How we make Amano knitwear for you

How we make Amano Knitwear.

A lot of work and creativity go into making our hand-knit sweaters. From South America to wardrobes around the world, our journey is full of passion and craftsmanship. Learn more about Amano knitwear, our history, and our crafting process below.

From Field to Wardrobe: The Amano Journey

At Amano, we’ve been working with artisan knitters from Ecuador since 1988 - a very long time! The journey began with our founders, James and Michelle, exploring South America and falling in love with the amazing garments locals were knitting by hand.

How it began..

When we first brought sweaters back from South America in 1988, we found them in a local market in Ecuador, and they were well priced in the region of $20 USD (£16 GBP). We brought them home and sold them on a market stand in St Martin’s Lane, London, right before Christmas, where they turned out to be very popular. We sold them for around £50, and sold out each and every one of them.

Seeing this amazing response, we commissioned the knitters to make lots and lots more jumpers.

The challenges we faced..

At first, we had lots of problems with quality. Issues like different sleeve lengths, colours running, the knitter’s hair caught in the knit, and even bits of vegetation were not uncommon.

“I remember receiving a pullover back from a customer who had sent a small envelope of what they had found in the basic yarn the sweaters were made from: bits of straw, grass, burrs and hair.”

Back then, our ‘rustic’ style and competitive prices made it easier to explain our issues, but deep down, we knew we wanted to give people the quality they deserved.

Yumiko- The Creative Force Behind Amano

James then met Yumiko Suzuki, a Japanese artist living in La Paz, with an amazing eye for colour and fashion.

With the help of Yumiko, we were able to grow from a small venture to a creative fashion business, known for its bold colours, whimsical designs, and unmatched fabric & weaving quality.

More about Yumiko

Growing Amano..

We continued to sell jumpers on Portobello Road and Camden in Amano shops, whilst selling to trade in Paris, Milan and New York. Soon we were on the shelves of Selfridges, Liberty London, Neiman Marcus, Barneys in the US and Itesan in Japan.

Since then, everyone from the likes of Helena Bonham Carter, M People, Roseanne, Doc Martin, to the little boy in About A Boy, have worn Amano jumpers. We’ve even received thanks on a Jamiroquai album, who credited Amano with ‘always keeping them warm’.

More about our knitters..

The consistent orders from Amano throughout the year enable the knitters to have a steady income; we don’t order thousands, but what we order is produced steadily. Working on a preorder basis for the more popular designs so that we are not producing speculatively.

This is not “factory” work, rather the knitters will work when they have spare time away from the fields or other jobs they might have. They will go to a friend’s house and sit around knitting and chatting away. It is the ability to pick up and put down the knitting that is so attractive to our knitters.

We have moved the knitters' wages substantially upward, corresponding to the quality and degree of difficulty in the knit. The knitter’s craft continues to improve, making the skill financially more rewarding, ensuring the final product is the best in the market that can command the price in the highly competitive fashion world.

Many companies structure their business to provide a great price. However, at Amano, we believe in getting a high-quality product knit in a friendly and fair environment. Hearing the laughter and gossip of the knitters is a joy to hear, and this seeps into the wool and stitches that come together, adding a little extra something to each garment.

How we price our knitwear:

Given the more complex nature of design and production, our costs have increased in line with the quality and range of knitwear we have produced.

A typical Amano hand-knit sweater costs between £180-£300 in the shops, depending on the design and yarns used. For example, the Star Jumper, which has been a customer favourite for over 20 years and costs £255, has the following cost and pricing structure. It would be similar for an alpaca cardigan.