Wholegarment

WHOLEGARMENTA registered trademark (WHOLEGARMENT) for seamless flat knitting technology developed by Japanese knitting machine manufacturer SHIMA SEIKI.

A knitwear manufacturing method that knits an entire garment in one piece on a knitting machine without seams

Unlike the standard method of knitting the front panel, back panel, and sleeves separately and sewing them together, this technology knits the garment as a finished product on a single knitting machine. In terms of appearance, its distinct feature is the absence of seams where fabric is sewn together along the shoulder line, sides, or inner sleeves. It is applied to the production of various knitwear such as sweaters, hoodies, and tops.

A WHOLEGARMENT knit smoothly knitted without seams — Explanatory image created by hmmm

A hoodie shoulder line knitted without seams

Appearance

Even when turned inside out, there are no seam allowances or stitch lines joining pieces of fabric together. The shoulders, side lines, and armhole lines are smoothly connected as a single knitted piece. Instead of sewn areas, marks where stitches gather or decrease during the machine knitting process are visible along the curves.

Knitwear sewn together from pieces versus WHOLEGARMENT knit as a single piece

Use

Elimination of seam allowances Reduces irregularities touching the skin as there are no protruding fabric seams on the inside.
Retention of stretch Stretches along the inherent stretch direction of the knit fabric because it is not bound by sewing threads.
Durability Prevents seam threads from unraveling or joined sections from tearing.

When choosing

Check for the 'seamless' label in the product description and the presence of seam lines on the inside of the garment. In product photos, there should be no stitching marks where the sleeves join the body. Because there is no seam allowance margin, it is difficult to alter the width by letting it out or taking it in, so you must verify the detailed measurements provided.

Additional information

Fully Fashioned: A method where pieces are knit to shape according to each part and then finished by sewing seams together, so seam lines exist.
Seamless: An umbrella term referring broadly to methods without seam lines, which also includes bonded fabrics and circular knitting methods.

Some images are explanatory images created with AI.