3D-Knitting: The Ultimate Guide

Posted by ChadNauseam 7 hours ago

3D-Knitting: The Ultimate Guide(www.oliver-charles.com)

158 points | 57 commentspage 2

zokier 7 hours ago|

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/

criticas 1 hour ago||

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.

doctorhandshake 6 hours ago|||

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 6 hours ago||

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.

dogtimeimmortal 2 hours ago|||

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_Wik...

https://www.knittingparadise.com/forums/machine-knitting.20/

tecleandor 4 hours ago|||

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.

meigwilym 5 hours ago||

Then perhaps the poster is drawing attention to the clever marketing, rather than the machine itself?

willis936 6 hours ago||

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 5 hours ago|

Looms weave. You need a knitting machine to knit.

serf 3 minutes ago||

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.

elil17 7 hours ago||

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 5 hours ago|

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.

ExxKA 6 hours ago||

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 5 hours ago|

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 2 hours ago||

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?

teiferer 7 hours ago|

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 7 hours ago||

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...

Poacher5 6 hours ago|||

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.

mkreis 7 hours ago|||

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.

2muchcoffeeman 4 hours ago|||

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 7 hours ago|||

Most garments have been knitted on knitting machines since the 1850s

127 7 hours ago|||

No, it doesn't miss the point. Different people have different interests. Knitting just hits more overlapping Venn diagrams than just one.

soco 7 hours ago||

The goal is the path... a concept often foreign to western, to contemporary, to techies.