Inspiration from industry

A few days ago one of my tweeps asked where I found inspiration, since there seemed to be relatively little on the web for machine knitters. It is true that compared to sites and blogs for hand knitters, the number of sources for machine knitters is few. But they do exist, even beyond the wonderful machine knitters' groups on Ravelry. I'm happy that the "Bookmarked" section of my sidebar provided some new sources for my Twitter friend. I also mentioned the interesting Yahoo group that I just learned about and joined -- KMaholics. They are awesome, inspiring and  innovative.

Here are some more sources of inspiration -- from industry. And not the fashion industry. These viewbooks are from the manufacturers of industrial knitting machines. (The following Stoll links are big downloads but worth the wait.)

The two collections from Stoll were released over 6 months ago.

Direct link to Stoll's Trend Collection Autumn/Winter 2012-2013

Stoll, an industrial machine manufacturer in Germany, also produced a special collection for the trade convention in Shanghai this past September.

Direct link to Stoll's China Trend Collection Autumn/Winter 2012-2013

I've seen Stoll industrial machines in action. They can produce a garment fully formed without seams.

Shima Seiki is an industrial knitting machine manufacturer in Japan. Also an enabler of whole garment manufacturing, Shima Seiki is Stoll's direct competitor. Here are a trend collection (big download) by Yasmin Naqvi for Shima Seiki and a viewbook of samples:

Direct link to Shima Seiki's Autumn/Winter Trend Collection 2012-2013

Direct link to Shima Seiki's February 2012 Samples

Shima Seiki samples from 2011 can be found here.

I generally find more inspiration in a stitch pattern than in the shape of a garment. Though the machines that produced these garments are very different from my beloved vintage Passap DM-80, it's good to remember that the basic principal of creating the knit stitch is the same.
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Last edited 24Feb2012 to add  Shima A/W Trend Collection. Thx for posting the link to the group, Sandy!