Some 200 tonnes of merino wool are used every year to produce our garments. The wool is dyed and spun in Europe before it is delivered to our factory as finished rolls of yarn. Once with us, the first stage is the knitting. Our unique material Ullfrotté Original is knitted in our knitting hall, on specially made knitting machines.
Our special knitting method was developed to enhance the properties of the wool and create highly functional garments. Precision is needed in the machine settings to synchronise the knitting frequency to create Ullfrotté Original. Wool is a living material and getting the fabric completely perfect is no simple task. Sometimes problems arise that need to be dealt with by our technicians and machine operators. This may be something like a worn-down needle that creates lines in the material, or fibres that are too long and stick out from the yarn and get tangled. If either of these happen the material does not get approved, and we cannot use it in our products. But since the material still has its functionality, we sell it by the metre in our factory outlet store so that creative people can sew their own clothes with it.
In order to make the yarn work better in the machines we need more moisture in the air. By adding steam in the roof, we get air moisture of between 53% to 60% which prevents any static arising during the knitting process. Our technicians and machine operators keep an eye on things constantly to check whether any faults need fixing.
Seams are the weakest link in the fabric and that is where there is the greatest risk of the material breaking. Which is why most of our garments are constructed from round-knitted, tube-like material, with no lengthwise seams. Even the sleeve and leg cuffs are knitted as one piece. And the fact that we round-knit the material also means we get less waste material. Additionally, with fewer seams the garments become softer and the risk of chafing is minimised.
Our knitting hall also contains about 35 machines that knit different models of socks around the clock. Our sock machines are able to knit different patterns into the sock. To knit a sock with a certain appearance, our technicians programme how the needles need to move, and which yarn needs to be used for which section.
We work in the knitting hall
Karin Andersson
I’ve been working at Woolpower since March 2020 and serve as the team leader for our knitting operators and material handling.
The best thing about my job is my colleagues. We are a strong team that always supports each other. No two days are the same, and there’s always something new happening. I have a lot of fun with them, and we laugh every day!
– Woolpower is a very welcoming company, which I felt right from the start, and that feeling still remains. It’s impressive to see that when needed, everyone helps each other, no matter their role within the company.
