Stitch Lab

Stitch Lab is our latest structure fully dedicated to innovation. It works as Steiger’s customer interface to train and support our clients.
Experts in knitting and programming work together with our customers to develop their future applications.
The full range of most advanced Steiger’s machines is available, allowing knitting complex fashion knitwear, medical pieces or 3D composite preforms.
In the Stitch Lab, Steiger technicians, customers and scientists work in a very friendly and stimulating environment to discover the future applications of the flat knitting technology.

Collaboration

SolarStratos is a mission, initiated by Swiss eco-explorer Raphael Domjan. It aims to achieve the first solar-powered stratospheric flight at an altitude of more than 24,000 metres. With a wingspan of 24.8 metres and weighing in at 450kg, the tandem twin-seater will fly just like any other aircraft with an autonomy of 24h. The challenge is to gain weight everywhere. Each kg saved increases the altitude that will be reached. Steiger as official supplier of the project collaborates to knit 3D carbon fibbers preforms. The preforms are then coated with resin and solidified in a mold. The resulting parts are ultra-light and highly resistant.

ETHZ

The KnitCandela project leaded by the ETHZ (Swiss federal institute of technology of Zurich) is a breakthrough of the utilization of the knitted preform in the architecture. KnitCandela is a thin, sinuous concrete shell built on an ultra-lightweight knitted formwork that was carried from Switzerland to Mexico in a suitcase.

KnitCrete is a novel, material-saving, system for the casting of doubly curved geometries in concrete. KnitCrete formworks use a custom, 3D-knitted, technical textile as a lightweight, stay-in-place shuttering, coated with a special cement paste. Compared to conventional weaving, knitting minimises the need for cutting patterns to create spatial surfaces.