How to Make and Sell Custom Knit Sweaters: A Step-by-Step Guide (2023)

For the first time ever, you can now design premium knitted products that can be made to order. There are no upfront costs or risks. The best part? The knitting is 100% customizable, so you can truly create something unique for yourself or your customers. From the infamous ugly sweaters to classic vests and cardigans, there are hundreds of different knitwear options that you can design and sell instantly.

In this article, we'll review how to manufacture custom knit sweaters, knit cardigans, and knit vests. We'll also explain the design process and how to promote these unique products for your fans. Whether you're a creator looking to expand your merchandise or a fashion enthusiast wanting to venture into the business, custom knit sweaters offer a world of possibilities. 

How to Make and Sell Custom Knit Sweaters: 5 Steps

Step 1: Choose a Manufacturing Partner

Until recently, one of the biggest challenges with making custom knit garments is finding a quality manufacturing partner. Historically, you could try to find your own manufacturing on platforms like Alibaba, but you’ll have to pre-pay for large quantities of inventory and take on all the production risk.

The future of knitwear is Fourthwall's cutting-edge jacquard knitting technology. It's your ticket to premium, on-demand knit sweaters without any upfront costs and no minimum order quantities (MOQs). This means you can design and sell with freedom. Thanks to Fourthwall's partnership with Knitwise, you'll enjoy unmatched quality in needle work and stitching for your community. 

On-demand production ensures that each piece is made to order, eliminating waste from unsold inventory. Not only is selling on-demand easier to manage, but it's also a more sustainable option. Each product is made to order, so there's no waste from unsold inventory. 

This makes it the perfect option for your knitwear line. This isn't just a trend; it's the future of knitwear commerce.

Step 2: Design Your Knit Sweater

After you've decided on your manufacturing partner, the next key step is to decide on your sweater design. You can create a design from scratch or start from many beautiful knitting patterns and templates that Fourthwall provides to you as you're fashioning your knitwear brand:

If you have your own vision, you can work with a designer to sketch and upload any your own sweater designs or patterns! If you've never designed custom knit products before, keep these constraints in mind for your patterns:

1. There's a limit of 4 yarn colors per product. We have 36 beautiful yarn colors available, but only 4 can be woven into any one product. Fourthwall's design tool will automatically reduce your image uploads into 4 colors to make your life easy!
2. The collar, cuffs, and bottom hem must be the same color. Both for design aesthetic and to ensure there are smooth seams, the neckline, cuffs, and bottom ribbing must be the same color. 
3. Products are a cotton-polyester blend (55% cotton, 45% polyester). Using a blend ensures that products feel premium but are durable (the yarn and fabrics keeps its shape across multiple wears)

In total, you can pick from 36 Pantone color swatches for your yarn:

If you’re uploading a custom design, here are our recommendations to get an amazing result:

• Use darker base colors. These are more visually appealing, since the color accent yarns pop and have a more premium effect.
• Make the sleeves unique. If you want to have a high fashion knit, you can opt for asymmetric sleeve designs, which makes this a unique and premium piece of apparel.

Step 3: Order Samples

Before launching, we recommend ordering a sample for two reasons: to promote your product and to ensure you're getting a product that you're proud of. Fourthwall's platform makes it easy to order samples. Once you place an order, here's how the manufacturing process works:

1. The manufacturer receives your order. Once the knitter receives your order, they'll prepare the knitting machine to stitch your knitted garment to perfection
2. Production begins. On average the process to sew your products takes 7-10 days.
3. Shipping. Orders ship from China to anywhere in the world. This process can take between 4-16 days, depending on the priority of shipping.

Here’s an example of a promotional sample knit sweater:

Step 4: Sell Them On Demand

Once you're satisfied with the samples, it's time to sell. With Fourthwall, you can sell your custom knit sweaters on demand. 

Selling your products is as simple as marking them as public in your Fourthwall dashboard and then promoting to your audience. When a fan places an order, the manufacturer is ready to produce each on their industrial sewing machines in 7-10 days. Fans then have the option to choose from two shipping methods:

• Standard Shipping. This takes 12-16 days and on average costs ~$10.50 for a single item
• Rush Shipping. This takes 4-7 days and on average costs ~$25.50 for a single item

Step 5: Market Your Sweaters

Seasonality plays a significant role in sales. While ugly sweaters are usually only popular during the holiday season, many other products like knit cardigans, vests, and beanies are popular year around! That's why it's important to keep the season in mind when deciding on your marketing campaign. Regardless of the products that you're selling, here are the promotional technique that work best:

1. Create a TikTok, Reel, or Short about your custom knit. Be sure to show off the process from design to sample to product
   
2. Create a YouTube video about your new knitwear. Tell the story of why you're proud of it
   
3. Promote it on your live streams
   
4. Use Instagram or Facebook stories to showcase your knitwear and involve your community in the process
   

You can further boost sales by using features like Twitch Gifting or following many other e-commerce best practices. 

HOW TO MAKE CUSTOM KNITWEAR WITH FOURTHWALL

You’re in good hands if you choose Fourthwall to make and sell your custom knitwear. We make it easy and take care of the complicated parts for you:

1. Sign up for Fourthwall
   
2. Navigate to the Products tab and select “Create a new product”
   
3. Choose from our one of our premium, on-demand knitwear options
   
4. Upload your design and start selling
   

LET'S GET STARTED!

From the design phase to the customer's doorstep, Fourthwall makes the entire process seamless. Our on-demand service allows you to focus on what you do best—being creative—while we handle the logistics. 

Creating and selling your own custom knitwear can be a fun and rewarding experience. Plus it’s a great way to make extra money! By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can design a unique and marketable product, work with a factory to bring your design to life, and set up a business to sell your knit to your fans. 

And with the help of Fourthwall, you can easily find the best manufacturing partner from the Fourthwall product catalog to help you make it happen.