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Writer's pictureRochana Devi

Knitting is more Sustainable than Weaving.!

Updated: May 20, 2020

Knitting is an art of inter looping single yarn to create a fabric as opposed to weaving, which is interlacing yarns to create fabric. The art of hand knitting has been practiced for thousands of years. Hand Knitting has been a popular pastime with the ladies, though in most popular particularly in hill regions with lower temperatures because of easier and quicker change of design to express their creativity.



Weaving is the interlacing of yarns to create a piece of fabric that is referred to as weaving. It requires warp and weft yarns, where warp yarns are withdrawn from the single-end yarn packages on the creel & directly wound on a beam and weft yarn is filled in the bobbin which is later weaved to create fabrics


bobbin and shuttle
bobbin and shuttle

Knitted fabrics are more Comfortable


Knitting is different from weaving because a single yarn is enough to knit a piece of fabric whereas weaving requires warp and weft to create a piece. Knitted fabrics are looped structured, they can stretch in all directions and recovers as the body moves for more comfort to the wearer than the woven fabrics stretched in one direction only.


wovens knit

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Comfort and ease of fit have become a characteristic of knitted fabric incomparable to woven fabrics. Knitted fabrics are usually bulkier to act as a good insulator in a cold climate. Knitted pieces require less care than woven fabric.


Knitting Fabrics are favorite for Sustainable Fashion


Machine Knitting process is a more friendly environment friendly than the weaving because a single knitting machine is enough to make the full piece of fabric than weaving need full shade and set off more energy-consuming machines emitting high CO2 _emission in the environment


Hand Knitting is a Zero low waste generating Zero carbon Emitted, a low-cost employment-generating process for making fully-fashioned knitwear.


Knitted fashioned top

The innovation of #3Dknitting, seamless knitting, and has played an effective role in further reducing waste, lowering transport emissions, and removing post knitting operations to produce economic and #sustainable fashion.

3D knitting

The whole garment is knitted at a time in the #Seamlessknitting machine. It has also increased the ability to design knitted pieces in a faster design to the market. Seamless knitting innovation has allowed businesses to move near customer bases to reduce transport emissions in the product life cycle.


Ready to wear Garment Knitting

The shape of the pattern can be achieved through knitting(fully fashioned), without wastage of yarn, and energy consumption.


#TubularKnitting is the area from hem to the armhole and is knitted in tubular and then sleeves are seamed to it. It has also reduced post knitting operations like finishing the side seams and hem. Many times, yarns are unraveled from pieces to make a new piece; these steps in knitting have proved to be very effective to reduce waste and energy.

Seamless Tubular t-shirt

Natural and #recycle yarn is most commonly used in #weftknitting by the #sustainablefashiondesigner for making earth-friendly fabrics for offering Bold Ethical statements to the #milliniums.



various knitwear developments

The process of knitting is not as complex as weaving, making it a better option for lower-income families to generate income, and knitting can be learned easily by everyone.


Hand knitting with Recycled Yarn

The #carbonemissions produced by knitting is very less compared to weaving. In weaving every time the shafts are pulled up and down energy is required to interlace the yarn to make the fabric in comparison to knitting, interloping of yarn is continuous and energy consumed tends to be lesser, making it #ecofriendly and less carbon emitter.


In Post-operational processes, carbon emission is less in knitting than in weaving and finishings. For example- the hem must be finished and is usually double folded and stitched but in knitting, the hem is finished with rib edge which is already been knitted while knitting the panel.


Hem finish for knits



Hem finish for woven

Sustainability in the #Fashionindustry is very much needed for saving the mother earth from the danger of climate change. Brands are often talking for brand marketing then adopting the sustainable practice. on it. It’s sad to see the number of landfills generated by #fastfashion due to overuses of not easily #degradable synthetic fiber.


I believe that this moral sustainability comes within oneself and is very important to save #envioment. The irony is we favor economics over sustainability. Its high time that we all act on it before nature acts on us.


Investing in #naturalfiber made fabrics rather than synthetic fabric is a good start towards sustainability. Clothing Iindustries encouraged for reusing its waste then throw in landfills. The unsold garments inventories #recycled to make yarn and useful products instead of sending them to third world countries where piles of clothes are just dumped. This could be a small step moving closer to #savenature.





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2 Comments


You truly are a genius in the making......if not one already.

Lucid and to the point.

Bring it on .....we want more of such amazing info !!

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Shiva Matrubai
Shiva Matrubai
May 10, 2020

Nice and detailed information and difference between knitting and weaving by Rochanna

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