Brooklyn-based, on-demand knitwear manufacturer Tailored Industry is launching a capsule collection.
The luxury women’s knitwear collection comprises 10 foundational styles that are preordered and 3-D-knitted in real time. The collection will be available online beginning Nov. 6, with shipping as soon as December. Prices range from $150 to $450.
“We were thinking about the most essential go-to pieces in a modern woman’s lifestyle while we were conceptualizing this collection. What we felt made it stand apart — and really have its own identity from the vast amount of clothes in the market — is that it is casual and cozy, yet it is seamless knitwear as opposed to jersey. The luxurious yarn elevated it to a level that made it unique in the marketplace,” said Tailored Industry’s creative director Lisa Kulson.
Eventually the team narrowed down wardrobe elements to a sweatshirt, sweatpant, legging, bike short, crewneck T-shirt, cropped shell, cardigan, ribbed tank dress and “perhaps our favorite, the versatile go-to V-neck pullover,” in the words of Kulson.
Most of the collection utilizes yarns that are 72 percent viscose and 28 percent polyester. Select accessories, like Tailored Industry’s beanie, will be made in 100 percent merino wool.
Tailored Industry’s secret to knitting clothes on-demand is its proprietary software program run on Japanese 3-D knitting machines. It counts customers like M.M.LaFleur, Allen Edmonds, Ministry of Supply and Bailey44. Through the 3-D knitting process, each garment yields less than 1 percent excess raw material waste — an environmental perk of 3-D manufacturing.
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And Tailored Industry has a vision for its 11,000-square-foot space in Industry City, an industrial complex on the waterfront in the Sunset Park neighborhood in Brooklyn. The company will expand its software-controlled production facility while building up a buyers’ showroom and its corporate offices. Next year, Tailored Industry will expand its operations with hopes to add 100 more 3-D knitting machines and secure a 50,000-square-foot space.
“We are revitalizing Brooklyn manufacturing (which used to be the largest area for knitwear production in the country) and bringing awareness about a new era of manufacturing to come. Next year, we plan to build a factory with 100 knitting machines, and our hiring plans would bring about 70 jobs to the local area,” added Tailored Industry chief executive officer Alex Tschopp.
With present zoning, Industry City has harbored budding small and artisanal businesses gaining a newfound sustainability factor with additions like Tailored Industry and the recent Brooklyn Grange, a modern rooftop farm.
“Tailored Industry is a perfect representation of the spirit of innovation at Industry City. It is carving out a new space where fashion, tech, and manufacturing converge, and doing so in a meaningful and sustainable way,” said Kathe Kramer Chase, director of leasing at Industry City. She said the complex contains a robust fashion community, with players across the entire supply chain.
While the Tailored Industry team is nimble, drawing much of its workforce from the local Sunset Park community, hiring is ramping up over the next six months — with jobs as knitting technicians, programmers, software engineers, sales and marketing professionals, among other positions.
In a broader view, Tschopp believes fashion’s way forward is on-demand manufacturing.
“On-demand production is a more responsible and cost-effective way to procure products for brands, better for our planet and most importantly a drastic improvement to the working conditions for those who ultimately make the clothing we all love,” he said.
A style from Tailored Industry’s capsule. Courtesy
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