[HN Gopher] 3D-Knitting: The Ultimate Guide
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       3D-Knitting: The Ultimate Guide
        
       Author : ChadNauseam
       Score  : 208 points
       Date   : 2026-03-12 08:27 UTC (14 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.oliver-charles.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.oliver-charles.com)
        
       | teiferer wrote:
       | I understand the appeal of this tech to techies. It's so cool to
       | automate knitting!
       | 
       | Though it totally misses the point of actually knitting
       | something, with your own hands. The time it takes, the details
       | you need to think about, the skills you work on perfecting, the
       | quiet evening on the sofa or in a cafe with friends, chatting and
       | knitting away, all that goes into a piece of clothing that you've
       | knitted. Letting a machine do that is completely missing out.
       | 
       | I feel similarly about AI generated music. Taking the musician
       | out of the loop misses the point of the whole thing.
        
         | tecleandor wrote:
         | But this talks about the mass production of garments. Nobody at
         | the Zara factory is having a quiet evening knitting on the
         | sofa.
         | 
         | The idea of this is: knitting on demand, customizable, less
         | waste.
         | 
         | You can still knit your things at home if you want to do your
         | own stuff, or relax a bit...
        
         | soco wrote:
         | The goal is the path... a concept often foreign to western, to
         | contemporary, to techies.
        
         | 127 wrote:
         | No, it doesn't miss the point. Different people have different
         | interests. Knitting just hits more overlapping Venn diagrams
         | than just one.
        
         | mkreis wrote:
         | Depends whether you see it as a production method or an
         | art/recreational activity. There can be both, and don't worry,
         | hand-made products will always have a special value. Even if
         | everybody can order custom made knitted sweater from a machine.
        
         | elil17 wrote:
         | Most garments have been knitted on knitting machines since the
         | 1850s
        
         | Poacher5 wrote:
         | This is knitting as a method of mass-production. It's not
         | cannibalizing hobby knitters making hats and gloves for their
         | loved ones at Christmas. The comparison to AI music doesn't
         | work because that _is_ trying to occupy the same space as
         | musical artists.
        
         | 2muchcoffeeman wrote:
         | Knitting by hand is for fun, with a by product of getting
         | clothes. No one does it to make all their clothes, it's highly
         | impractical in this day and age.
        
       | elil17 wrote:
       | So in theory 3D-Knitting can produce a made-to-measure garment on
       | demand, and has been able to for years.
       | 
       | And yet, no one actually offers to sell you a made-to-measure
       | knitted garment. Why?
       | 
       | A few theories: - Knits are stretchy so there's limited demand
       | for M2M - DFM/software issues - no one actually knows to generate
       | a pattern from a set of sizes without human intervention - Issues
       | with OEE - it's inefficient to wait for orders to produce the
       | garments because the capital cost of the machines is so high. -
       | Logistics - you don't want to deal with shipping everyone the
       | right order.
        
         | torlok wrote:
         | Which clanker generated this slop for you? I pasted the first 2
         | lines of this post into the free Gemini version and got 3 out
         | of 4 of these theories.
        
       | zokier wrote:
       | So this is an ad for company that purchased an off-the-shelf
       | industrial knitting machine and is trying to sell it as some new
       | novel innovation with cringe "3d knitting" branding. If you go to
       | the the manufacturer site you can find same talking points and
       | plenty of logos: https://www.shimaseiki.com/wholegarment/
        
         | doctorhandshake wrote:
         | I think this is an uncharitable view of the information on
         | offer. The linked page similarly brands the technique with a
         | trademarked WHOLEGARMENT label, claiming it's a world first, so
         | it doesn't seem a stretch to see how these folks got to
         | claiming it's novel and making a bit of a todo about how it's
         | different. It also seems to have some business model
         | implications that on first approximation look less than
         | favorable, so I think that helps to justify the need for a
         | position paper like this.
        
           | yorwba wrote:
           | According to the Shima Seiki history page:
           | https://www.shimaseiki.com/company/dna/history/ it was a
           | world first in 1995. That doesn't make it novel anymore in
           | 2026.
           | 
           | I would nonetheless find it interesting to read an "ultimate
           | guide" explaining how the knitting machines work, but this
           | ain't it.
        
             | tecleandor wrote:
             | But the site doesn't say anything about being new, and in
             | fact says it was invented in 1995:                 When Was
             | 3D-Knitting Invented?            The concept of 3D-knitting
             | was first envisioned and then developed by the
             | Japanese company SHIMA SEIKI. They launched their first
             | WHOLEGARMENT knitting       machine at the ITMA trade fair
             | in 1995.
        
             | dogtimeimmortal wrote:
             | These are not cheap machines! Looking around online, i
             | found a lot of 4 Shima Seiki machines listed for $40k! If
             | someone is interested getting into knitting, I would
             | recommend starting with some cheap hand-crank machines from
             | a brand like Sentro. You will learn a lot more, and there
             | is a lot you can do with knit tubes. If absolutely don't
             | want a tube, you can get a so-called panel machine. I think
             | you can find one on Amazon or Etsy - i forget the listing i
             | saw, but it was like $500(much less than a Shima Seiki).
             | 
             | Here are a couple useful sites to get started:
             | 
             | https://machineknitting.fandom.com/wiki/Machine_Knitting_Wi
             | k...
             | 
             | https://www.knittingparadise.com/forums/machine-
             | knitting.20/
        
         | meigwilym wrote:
         | Then perhaps the poster is drawing attention to the clever
         | marketing, rather than the machine itself?
        
         | criticas wrote:
         | No, the bottom of the page says they subcontract production. So
         | it's an infomercial for a company that markets sweaters they
         | may or may not design. And they disclose that in the article,
         | if very subtly.
        
         | vessenes wrote:
         | Absolutely no relation to these guys, but I have a hobby
         | knitwear line and a longstanding fascination with Shima Seki.
         | 
         | The SS machines are unique, as far as I know. They are also
         | SUPER hard to work with -- the software is opaque. The design
         | skills matter. Those design skills have to hook up to the SS
         | machine design system.
         | 
         | Hooking yarn is not the same thing as say bending steel - in
         | terms of reliability, ease, variations. Lots of complexity
         | here.
         | 
         | There have been some attempts at doing 3d knitting direct to
         | retail, I recall an MIT startup that had a boutique on Newbury
         | street, and eventually went D2C only, as well as some European
         | brands.
         | 
         | The SS machines are a little bit of a product in search of a
         | market as far as I can see -- they are amazing, they waste very
         | little product, in _theory_ unique, custom garments can be put
         | out rapidly. In practice, they seem to be used as small-run  /
         | custom-run tools -- but the only way to provide that is to have
         | skilled designers and engineers -- hence the middle layer.
         | 
         | Yes, I want one.
        
       | haritha-j wrote:
       | They pitch this as the panacea to fast fashion, but surely the
       | solution to fast fashion is just to not buy and throw away so
       | many clothes? I don't believe we buy cheap clothes because we
       | can't find good quality clothes that last, but because we like
       | owning lots of clothes and keeping up with trends. When my last
       | laptop broke I was kind of happy. I thought "ooh now I can
       | upgrade to a shiny new laptop guilt-free". I think that's the
       | real problem.
        
         | paulluuk wrote:
         | I bought a 200 dollar jacket and it had holes in it within
         | months, just from regular use. I have an old 3 dollar shirt I
         | bought years ago and it's only now beginning to show wear.
         | 
         | One problem this shows, is that as a consumer I have no idea
         | what the hell is quality clothing. Clearly, expensive does not
         | always mean high quality. And I'm not buying "brand" clothing
         | either.
        
           | kace91 wrote:
           | Another problem is the dive to the bottom that the industry
           | has suffered.
           | 
           | Your experience is very common, I have a fake nike sweatshirt
           | I bought more than a decade ago from a random street seller
           | (emergency on a trip) which still outlasts current brand
           | clothes.
           | 
           | Consumers' ignorance is not the problem, it used to be
           | generally true that the more expensive item was better. Every
           | brand has seemingly decided to burn their furniture to heat
           | the house though, and what we experience is not as much
           | consumer ignorance as it is a lack of names deserving trust.
        
           | IAmBroom wrote:
           | I've been trying to buy winter coats at end of season
           | (coincidentally; not chasing sales), and one thing is
           | consistent: fabric content is only hinted at. "Full wool" but
           | "slightly stretchy" - possible with a broadcloth woven wool,
           | but more likely "full"!=100%. "Cashmere" at prices that can
           | (at best) be 10% cashmere, but might be 2% just to avoid
           | outright fraud.
           | 
           | I bought a really good-looking dark blue fedora; I received a
           | really good-looking black fedora a size-and-a-1/2 too big. I
           | had to fight them at the credit card level, because they
           | offered me half off at best for a hat I can't wear.
           | 
           | What is inconsistent: only some of them are fraudulent
           | fronts. I'd guess about 25-50% right now, based on my recent
           | shopping experiences. But not all: I ordered some expensive
           | gloves; their advertised fit was wrong; we settled on 50% off
           | (I /can/ wear them, but it's not ideal, and their return
           | policy clearly required me to ship back). That firm had shite
           | measurement guides, but honest merchant fronting.
           | 
           | I've ordered super-cool button-front shirts that ended up
           | being tissue-like fabric. Grrr...
           | 
           | Speaking of fabric... Amazon folded Fabric.com into their
           | Borg cube, and you CANNOT buy fabric by weight online - for
           | some goddamn reason. I want to buy 100% white cotton for a
           | play costume, and need it thicker - between sheeting and
           | terrycloth; closer to the latter; Nothing else really matters
           | to me about it. But can I determine the cloth
           | thickness/weight? Nope.
           | 
           | So: 50% swindlers; 75% idiots; buy clothes in person or else
           | expect to throw a certain amount away.
        
             | SV_BubbleTime wrote:
             | >I bought a really good-looking dark blue fedora; I
             | received a really good-looking black fedora a size-
             | and-a-1/2 too big. I had to fight them
             | 
             | Ah, very relatable...
             | 
             | >buy clothes in person or else expect to throw a certain
             | amount away.
             | 
             | That's reasonable.
        
             | ninalanyon wrote:
             | In Europe if a garment says 100% New Wool it had better be
             | just that. I have several coats with varying proportions of
             | wool, nylon, etc. All bought secondhand and of very high
             | quality compared to the price I paid.
             | 
             | Of course they aren't the latest fashion but clothes that
             | last are by definition out of fashion for most of their
             | existence.
        
           | JKCalhoun wrote:
           | They knew what "slow fashion" was 100 years ago when shirt
           | collars and sleeve cuffs were _turned_ to double the life of
           | the garment.
        
           | jbaber wrote:
           | This happened to me.
           | 
           | I tried to be a good boy and wrote to the company asking for
           | zipper parts to fix it and they told me to buy another
           | jacket.
           | 
           | So I looked for companies that advertise repairability and
           | found Patagonia made the most believable claims. Quite
           | reasonable now that I'm old and rich, but I wouldn't have had
           | the choice when young and poor.
        
           | padolsey wrote:
           | Yep :/ There are just no good heuristics left for quality
           | clothing. It's horrible. One thing I do genuinely have good
           | experience with is Japanese denim. But that's about it.
        
           | cannonpr wrote:
           | A "quality" jacket in the 1930s would cost 300-400$ or more
           | inflation adjusted, it would also look less fashionable
           | today, and feel somewhat less comfortable due to several
           | concessions for durability in design. A durable quality
           | jacket back then was also holding a majority market position,
           | rather than being a niche good, which means that "quality
           | clothes" do still seem to exist, but I'm always looking at
           | 500-600$ for durable jeans or coats.
        
             | SV_BubbleTime wrote:
             | >but I'm always looking at 500-600$ for durable jeans
             | 
             | tf.
             | 
             | That's clearly you looking for a specific fashion or
             | intending to pay as much as you can.
             | 
             | Triple Aught Design jeans are $150 to $250 and I am
             | skeptical you have anything that is outlasting them. Others
             | brands surely as well. Seems to me you are still stuck in
             | the "if it costs more..." line of thinking.
        
               | cannonpr wrote:
               | No, I am just buying import Japanese jeans from the folk
               | that bought all of the original high quality jeans making
               | machines when the Americans moved to the flexi stuff, the
               | jeans I buy last with next to no damage for 10-15 years
               | despite near daily wear. I will grant you that I am
               | paying a premium for both import, and a particular
               | quality of fabric, but honestly I look like farmer Joe
               | mostly.
        
               | mikepurvis wrote:
               | I recently ordered some Levis that I'm happy with, but I
               | think there's also a limit for me in that certain life-
               | things can happen that will end a garment regardless of
               | how much was paid for it or how much it was babied.
               | 
               | I'm pretty disciplined about wearing a bib in the kitchen
               | these days, but you can still get a glass of wine on it
               | at the dinner table, or sparks from a campfire, or a
               | cycling wipeout. Those are annoying at the best of times,
               | but particularly if it ends a garment that you paid 3-5x
               | normal price for specifically so you could have it
               | forever.
        
               | khimaros wrote:
               | having burned though easily 10 pairs of Triple Aught
               | pants of various designs, they are well made and
               | attractive, but durability is not an outlier from my
               | experience. each design consistently fails in the same
               | area with regular use. i tend to repurchase the designs
               | that fit and function well, but they all inevitably fall.
        
           | mikepurvis wrote:
           | I've started buying "nicer" things purely for fit reasons,
           | like I've realized that I'm a lean 6' guy with a long torso,
           | so for shirts and especially sweaters a medium is too short
           | and a large is too baggy-- the correct size for me in off-
           | the-rack items is a _tall medium_ , and that's definitely not
           | available everywhere.
           | 
           | So I'm extremely happy with a Land's End quarter zip that I
           | picked up recently, and I hope that's a well-made piece that
           | will last a while, but overall I completely agree that mass-
           | produced clothing is a market for lemons; no one can tell
           | what the good stuff is, so it's all assumed to be garbage and
           | priced accordingly.
        
           | ninalanyon wrote:
           | Buy second hand clothes. These are either very, very, cheap,
           | and they last just long enough for me to get bored with them.
           | Or they are merely fairly cheap and last almost forever
           | because the stuff that quickly falls apart doesn't get
           | resold, it gets discarded by the person who bought it new.
           | 
           | In either case I have lengthened the time between
           | manufacturing and landfill and had the enjoyment of clothes
           | that I would otherwise not have been able to afford along the
           | way.
        
             | J1philli wrote:
             | I think my parents knew this. I grew up with second hand
             | clothes almost exclusively and didn't really know until I
             | asked my parents about it when I was older. It is a great
             | strat to find quality clothes.
        
         | starvar2 wrote:
         | Honestly, even "good" brands seem to make a lot of low quality
         | items these days. I honestly find it hard to find good,
         | lasting, clothes.
        
         | _flux wrote:
         | As I understand it, a big part of produced clothing just goes
         | straight to waste to begin with. If everything was created on-
         | demand, it would minimize that kind of waste.
        
           | Cthulhu_ wrote:
           | That would be great, a lot of clothes are made at sizes that
           | don't sell very well and which get discounted, then discarded
           | if they don't sell.
           | 
           | However, made on demand will likely cost more, plus you can't
           | fit items first. Unless they make items for fitting which you
           | can then order to have manufactured.
           | 
           | But yeah the main thing is that on-demand can never compete
           | with mass production even if a big part of the mass produced
           | stuff is discarded.
        
             | reverius42 wrote:
             | From 3d printed clothing, the obvious next step should be
             | to have your phone take a 3d scan of you, and send it to
             | the clothing designer to print it to your actual body size
             | and shape. We could have truly unique sizing (none of this
             | S/M/L/XL stuff)!
        
               | IAmBroom wrote:
               | Yes, and people have been chasing that Grail for decades.
               | It's always right around the corner. (Despite what
               | another poster said, it IS being pursued commercially.
               | And unobtainable so far.)
        
               | h2zizzle wrote:
               | Edge case: people who are in the process of changing
               | their body size/shape. Growing children, people losing
               | weight, people gaining weight (they're out there), will
               | all occasionally want to buy for where their body is
               | _going_ to be in the future, not where it is now. How to
               | accommodate them?
        
               | _flux wrote:
               | I'm sure models predicting how their body changes (based
               | on various parameters and previous scans of the
               | particular person and other people) could be built,
               | allowing to optimize for longest time period of "decent
               | fit" at the cost of "perfect fit now".
        
             | Perseids wrote:
             | > on-demand can never compete with mass production even if
             | a big part of the mass produced stuff is discarded.
             | 
             | This is definitely not universally true. E.g. photos are
             | very cheaply printed on demand. Even on-demand books are
             | printed at reasonable prices. Sure, mass production is
             | cheaper (both for books and pictures), but the value
             | difference of the individual product is high enough to
             | bridge the price gap.
             | 
             | For cloth this area has found little exploration. TFA
             | covers production at niche scale. If you would mass produce
             | the looms to reduce the capital expense and heavily lean
             | into customer value, e.g. individual fittings via 3d scans,
             | as my sister comment proposes, or even just letting me
             | customize my sweater with motive, color choice, garment
             | etc., this could radically change the cost to value ratio.
             | The company that has published TFA sells extremely bland
             | apparel in a shop that looks just like any mass produced
             | clothing shop and leaves _all_ of the customer value of
             | custom production on the table.
             | 
             | Last but not least: This "3d knitting" seems to need only a
             | fraction of the labor of traditional sewed clothes. If
             | textile production didn't default to underpaid labor under
             | precarious working conditions in low income countries, it
             | would probably already be cheaper.
        
           | IAmBroom wrote:
           | "If" is doing a lot of hold-your-breath, make-a-wish work in
           | that sentence.
        
           | KineticLensman wrote:
           | > As I understand it, a big part of produced clothing just
           | goes straight to waste to begin with.
           | 
           | My niece runs a business that relies on the way we discard
           | clothes. She buys clothes from suppliers in India who source
           | them from the bales of discarded clothes sent to them from
           | Europe. Her suppliers have in effect sorted through the
           | mountain of discards to find the ones that have sufficient
           | value to sell back to us. She specifically buys clothes that
           | have 'vintage' appeal (think tailored jackets rather than
           | hoodies) and sells them primarily to students in a northern
           | English city. Her business has done well enough to move from
           | market stalls to a dedicated high street store and she is
           | just branching out into 'vintage' kids clothes.
        
         | Zababa wrote:
         | > surely the solution to fast fashion is just to not buy and
         | throw away so many clothes?
         | 
         | "just don't do X" has basically never worked, it is not a
         | serious solution to any problem.
        
         | poszlem wrote:
         | If "the solution" depends on people changing their behaviour on
         | their own (ideally by lowering their expectations/do the harder
         | thing/etc), it is almost never "the solution". It is usually
         | just wishful thinking.
        
         | esseph wrote:
         | > I don't believe we buy cheap clothes because we can't find
         | good quality clothes that last, but because we like owning lots
         | of clothes and keeping up with trends.
         | 
         | I will buy 5 things that last for 10 years if somebody gave me
         | the option. Otherwise no, I'm not chasing fashion trends.
        
       | ExxKA wrote:
       | Why are you posting this to HackerNews?
       | 
       | This isnt a hype board, for consumer products. Its supposed to be
       | a tech first community.
        
         | cm-t wrote:
         | not sure to understand your point, knitting is not a tech field
         | to you, or the content itself of the article is not tech
         | oriented enough ?
        
           | SV_BubbleTime wrote:
           | I think maybe OP is knotted up about it pretty obviously
           | being an ad. And rightfully so.
           | 
           | Seriously 3D knitting... then going on about 2D patterns?
        
       | willis936 wrote:
       | Right now I'm doing the opposite: 3D printing a loom for hand-
       | knit garments.
       | 
       | https://www.printables.com/model/1483991-fall-is-looming-the...
        
         | bregma wrote:
         | Looms weave. You need a knitting machine to knit.
        
           | serf wrote:
           | that's true, but there are also like 200 sock knitting
           | machine designs for FDM printing out there , maybe they're
           | just slowly walking through all of the printable textile
           | methods .
           | 
           | loom is probably more satisfying to get working right, but
           | the knitting machines are a joy to just stare at while
           | they're working. Hypnotic.
        
             | bregma wrote:
             | Warping a loom by hand is a nightmare of repetitive
             | tweaking, drawing each warp end through a heddle and
             | adjusting the tension, one by one and back again. It's like
             | restringing and tuning a guitar with _hundreds_ of strings.
             | 
             | Even hand knitting is slightly better -- cast 250 stitches
             | on to a circular needle then start the next row, only to
             | find 10 rows later you've twisted it and are now knitting a
             | Moebius sweater. Rip it out and repeat (sometimes referred
             | to as "frogging" or "tinking").
             | 
             | Yeah, knitting machines are satisfying in many ways.
        
       | WillAdams wrote:
       | Interestingly, this potentially has applications beyond clothing.
       | 
       | A while back, Lee Valley did a 3D knitted chisel roll using
       | Kevlar and other materials, in support of the Canadian company
       | which invented the 3D knitting process used (unfortunately, at
       | the time, I didn't have the money or need for --- I've since
       | updated my woodworking toolkit and have a nice set of chisels
       | which it would have been perfect for, except it was discontinued
       | and is no longer available...)
        
       | jeffreysmith wrote:
       | I interviewed these guys for an article on the use of seaweed in
       | yarn and fabric. And I bought the 3D knit seaweed sweater. Great
       | team, with a lot of heart and good intentions.
       | 
       | I'm also a hand knitter, and I don't really see any conflict
       | between what they're doing and hand knitting. The grist of the
       | yarn that you use as a hand knitter is generally much thicker
       | than these machines commonly use. Commercial 3D knitting machines
       | can do all of the stretchy, thin, and light stuff that the modern
       | wardrobe is built around.
       | 
       | As folks note, this technology was really pioneered by
       | Shimaseki's work in Japan just decades ago. What OC and the
       | similar Brooklyn-based Tailored Industry are really innovating on
       | is the business model and connection to production process. Folks
       | like this are really serious about not producing all of the waste
       | that comes with most fashion production processes, and it shows
       | up at several levels of the stack.
       | 
       | For the HN crowd, TI's platform gives you more of a sense of why
       | this sort of tech is really like the cloud for knitwear:
       | https://tailoredindustry.com/platform
       | 
       | Really a fascinating part of the global fashion production world,
       | and one we would all benefit from seeing grow.
        
         | vessenes wrote:
         | I have a small sweater line I'm looking at doing in china right
         | now but I have a long lasting fascination with the shima seki
         | machines. If you were doing a short fashion run would TI be
         | appropriate? How does one get their preferred yarn over to
         | someone like TI?
        
           | jeffreysmith wrote:
           | They definitely are a powerful option for smaller scale runs.
           | Very much optimized to have the unit economics and turnaround
           | time work for smaller brands.
           | 
           | I don't really know the answer around supplying your own
           | yarn. I'd assume that's the abnormal case, but just a guess.
        
           | chrisBob wrote:
           | TI says that they offer custom yarn at their "Flagship"
           | level, with a $20k upfront cost. Not sure how that compares
           | to setting up production overseas.
           | 
           | Look at their plan features chart:
           | https://tailoredindustry.com/pricing/boutique
        
       | idiot900 wrote:
       | This is an ad for a company that drop ships their product from
       | another company that has made its business on offering production
       | and fulfillment of canned (but customizable) 3D knit styles.
        
         | tecleandor wrote:
         | Are they dropshipping preexisting designs, or are they making
         | custom orders to a knitting company?
         | 
         | Edit: totally sincere question, I don't know their process
        
           | chrisBob wrote:
           | Tailored Industries (the factory) says they have over 300
           | products that are available immediately as white-labeled
           | items at your custom online boutique. I don't know if any of
           | _these_ designs were customized or not, but it is a
           | surprisingly low startup cost to put together a shopify store
           | and have Tailored Industries make your clothes on demand. You
           | need some photos, and a cool looking brand, and they do all
           | of the hard work. I wonder if I should open up my own shop...
        
         | SV_BubbleTime wrote:
         | Very very much an ad, including the current top level comment
         | from the looks of things.
         | 
         | It's only missing em dashes. At least someone cleaned those
         | out.
        
       | Krei-se wrote:
       | My grandfather wrote a scifi utopia featuring printed-on-human
       | garments similar to this ("Fahrt nach Futuras").
       | 
       | So you would wake up, wash then stand on some platform and have
       | your daily outfit knitted on you. Not sure how he worked around
       | the risk of strangling though lol.
       | 
       | Still funny. Thanks making it reality!
        
       | mhb wrote:
       | They seem to have left out the most interesting part - what does
       | that machine cost?
        
         | serf wrote:
         | yeah. I was waiting for at least some kind of portal into the
         | actual engineering and craft of the thing due to the name of
         | the article, and was left with an advertisement flavored sour
         | aftertaste.
        
       | mastax wrote:
       | Uniqlo offers a few 3D knit items, I've been meaning to try them
       | out. Pretty basic styles though.
        
       | patall wrote:
       | Would be cool if it could also de-knit to modify clothing or
       | reuse later. I.e if there is a hole: automatically deknit, splice
       | in a replacement and fix it. Or if your belly growth: deknit and
       | make that section slightly wider.
       | 
       | And can you use finer yarn as well, like lace? The reason a
       | sweater is knit like it is, is because of the tradeoff between
       | knitting time and material needed. But if labor becomes free, you
       | should be able to knit much bigger yet more delicate stuff.
       | 
       | Edit: ah, deknitting is called frogging
        
       | teiferer wrote:
       | Funny that they speak so negatively about "fast fashion". If
       | anything I would expect on-demand clothes production contribute
       | to an _increase_ in that phenomenon, rather than the opposite.
        
         | criticas wrote:
         | Not at these prices :-) $150 - $200 for a sweater is not cheap.
         | I think of fast fashion in terms of "how many times do I have
         | to wear it to get my money's worth?" If the answer is less than
         | the number of times I'd wear it in a year, it's fast fashion.
         | Of course, if you're a thrift shop shopper, most fashion is
         | fast fashion.
        
       | criticas wrote:
       | What a thoroughly modern world we live in. My first reaction was
       | to check if this was an April Fool's blog post.
        
       | jaustin wrote:
       | Can anyone else comment on the durability claims here - I wear a
       | lot of knitwear but in my experience it is almost never the case
       | that they fail at the seams. Is the cut/sew mechanism of
       | fabrication part of the weakening? (my jumpers tent to either
       | wear through in elbows (patchable!) or ultimately get nicked/cut
       | by something like a branch I failed to avoid).
        
       | kdazzle wrote:
       | I'm kind of in this space - 3d knitting is pretty interesting,
       | but knitting a sweater like that takes a long time (I forget how
       | long, but I think it's 1-2 hours), so it's not really a solution
       | for working at any sort of scale. Unless you build up inventory
       | or have a ton of machines. But the machines are super expensive
       | compared to regular knitting machines.
       | 
       | I also think that wholegarment knits look kind of cheap and that
       | sewing actually adds structural integrity and durability to a
       | garment.
       | 
       | But anything knitting or clothes related is really fun and
       | challenging and good for them for making a business out of it.
        
         | janeerie wrote:
         | "I also think that wholegarment knits look kind of cheap and
         | that sewing actually adds structural integrity and durability
         | to a garment."
         | 
         | This is an ongoing discussion in the handknitting community.
         | Knitters generally hate seaming (we're not sewers!) so the most
         | popular patterns tend to be seamless. However, many argue that
         | this leads to shapeless, saggy garments that aren't as
         | wearable.
        
       | olejorgenb wrote:
       | "Most important 3D-knitting offers the promise of customization,
       | or as we call it, the chipotle effect. Size and fit are the
       | number one reasons people return clothes purchased online and in
       | person.
       | 
       | In the next few years, maybe even months, we'll be able to solve
       | that problem for good. Since 3D-knitting allows us to knit on
       | demand, we'll soon be able to offer every size imaginable in
       | every style, material, and color."
       | 
       | I had hoped they provided this already.
        
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