What does fineness mean for circular and warp knitting? The fineness is indicated by the technical characteristic “gauge”. Gauge indicates how many knitting needles are working on one inch (2.54 cm) of the machine work area in the manufacture of fabrics. The more needles working on one inch, the finer the gauge and the finer the fabric.
While for standard fabrics there are only 20 or 28 knitting needles per inch (E20, E28), the Superfine® knitting technology works in the area of 44 to 80 needles on the same space on the knitting machine (E44, E80). That this means completely new demands on the knitting itself as well as on the technological implementation and precision engineering of the machines goes without saying. With Superfine® knitting has been virtually reinvented. Completely new techniques have had to be developed.
A few imposing figures:
- On a Superfine® knitting machine more than 8,500 needles may be working.
With standard E20 it is only 1,872. - In the stitch structure of the finished fabric in the same place of a single stitch of a standard fabric with Superfine® there are up to 8 to 10 stitches. Superfine® fabrics are therefore 8 to 10 x finer than traditional fabrics.
- A Superfine® fabric can have up to 3.800 individual stitches per square centimetre.
- Per working day a Superfine® knitting machine creates over 14 billion individual knit stitches.