THE WORKSHOP
The workshop has been around for over 50 years, or rather, the company is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary since my grandfather started knitting in 1972 in his garage with his partner. The workshop where Nitto Knitwear sweaters are knitted today was established in 1988. At that time, 20 people worked there with 3 knitting shifts per day. The team grew to 75 people in total during the 2000s.
Today, we are 19 people, including 16 dedicated to sweater production. The workshop is equipped with 19 Shima Seiki machines and 2 Stoll machines, two of the most significant knitting machine manufacturers for many years.
Each knitting machine has different specifications. Indeed, you cannot knit everything with just any machine; they differ by needle size according to the thickness of the yarn they knit. Our machine fleet includes 6 machines with gauge 3, 9 machines with gauge 7, 1 machine with gauge 8, and 2 machines with gauge 14. To give you an idea: wool sweaters and Vasken cardigans are knitted with gauge 3, while Youri sweaters are knitted with gauge 14. Machines start at gauge 3 and can go up to gauge 28, and even beyond (for very fine t-shirts). The smaller the gauge number, the wider the needle and the thicker the yarn it can knit. The larger the gauge number, the narrower the needle and the finer the yarn.
Our fleet consists of both recent machines, which are between 5 and 10 years old, and older machines, some of which are nearly 30 years old. The newer ones are more technical and allow for more advanced knitting. The older machines are still operational; they are robust and reliable, so there is no reason to retire them.
In the Nitto Knitwear team, we are 19 people, some of whom joined us less than 6 months ago, and others who have been with us for 38 years.
The “big boss,” who retired last year, still comes to the workshop because he can’t detach himself from it. He started in 1979 at the age of 16 and is now 61. We thus have several generations of workers in the workshop, which allows for a transfer of know-how and exchange of knowledge.
Once the sweater is knitted, especially when using yarns made from natural fibers, we need to enhance the yarn, make it expand, and make it softer. This step also helps set the yarn so that it achieves its final size, significantly reducing shrinkage later. This process requires different adjustments depending on the yarn and material used. All our Nitto Knitwear sweaters go through this step.
To assemble a sweater, we need several sewing machines, overlock machines, collar machines, buttonhole machines, banding machines, and finishing machines. We use almost all these machines for assembling our sweaters, depending on the type of sweater.