Sock Talk: Commercial Knitting & Style Changes

Sock people to the core, we love what we do. Part of that love is sharing the how’s and why’s of the way we work. There is a lot of work that goes into our process of crafting high-quality socks. We find that empowering our customers with the option to learn more about the details of sock manufacturing and our specific processes builds a shared common understanding and better partnership for both sides.

 This article's focus is on the Style Change process.

 A style change is simply the event when a machine is changed from knitting one program to another. One of the details many people are unaware of (even long-time sock people), is that there is a significant time investment with a highly experienced machine technician when it comes to preparing a machine to knit a style.  The more complicated the sock design, the more complicated the machine setup is.

Style changes are not just a matter of loading up a knitting program. When a new style is put on a machine, in addition to threading each yarn color on the machine, a technician must run many tests to make sure that the machine is producing the style, size, and cross stretch to the exact standards laid out in the master spec sheet that was established once you approved your sample(s). If the production needs to run on multiple machines, the technician needs to do the same testing and calibrations on each machine.

To improve our efficiency we took an intensive look at the amount of time we were spending on style changes. It was no surprise that we could drastically impact our ability to meet the growing demand by decreasing machine downtime that is spent on style changes. The ultimate outcome is that we need to run machines longer on each style. We determined that five hundred pairs are the ideal minimum to knit.

A color change is not a style change. While we do have to change all the yarns feeding into a machine, this is not nearly as time-intensive as a style change. As such, we are happy to do a single color swap within that 500 pairs.

We do have an Emerging Brands program. If you are a small business but see significant growth in the future of your sock line, we would love to work with you. Our Emerging Brands program allows for you and Sunnyside to partner together with a focus on growing your brand to the stage where you can graduate out of the Emerging Brands program and easily meet the 500 MOQ requirement. Note that spots in this program are limited. Please do not hesitate to contact us to learn more about working together.  

2020 Year End Message to Customers

Thank you for your business this year. This year has been a wild ride, and we are grateful to have been on this journey with an amazing and growing group of discerning brands. We are ending the year busier than ever, though not without some hiccups.

Sunnyside Updates:

We are experiencing supply chain and production delays at the moment. The pandemic has impacted supply chains globally. Our suppliers are US-based companies, but some of the components they source (ie nylon) may be sourced internationally. The local companies that provide our raw materials are impacted due to Covid-19 health and safety restrictions.

Covid-19 numbers have exploded in our region. We are working hard to ensure we are in line with, or going beyond recommended state health department and CDC guidelines to protect the health and safety of our employees. We have transitioned the majority of our office staff to work remotely from home. However, as a manufacturer, most of our factory staff are not able to telecommute. As such we have adjusted work schedules to ensure physical distancing can be maintained. Masks are mandatory at all times in our facility, and we do provide a new clean mask to every employee every day. Additionally, we provide paid sick leave to ensure those that are unwell are able to stay home and help protect their co-workers.

What this means for you:

1. We will have delayed phone & email communication for the next few weeks. With our office staff working from home, phones will not be regularly answered during business hours. We will be regularly checking and returning all voice mails as quickly as possible. Emails may take a bit longer to respond to, but we promise we are here and working quickly to reply.

2. Some production orders are being delayed. The aforementioned supply chain issues, as well as the staffing constraints from the additional health & safety measures we have put in place, are both creating unavoidable delays.

We realize this is a crucial time of year and this will impact you and your business. Please know we are here and working hard to provide you with the best products and service possible in these trying times.

Your understanding and patience are most appreciated. We will get through this together and are looking forward to returning to our normal pace of communication and production next month.

Please stay safe and healthy this holiday season.