Most people have never seen where their clothes actually begin, and that's okay - how could you have?
But what is more important is:
Why should you care?
Without knitting mills, there is simply no local fabric. Without local fabric, there is no truly local garment industry. Once these skills and machines disappear, rebuilding them becomes incredibly difficult.
When people think about clothing production, they often picture sewing machines, pattern cutters or finished garments hanging on a rack. But long before a garment reaches our factory in Thornbury, it starts somewhere else entirely...
Welcome inside one of
Australia's last knitting mills.
Patiently waiting to be transformed into fabric, multiple spools of yarn are fed into circular knitting machines - some of which have been running since the 1980s - where thousands of tiny loops are formed every minute, gradually turning yarn into fabric.
Some of these machines can knit hundreds of kilograms of fabric in a single run.
It’s a process that feels almost magical when you see it in person. What begins as a single thread becomes metres and metres of cloth, ready for the next stage of production.
Many of the fabrics used in Australian Stitch garments begin their journey here, right on these machines.
Every yarn type, weight and fabric construction is carefully tracked throughout production. Small changes can dramatically affect how a garment feels, performs and wears over time.
Once knitted, the fabric travels to a local dyehouse where colour, softness and finish are carefully developed before arriving at our factory. There, each roll is cut, sewn and finished into the garments you know and love.
"While these steps are happening largely out of sight, they form part of a manufacturing ecosystem that has been shrinking out of our country for decades".
- Ralph, CEO of our local knitting mill.
Where Australia was once home to dozens of knitting mills, only a small number remain today. Each one represents specialised knowledge, skilled trades and infrastructure that cannot be rebuilt overnight once it's gone.
The reality is that clothing manufacturing doesn't begin at the sewing machine. It relies on a network of mills, dye houses, technicians, mechanics, cutters, machinists and makers, all working together to keep production moving.
Every Australian Stitch garment is shaped by that collective effort.
By choosing to make locally, we're not only investing in our own garments, but in the people and industries that continue to make Australian manufacturing possible. We're proud to work alongside them and play a part in helping keep the same skills alive for the next generation.
How Australian Made Clothing Is Made:
Cotton is spun into yarn.
Yarn is knitted into fabric.
Fabric is dyed and finished.
Fabric is cut into garment pieces.
Garments are sewn together.
Finished garments are checked and packed.
Garments are then sold at our store in Fitzroy, Victoria.
