Merz b. Schawanen. Founded in 1911, this company closed in 2008, only be revived again in 2011 by current owner Peter Plotnicki. Driven by his passion for traditional fabrication processes, Plotnicki and his team manufacture in Germany utilizing loopwheeler knitting machines - loopwheeling is an old technique of knitting garments in a circle creating a tube of fabric without any seams. It was patented in 1926 and died out in the 1950s. It produces a slightly irregular knit but also one that is very dense and soft. That density is largely down the slowness of production, which means less tension is put on the cotton. Most loopwheelers can only produce around one metre of fabric every hour. Own a piece of garment that pays homage to manufacture of days gone by.
