Amazing that Apple would prominently highlight a product made with 3D knitting, as I’ve just gotten in to machine knitting as a hobby after buying an old Brother KH-910 on eBay and modding with with an AYAB (all yarns are beautiful)[1] open hardware/software knitting machine board from the AYAB discord. I just got a second needle bed for my knitting machine (KR-850 ribber) so I can do double bed jacquard knitting and other more advanced stuff.
But this has also led me down the rabbit hole learning about industrial machine knitting and 3d “wholegarment” knitting, invented by Masahiro Shima first in the 1960’s for autonomous glove knitting and later for entire full size garments in the 1990’s. [2,3,4] That’s what Apple is using in this product (now two companies offer 3D knitting machines according to Wikipedia). In traditional machine knitting you still have to make multiple flat sections and stitch them together, but in 3D Wholegarment knitting the machine is capable of knitting an entire complex garment, bag, utility item, whatever all in one go fully autonomously. Shima Seiki invented a new kind of knitting needle and expanded the system from two needle beds to four to enable the most advanced form of Wholegarment knitting. What I find fascinating about this technology is that it makes it possible to run a garment manufacturing business which is almost fully autonomous, eliminating the need for often poorly treated overseas labor [5], and potentially simplifying business operations dramatically.
The piece linked in [2] talks to an Italian knitting company that was able to keep manufacturing domestic thanks to these machines, and this helps explain how Apple can offer these bags as made in Japan in these volumes. I daydream about getting a used Mach2x and parking it somewhere to make it run 24/7 to make warm garments for the homeless around the Bay Area, perhaps with a low volume boutique fashion brand which helps pay for it. Anyway they’re really neat machines and this has been my little autistic hyperfocus lately, I thought I would share!
But this has also led me down the rabbit hole learning about industrial machine knitting and 3d “wholegarment” knitting, invented by Masahiro Shima first in the 1960’s for autonomous glove knitting and later for entire full size garments in the 1990’s. [2,3,4] That’s what Apple is using in this product (now two companies offer 3D knitting machines according to Wikipedia). In traditional machine knitting you still have to make multiple flat sections and stitch them together, but in 3D Wholegarment knitting the machine is capable of knitting an entire complex garment, bag, utility item, whatever all in one go fully autonomously. Shima Seiki invented a new kind of knitting needle and expanded the system from two needle beds to four to enable the most advanced form of Wholegarment knitting. What I find fascinating about this technology is that it makes it possible to run a garment manufacturing business which is almost fully autonomous, eliminating the need for often poorly treated overseas labor [5], and potentially simplifying business operations dramatically.
The piece linked in [2] talks to an Italian knitting company that was able to keep manufacturing domestic thanks to these machines, and this helps explain how Apple can offer these bags as made in Japan in these volumes. I daydream about getting a used Mach2x and parking it somewhere to make it run 24/7 to make warm garments for the homeless around the Bay Area, perhaps with a low volume boutique fashion brand which helps pay for it. Anyway they’re really neat machines and this has been my little autistic hyperfocus lately, I thought I would share!
[1] https://www.ayab-knitting.com/
[2] https://youtu.be/kZE8rvPYbII
[3] https://www.shimaseiki.com/ire/about/history.html
[4] https://youtu.be/y6wHl0Xtxfw
[5] https://youtu.be/PxFwA-jw3X4