters, cardigans, knitted vests and accessories, made on flat-bed knitting machines rather than cut from jersey. That distinction matters because it is a different discipline from cut-and-sew. Full-fashion pieces are knitted to shape, panel by panel, then linked together, so there is no cutting waste and the edges are finished by the knit itself rather than by an overlock. Gauge is the key specification, roughly the equivalent of fabric weight: 3 to 5 gauge gives chunky, heavy knits, 7 to 12 gives finer, lighter pieces. Yarn choice — cotton, wool, blends, recycled — changes hand, drape and price more than anything else. Minimums are the same hundred pieces per style per colour, though sampling takes longer than jersey because the knit programme is built from scratch.

A hundred pieces per style per colour in GOTS-certified organic cotton, certificate RSC 9687, verifiable at global-standard.org. Most factories treat certified organic as bulk-only, because certified yarn comes in its own lot minimums and the chain-of-custody paperwork costs the same whether you order a hundred pieces or ten thousand. We run it at a hundred because that paperwork is part of how we operate rather than an exception. Two honest caveats. Certified organic yarn costs more per kilo, and on full-fashion knitwear — where the garment is heavier than a jersey tee — that difference is more noticeable. And shade range is slightly narrower, because some intense brights are harder to achieve within GOTS-permitted dye chemistry. We will show you what is achievable before you commit to a colourway.