Seam free knitting; from garments to houses, cars and aeroplanes

Citation

Stylios, G.K. (2001), "Seam free knitting; from garments to houses, cars and aeroplanes", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 13 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijcst.2001.05813BAA.001

Seam free knitting; from garments to houses, cars and aeroplanes

Seam free knitting; from garments to houses, cars and aeroplanes

The knitwear textile industry of Europe and the West that for so many years was prosperous is now facing difficulties and is trying to redefine itself and inevitably is shrinking as a result. Despite this downward trend however, the industry is still a contributor in terms of employment, added-value GDP and exports. Various sectors are still highly competitive in the global markets and with a coherent approach to innovation those sectors can have a brighter future.

Over the last 60 years or so, knitwear technology has evolved from the hand frames to powered knitting machines and lately to the fully computer controlled electronic knitting. The nature of weft knitting, especially on flat bed knitting machines allowed for R&D to continue exploring the possibility of knitting garments with minimum or no cut and sew seams. This quest which started in the early 1970s is now paying dividend with new machines capable of knitting seam free garments.

At present in the flat bed knitwear sector two machine makers have almost 90 per cent of the market; Stoll, an old established German knitting machinery maker, and Sheima Seiki, a newer Japanese company that came into the market with an automatic glove machine. There are also a few small machine makers in the far East that also claim to make seam free machinery but they tend not to have their presence in Europe and the USA.

The latest technology allows in principle for the production of complete garments without seams, so in simple terms one only has to sort out the supply of the design and the yarn to the knitting machine. Both manufacturers Stoll and Sheima Seiki claim this capability in their latest models and can produce seam free garments.

There is no doubt that seam free is the future of flat bed knitting and one which in times of fierce international competition can provide the technological advantage to the industry. However, the technology is not yet mature either with the industry or with the machine makers. The seam free principle has demanded different treatments in the engineering of these machines, which has resulted in their electronic controls and the way that they are instructed to perform knitting tasks to be different to conventional knitting. Consequently, to effectively learn to operate the machines, the thinking should be different, it may even be a disadvantage now if someone knows traditional knitting! Their design supported systems are becoming friendlier, but they still need a great deal of knowledge to enable new designs to be made; the designer needs to know the engineering of the machine, the knitting of patterns and the techniques of widening/narrowing, transferring, etc.

It is evident that the machine makers develop the machines using separate groups of specialists in machinery engineering, knitting capability and design provision, which is highlighted in the lack of having much needed people with expertise in all three functions. But there are other technical problems that need to be addressed further if the industry is to use this technology more effectively. The old difficulty with shrink and size of the knitting garments will not go away, if the exact amount of yarn cannot be supplied to the machine. Both machine makers have addressed this problem with Sheima claiming that it is solved. The positive feeding solution of the supply of yarn, however, is still not available in flat knitting.

Seamless technology is definitely the way that the industry is going, and technology providers are investing in R&D to push the frontiers even further. This will increasingly demand hybrid technologists to program and maintain these machines. Hybrid designers will need to also learn the capabilities that this technology offers in order to create new designs not created before. It may be that we may even come full circle from the old cotton frames that occupied large amount of space to seamless machines which can become larger in sections for economising in drive mechanisms and auxiliary components! Similar developments in seam free garments are also shown in the circular knitting sector as well, where manufacturers such as the Italian Santori push the frontiers of underwear seamless technology.

As one looks at the technology today and examines the possibilities for tomorrow, one can't help thinking that economics will dictate the making of industrial shapes or indeed whole industrial structures such as houses, cars and aeroplanes. The knitting machines may not look the same as today, but their shaping knitting principles will be the same. What an exciting opportunity for a sector being doomed for importing technology from other high tech sectors, to now transfer its own high tech technology to other industries!

George K. Stylios