floydian5

That they're kind of special. you know with regular t-shirts and other pieces of clothing you just need a large piece of fabric which you cut and stitch together to suit your need. Possibilities are endless.

However with flat-knitted sweaters you make the fabric from scratch, knitting process is very delicate (pattern making, colouring techniques are also delicate and special) and kind of limited in a special way. Even stitching/linking is special. The whole thing is actually fun beautiful and as I've said, special.

Sadly enough we don't make Christmas sweaters because we don't make thick sweaters. See, with flat knitting there are "gauges". They are the needle count per inch with the machine. The thicker the needles, thicker the yarn, less the count of needles in an inch, thicker the sweater.

Christmas sweaters are usually 3, 5 or 7 gauges. Our machinery is 14 gauges, hence, close to the finest possible fabric you can get from flat knitting. (think Italian style sweater you'd put on a shirt rather than a cozy warm Christmas sweater you'd wear on a stay-in day)

If they haven't been ironed, meaning they are still in pieces of fabrics not linked, we can unravel them and use again but usually that yarn is used for less delicate stuff. (like collars) Other than that if a tiny defect is noticed at the last minute just before packaging and it is unfixable, we just put it away and after we've accumulated some we sell them to the employees if they want to buy at nominal prices really. (~cost, a bit less than the cost) Sometimes we might give some away to charity too, depends.

It was the Aircraft Financing department. I had to relocate obviously to the other side of the globe, give up on my entire life here and as I've said I was brought up with the expectation of working at the family business.

Although I'm contend with the business most of the times I sometimes question whether I should've opted for a more "qualitative" way. I don't know. Rejecting that offer was probably the single-most important decision I've ever made in my life thus far.

What kind of sweater would you like? Men's, Women's?

We definitely don't differentiate price-wise. Our prices are not the cheapest not by any measure. We differentiate by quality that comes as a result of established-ness in the past 40 years + all the experience. Creativity + experience and quality that comes along with it creates the added value that results in the justification of "rather premium" prices.

Quality controls are all hand-made. When fabric is first knitted and out of the machine, every single piece is controlled for defects. After linking and stitching another round of quality control is made. After that the goods are sent to ironing and although it is not the exact job description, the ironing personnel looks for defects as well, since everything looks clearer after ironing. Finally, the packaging department catches any possible defects before packaging and sending. A lot of eyes are laid on them before being sent out so most defects are well caught.

We actually don't use a lot of software nor automation which could be our biggest deficiency. Yet all steps should be taken with precaution with this "manufacturing" sector as I see it more as craftsmenship rather than an industry where you can have a line with exact precise data.