Australian knitwear manufacturer Silver Fleece is investing in Shima Seiki WHOLEGARMENT technology at its Bowden mill in Adelaide, building seam-free, digitally driven production capacity onshore.

The company confirmed the investment during a facility visit by Steve Georganas, Federal Member for Adelaide. Georganas attended the March launch of Australia's first National Manufacturing Strategy for Fashion and Textiles at Parliament House in Canberra, and toured the mill to see how advanced knitting technology and skills development are being applied at manufacturing level.

Central to the strategy are Shima Seiki computerised WHOLEGARMENT flat knitting machines. The technology knits garments three-dimensionally and to shape, cutting out the trimming and material waste generated by conventional cut-and-sew production. For a mill with an existing circular knitting, dyeing, cutting, sewing, linking and finishing chain, the addition turns Silver Fleece into a single-site operation capable of taking a digital design through to a finished garment.

Skills move in-house

The company is not buying machines alone. It is developing the programming expertise needed to run them internally, and co-owner and creative director Melanie Flintoft frames this as the decisive shift. Bringing design, programming and manufacturing together within the mill will allow the business to develop products from initial concept rather than simply manufacture existing designs, she said.

Staff are currently in training on the technology. Silver Fleece treats the development of local technical skills as an integral part of the investment, not an afterthought.

Why the vertical model matters for buyers

Established in 1951, Silver Fleece describes itself as one of Australia's remaining vertically integrated, yarn-forward knitwear mills. The company positions the WHOLEGARMENT capability as a complement to that chain, and the stated commercial rationale is speed: faster sampling, lower waste, and removal of the lengthy offshore lead times that typically shape apparel development timelines.

For sourcing teams, that is the operative point. A domestic, digitally integrated mill that can move from concept to finished garment without offshore sampling loops changes the calculus on nearshore versus offshore knitwear programmes — particularly for development-heavy or small-battery orders where iteration speed outweighs unit labour cost.

The investment also forms part of a wider effort to retain and develop advanced textile manufacturing capability in Australia, aligned with the policy direction set by the National Manufacturing Strategy for Fashion and Textiles launched in March.

The sourcing decision

Buyers assessing Australian knitwear supply now have a confirmed vertically integrated option with seamless capability onshore. The open question for procurement teams is whether Silver Fleece's capacity and pricing can compete at scale — but for brands prioritising lead-time compression, waste reduction and provenance in knitwear, the Adelaide mill warrants a qualification review.