From George to Yohji

From George to Yohji

From George to Yohji (and everywhere in between)

It is amazing to see how the knitwear world has changed since my first memories of it until now. From the humble craft learnt by my grandmother more than 30 years ago to the status of art that it is holding today.

From underwear to blanket coats, from summer to winter, from head to toe, from cool sexy to warm cosy. Is it me, or is not knitwear everywhere? Specialist magazines, courses, Blogs, exhibitions, fairs and shops.

From the most basic and modest of hand crafted techniques to the most sophisticated and flexible tools of creativity for any fashion designer and artist.

Although knitting has been used for hundreds of years as a practical craft, it was in the 1980’s when it really started to be a part of the fashion frame (I remember trying to copy some of those Armani jumpers with my Aunt’s help in those days). Knitwear was then just a small part of a few designers’ collections.

Today infinitely more exciting and multifaceted, it offers to the consumer an impressive, very attractive and affordable range of products,

This colossal transformation has not been easy for the knitwear industry especially in the last years. Creating new infrastructures, reinventing themselves to fit into global markets, developing their own personalities and brands and investing in creative power.

Knitwear has achieved a very strong visual presence and versatility. Revolutionary fibres have opened a new spectrum of possibilities in design and functionality. Design developments are linked to technological ones and technology can lead design. (S. Black, Knitwear in Fashion 2002, pg, 178.)

But in the core of all this knitwear boom-creative revival, the industry, especially in countries like the UK and Italy with turnovers of billions of pounds in production every year, have been struggling to cope with the changes that occurred since 2005. Countries like Pakistan and China with their massive low cost...

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