Japan is home to Shima Seiki, the inventor of seamless WHOLEGARMENT knitting, and to a cluster of family knitting factories that supply both Japanese and international luxury labels. Japanese knitwear favours natural fibres, muted palettes and an artisanal take on industrial knitting, and Japanese labels are increasingly available through international stockists.
Knitwear houses in Japan
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Batoner
$$In-house label of a Yamagata family knitting mill operating since 1951
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evam eva
$$Quiet, natural-fibre Japanese knitwear designed, made and sold in-house by a Yamanashi mill
Japan knitwear: frequently asked questions
Which luxury knitwear brands are from Japan?
Luxury knitwear houses from Japan in this index include Batoner and evam eva. Japanese luxury knitwear is prized for technical precision: mills in Yamagata, Niigata and Gunma knit on Shima Seiki WHOLEGARMENT machines and finish garments with obsessive attention to hand and fit..
Why is Japanese knitwear so good?
Japanese knitwear combines advanced knitting technology (Shima Seiki's seamless WHOLEGARMENT machines are Japanese) with small family factories in Yamagata and Niigata that finish garments by hand. The result is precise, comfortable knitwear with a distinctive minimalist aesthetic.