We are very proud to be working with some of the best people in the industry who are experts in their field. As they are all local to us being just over 20 miles from our studio we are able to visit them whenever we want and maintain a strong working relationship.
Discovery Knitting
Discovery knit the jersey and loopback with certified organic yarn for our t-shirts and sweatshirts and are based in South Wigston, Leicestershire just over 20 miles from our office. They knit high quality knit fabrics for fashion designers in the UK and across the world including organic and merino wool.
They are a first generation family run business with mum, dad and daughter all working in the business. They have a proud heritage of manufacturing dedicated British knitted fabrics since 1986 and employ seven full-time staff. They supply to Garbstore, Margaux Lonnberg, Nigel Cabourn and Private White VC as well as some other very well-known designer names. Discovery's ethos has always been, as much as commercially possible, to produce fabric sustainably with as low a carbon footprint as possible. They source the best organic GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard)/natural yarns while also paying the living wage to their experienced, hard-working team of staff.
The Oeko tex pre dyed yarn is from a German yarn dyer who is the very best low impact dyer in Europe. All of Discovery's fabrics are scoured (washed) or dyed all within 10 miles of their Mill, so they have the lowest carbon footprint of any knitted fabric supplier in the UK. They also recycle 90% of all their waste produced and have an ongoing reduction energy program.
All UK dyers and finishers have had to be Azo free for over 15 years and are monitored by the British water companies every month. The UK have some of the best standards in Europe. Discovery's dyers and finishers are all using soft flow low water consumption jet dye machinery. Most of Europe has legislated to be Azo free and harmful chemical clear but Eastern Europe still has issues. China and the Far East are still far from transparent with harmful chemicals still being used.
As part of their energy reduction program Discovery plan to install Solar energy panels on the side of their warehouse. This power will charge their ongoing upgrade to a hybrid vehicle and power their finished fabric warehouse and offices with a view to being 90% fossil free within 5 years. They are also upgrading all of their machine motor drives to invertors at a cost of £2000 each, which will reduce their energy consumption in the knitting mill by a further 30%. This is being funding this entirely themselves, which gives you an idea of their commitment to reducing the impact on the beautiful planet we are guest of. Their website is here.
Rialto Designs
Our digital textile printers, Rialto designs have been working in the industry for many years. They have a brand new, start of the art digital printing machine. The brand new £1 million set-up has no waste water and no need for any external processes such as pre-treatment, steaming and washing. The inks used are all chemical free and of the highest standard .This makes it very eco-friendly, super-fast and also amazing quality.
Fine Knits UK
Our garment manufacturer is Fine Knits Ltd. They are a small family run company established in 2012 with 9 employees. They specialise in knitting and sewing jersey fabrics with various machines including lockstitch, overlock, buttonhole, binding, hemmer and sewing machines. The factory can produce 500- 1000 pieces as week depending on the styles and they make for brands such as Polka Dot USA, Brora and various Japanese customers. They also use heritage body size tubular knit machines to knit their own garments too. We are delighted to be working with them!