Craftmanship and Digitalization in the Italian Knitwear Industry. A Paradigm Shift for the Narrative of Made in Italy

Knitwear is a consolidated industry in Italy and, at the same time, a typical expression of the Made in Italy paradigm linked to the ideas of craftsmanship. While, on the one hand, knitwear is associated with the idea of craft and manufacturing traditions, on the other hand, it is nowadays produced by numerical control machines (CNC) where the technological contribution and the level of automation are very relevant. The convergence of physical and digital environments, at the heart of the Fashion Industry 4.0 debate, is an established feature of knitwear design practice. In the contemporary industrial scenario, knitted items are produced on digitally programmed machines through sophisticated software, and the manual contribution of the individual operator during the knitting phase is reduced to a minimum. In the light of these premises, this contribution questions the opportunity and value of the integration of digital technologies in the storytelling of traditional manufacturing without losing the power to evoke Made in Italy’s values such as quality, aesthetic refinement, and exclusivity. To analyze these issues, the authors report the case study of SMT – Società Manifattura Tessile, a leading knitting company where the technological presence equals that of traditional manufacturing craftmanship, keeping both elements at balance. The case study suggests the importance of the contemporary knitting craftsman to increasingly develop communication skills to make the relationship between technology andmanufacturing explicit and possibly smoothly blend it with the Made in Italy archetypes.