The Albion Knitting Company was established in 2014 as the only industrial scale fully fashioned flat Knitting Company in London. Since then our manufacturing has moved to a new facility in the Isle of Man and our London focus has turned towards education with establishment of The Albion Knitting School.
Albion IOM houses a fully vertical knitting, linking and wet finishing plant equipped with Stoll knitting machines, Electolux washing drying and Mentasti automatic pressing. Following electronic knitting garments are assembled by hand using traditional linking and hand sewing techniques. The company is capable of producing 90,000 fully fashioned garments annually to the highest quality standards.
With a minimum order quantity (MOQ) starting at 120 pieces per style and experienced programmers and product developers on hand our team has the skill, knowledge and capability to realise your designs from concept to finished product.
Find out about the specialisms and techniques we offer below, or read more about Produce with us.
Albion is equipped and designed as a fully fashioned flat knitting manufacturer. In 2025, Albion Isle of Man was completely re equipped with the latest generation of Stoll ADF technology. We currently run 36 machines including 16 gauge 7.2 3.5.2 2.5.2 and 520 C which gives us a range of knitting capabilities from 1.5 gauge hand right through to 16 gauge.
We also employ wide bed double head 822 machines which allow us to manufacture for the Home textile market. As a fully fashioned knitter we employ a range of techniques including IKAT Inlay, Plating, Goring, Intarsia, Jacquard and all the standard types of stitch and transfer to create shape and texture. We do not normally use patterns or cut and sew knit fabric preferring to use traditional techniques to calculate knit geometry and knit to shape and form.
Perhaps the most underestimated part of the luxury knitwear manufacturing process is linking. Whilst many of our competitors have moved towards whole garment, Albion has continued to invest in human resources and the skills that underpin the traditional linking method of assembling a luxury knitwear garment.
Albion is equipped with a range of Complett and Exacta linking equipment and Mentasti panel pressing machines which allow us to execute fine gauge linking to the highest standards of couture. Our linking machines range from 1.5 point to 22 point and all our knitwear is lovingly assembled by hand using the traditional point to point method of linked seam construction. This is a time consuming and highly skilled process which takes several years to perfect.
It is this investment in our staff and protecting the traditional skill base that has put Albion at the forefront of luxury knitwear manufacturing in the UK.
The level of skill and craftsmanship demonstrated in our linking department is well matched by the skills, technique and dexterity of our hand sewers.
Hand sewing is another overlooked but critical part of the process of luxury knitwear construction. Whether it is invisibly closing plackets, removing thread ends or finishing the reverse side of sophisticated intarsia or float jacquard patterns, hand sewing is the icing on the cake of a luxury knit.
This is where the function and the form transcends into beauty. Like linking hand sewing is time consuming and highly skilled. A hand sewing artisan has a singular focus to deliver craftsmanship and perfection to complete the garment and their work is the culmination of all the proceeding processes.
Aside from work with a needle our hand sewing artisans are also skilled at a range of other techniques including crochet, hand embroidery, hand knitting and felting techniques.
Blessed with some of the softest water in the British Isles Albion’s move to the Isle of Man has been a godsend to our wet finishing department.
Wet finishing, or what we call the Milling process, is critical to putting the softness into cashmere, the bounce into wool the crispness into cotton. The softness of the water, the balance of the pH level, how to remove the grease and dirt from the spinning process to create the softest and most luxurious garments are trade secrets to every milling manager.Â
Natural fibres are living unique organisms and every die batch has subtle differences that can react in a different way during the milling process.Â
To this end Albion has developed thousands of wash programs to account for all these variables. Our pressing department is highly automated utilising infrared technology to determine the accuracy of measurement in every garment.
Do you have a question or project you’d like to discuss with our team of knitting specialists?
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