Santoni’s exclusive training program aims to drive originality and quality in knitting product development by bringing talented designers together with dynamic knitting solutions.

By Dr. Andre West, Technical Editor

The vision of the Santoni Pioneer Program (SPP) is to further the development of global knitted apparel designers that show special talent or creativity by giving these designers access to the newest Santoni equipment, training, and technicians over a two-month period in Shanghai, China. Providing the designers an undisturbed industrial platform to communicate their design talents and ideas using a wealth of specialized yarn choices as well as access to Santoni’s own lab knitting machines and engineers, narrows the communication barriers between the designer and equipment to discover new stitch and garment applications. Speaking of the program, Santoni’s Vice President of product development Tiziano Sandonini, said: “The goal is to drive the world of the knitting designer, providing them with breakthrough dynamic solutions distinguished by outstanding equipment at their fingertips with an aim to improve the originality and quality of products to enhance the innovation of the industry and fashion, to conjugate product development to market demand.”

Santoni is a 100-year-old company founded in Italy as a sock machine manufacturer. Since its inception, the company has grown to serve the global knitting business in all forms of circular knits. Santoni Shanghai was founded in 2005 as a manufacturing and marketing hub for the Far East in the field of large-diameter sock machines and seamless machines. It is part of the global Lonati brand. The Shanghai, China, plant employs both Italian and Chinese engineers working in unison to produce machines and parts as well as provide training mainly for the Far East market. However, Santoni Shanghai tries to blend the international world of knitwear design with the SPP.

Competitive Application Process

The program began in 2015 with just three designers. Since then, it has grown into a program that invites a small group of designers from around the world twice yearly to immerse themselves in the world of Santoni and technical seamless knitting. Earning a spot in the program is extremely competitive, but the reward is big. Since SPP’s inception, 127 designers have applied and only 40 designers from 16 countries have been accepted to the program, and some designers applied multiple times before being accepted. Many of the designers who complete the training progress to work with Santoni customers all around the world. The ninth edition of SPP took place in May and June of 2019, and four designers were accepted to participate — Bettina Blomstedt from Helsinki, Finland; Daniela Becker from Germany currently residing in Switzerland; Hsiang Ju Kung from Taiwan; and Rebecca Marsden from Ireland currently residing in London.

“My recent collection of work at The Royal College of Art in London has focused on performance wear in an aerial dance context,” Marsden said. “I was interested to push my work and begin exploring fine gauge machines and seamless knitting technology to enhance my designs and support the body in motion and post-performance.”

Program Requirements

All the designers have formal training in design with differing levels of knitting and knitwear knowledge, are able to communicate in English and exhibit strong leadership skills as well as the ability to delegate tasks. These are the requirements for the application. Each designer must provide an extensive portfolio of their work and present a concept based on the brief provided by the Santoni Shanghai Team.

The brief for the most recent SPP was as follows: “Textiles have permeated into every aspect of our world but there are still many communication barriers between different parts of the textile industry especially with technology moving at such a rapid pace. This obstacle may exist between the various industries with an industrial chain such as knitted garment manufacture which has to take into consideration the design and manufacture of fiber, yarn, color, knitting, and construction. Or between different cultural backgrounds, or different views of various lifestyles. Modern lifestyle is becoming faster and more complex, which is creating a need for collections to be both functional and emotional benefits at the same time creating a hybrid between activewear and fashion.”

Three concept maps were presented to the designers as springboards for their collections:

• Active-Inspired Looks — Functional performance is the DNA of active-inspired looks. Structure design and yarn are two engines that take us to the target. How can we push the functional aspects of design further?
• Body-Mapped Geo Knit — Geometric construction is combined with engineered body map and seamless knitting technology. This combination of features, such as a second skin brings together a high level of performance.
• Eco-Based Innovation — With the innovation of textile material, to use new sustainable fibers is always a requirement from consumers as it can help to create a more sustainable living and have the ability to give excellent wearing experience with high performance.

Yarn & Fiber Knowledge

The two months of the SPP was broken into distinct parts. First, yarn and fiber knowledge is shared and the designers are given direct access to yarn suppliers. Most international yarn companies have offices in Shanghai and some have factories on the outskirts of the city. This proximity allows the designers a first-hand view of both the showrooms and the plants. Different manufacturers of natural and man-made yarns introduced their best and newest products to the designers who were left with yarn samples and color cards from many companies. The designers then were allowed to order small quantities from the suppliers later in the program when they had fine-tuned their concepts. Participating yarn establishments included: Woolmark Lab, Südwolle Group, Shaoxing Global Fibre Co., Xlance, Aquafil Group, Dryyarn Polypropylene Yarn, Shanghai Galaxy Metallic Yarn, Lycra Invista, Lenzing, Toray and Nilt. In addition, Santoni’s plant is not far from the Donghua University campuses allowing for lectures from renowned university professors in the areas of fiber and yarn.

In-Depth: Santoni Knitting Technology

The second stage focused on a comprehensive view of the knitting process. Santoni’s specialized engineers for the various equipment walked the designers through all the nuances of the Santoni range to help them understand the characteristics of large-diameter, socks and seamless machines.

Santoni’s knitting technology includes: X-machine, a single-cylinder intarsia shoe/sock machine; TOP2 series single jersey electronic circular body width machine for the production of single jersey seamless garments; SM8 single jersey electronic circular machine with eight feeds; TR1 8 feeds single jersey circular electronic machine with fishnet capabilities; SMDJ machines double knit electronic circular knitting machine for seamless with rib knitting and front and back transfer; large-diameter single jersey machines; Pulsar 2.8 eight lock interlock machine; Atlas single jersey ultra-fine gauge machine without sinkers; as well as a variety of sock machines.

The designers then were left with the task of developing a collection that encompassed as many machines as possible and to make a complete outfit using the vast yarn sample library from many of the companies mentioned earlier. One of the benefits of Santoni equipment is the ability to and the speed at which systems can be cancelled out, which allows for quick yarn changes and concept ideation. Most of the designers wanted to learn circular seamless design. they were given access to an enormous library of original knitted patterns arranged by machine and yarn type extending the boundaries of patterns and textures. Some of the garments were made by previous SPP designers, which gave participants the feeling they were learning from past SPP experience even though these designers had never met one another. The designers saw how the freedom and scope of out-of-the-box thinking in collaboration with cooperative experienced machine engineers could test their wildest ideas.

Designer’s Impressions

“The potential for sustainable garment production in this area is very appealing and the Santoni system of garment making allows for garments that can be produced with little to no waste,” mentioned one designer. “Working on design development that extends over a long period is extremely absorbing and very rewarding. I come from fashion, not knitting technology with a textiles background, so for me I am eager to learn ways in which I can communicate clearly and how I might use this experience to help others from more fashion focused backgrounds to improve their communications with yarn suppliers, technicians, knitting factories and production houses.”

Another designer shared: “Santoni successfully managed to create a comfortable and supportive working environment. Also, this year’s group ranged from students and designers in industry to educators. It is a diverse mix that has made the SPP program very compelling. We can draw on one another’s experiences and share and support the design process. Communication is what stands out the most. When a designer and a technician communicate there is a language barrier even if they both speak English. When working with a Chinese speaking technician, another layer is added to the language barrier but the love of what we do, and the endless possibilities, drive us both. It may take longer than each party might want, but the misinterpretation can sometimes lead to new discoveries, which can spark another idea.”

There are multiple layers of discovery by the designers and the Santoni employees. As individual designers, each participant in the ninth edition of SPP was in the process of establishing their own design style but displayed an independence and confidence that was very apparent. They confided in each other over minute decisions that encapsulated their lives for two months. They were taking in a culture that was new and at the same time blazing a collaborative, but individual trail for the Santoni garments of the future.

Editor’s Notes: Andre West is associate professor and director of The Zeis Textiles Extension for Economic Development, at the Wilson College of Textiles at NC State University, Raleigh, N.C.

All photographs: Photographer, Kris W.; Garment Model, Aly Muravueva; Location, Santoni Shanghai Cn

September/October 2019

Champion® continues its 100-year focus on bringing quality and innovative athleticwear to teams around the globe.

By Jim Borneman, Editor in Chief

Champion® Athleticwear, a brand synonymous with team sports, is celebrating 100 years of serving athletic teams of all stripes. In 1919, the Feinbloom brothers — Abraham and William — founded Knickerbocker Knitting Mills in Rochester N.Y., with a focus on outfitting collegiate sports teams. The University of Michigan became the Feinbloom’s first major university association.

In the 1930s, Knickerbocker Knitting Mills became Champion Knitting Mills Inc., an in a short time, Champion had a presence at colleges and universities as well as physical education programs nationwide.

Innovation In Athleticwear

Champion gained ground in the team sports business by solving problems and improving the quality of athleticwear. Coaches and equipment managers had problems with uniform shrinkage of the uniforms as a result of constantly laundering the players’ gear. Champion set out to solve this problem, and on August 9, 1938, a patent was issued to Samuel N. Friedland of Rochester, N.Y., assignor to Champion Knitwear Co. Inc.

The patent, titled “Athletic Shirt And Method of Making The Same,” detailed a new way of fabricating “sweat shirts and jerseys.” Instead of cutting the garment’s front, back and two sleeves in the standard machine direction of the tubular knitted fabric, the fabric was rotated 90°, with the machine direction going from left to right. The garment was cut out of the tube in one piece using the top of the tube to form a continuous shoulder and sleeve. The top of the tube also allowed for a neck hole to be fashioned without requiring a seam. The under sleeve and sides of the jersey were then seamed, and cuffs and a collar added (see Figure 1).

This concept of rotating the machine direction rotated 90° became known and marketed as Champion’s “Reverse Weave.” Orienting the fabric in Reverse Weave reportedly fixed the shrinkage issues, eliminating the torso shortening and arm shrinkage that occurred in traditionally constructed jerseys.

On October 14, 1952, the U.S. Patent Office granted Friedland and William Feinbloom, assignors to Champion Knitwear Co, Inc. a new patent titled “Athletic Garment Or The Like.” The patent description states: “This invention relates, in general, to wearing apparel, and is directed more particularly, to improvements in the manufacture and construction of garments popularly known as sweat shirts and sweat pants which are worn by athletes and others engaged in sports and athletic activities, or the like.”

The patent illustration shows the reverse weave technique, but in this patent, the one-piece garment from the knit tube is replaced with a more complex construction featuring gussets and side panels. Also, both the jersey and sweat pant constructions are detailed (see Figure 2).

Staying Warm On The Sidelines

The 1970s and 1980s saw introduction of three significant products that help Champion remain popular and successful today.

According to the company, it created one of the most important athletic garments of the 20th century — the hooded sweatshirt. The “hoodie” was designed and developed for practical reasons and was first introduced as a warm up or sideline garment for athletes to wear in-between game time or practice sessions. Today, the garment is ubiquitous — worn daily everywhere from the athletic field to the school classroom and beyond. The hoodie achieved pop icon status and the Reverse Weave hoodie was permanently installed into the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2018.

Reversible — Inside Out

Splitting into two teams in gym class was made easier when Champion introduced the Double Sided — or reversible — T-Shirt. The shirt could be manufactured in the school’s colors if desired and could be reversed from one color to another to indicate players on each team.

According to the company, Champion also was the first to design and manufacture a breathable nylon mesh fabric that became a staple fabric for basketball uniforms across the globe.

Outfitting The NBA

From 1989 to 1997, Champion was the official outfitter of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The company outfitted all 27 teams on the court as well as manufactured “authentic” merchandise that was sold off the court — a significant business for Champion at a very popular time for the NBA.

Champion also was selected to outfit the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team, the so-called “Dream Team” that went on to win the gold medal in basketball at the Barcelona Olympics. According to Champion, winning the gold medal “helped [the company] establish its reputation as an authentic, athletic apparel brand in Europe.”

Celebrating “100 Years For The Team”

To mark its centennial year, in January 2019 Champion announced a campaign that would focus on “what it means to be a team in 2019 from the perspective of participating teams, clubs, squads and crews across the world.” Throughout the year, Champion has highlighted and celebrated teams using social media, a special website, exclusive product collections, events and influencer partnerships. Select teams also were chosen to be featured in a centennial celebration video.

The campaign launched with a special film that features basketball legend Magic Johnson. In the film, Johnson shares his thoughts on what makes a great team. “As part of the ‘Dream Team,’ I experienced first-hand the power of people coming together to achieve great things,” Johnson said. “I’m pleased to celebrate the power of teams in Champion’s 100th anniversary campaign.”

“This significant milestone for Champion allows us to reflect on what ‘team’ and the evolution of ‘sports’ means today to consumers around the globe,” said Jon Ram, group president, global activewear, Hanesbrands Inc. Today, Champion is part of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Hanesbrands’ portfolio of apparel brands. “Helping people come together as teams and being innovators in the industry has been an important part of our brand’s story since the very beginning. Now is the time to look ahead and celebrate how teams today have the power to change the world for the better, and how we assist in enabling them.”

One Hundred And Counting

From its humble beginnings in Rochester to growing into one of the world’s most established brands, Champion’s centennial is a true testament to Abraham and William Feinbloom‘s vision — outfitting the team with quality and innovative athleticwear — while celebrating the power of team identity.

Today, Champion maintains its focus on the team and also has had a resurgence in pop culture with successful collaborations with streetwear brands, including BAPE® and Supreme.

As this lineage of quality and innovation continues, Champion’s history supports its future — and the future looks bright.

September/October 2019