For 50 years, Alandale Knitting has thrived on the principles that Alan Gutschmit set in motion.
ORIGINS
When Alandale was founded in 1966, Alan Gutschmit was not daunted by his three lone knitting machines at a gas station in Troy, North Carolina. He had been there before.
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Alan grew up working the textile mills of Brooklyn. He worked his way up the corporate ladders of the local mills until he was designing the knitting machinery itself. Facing high labor costs, Alan and his firm moved to North Carolina, where he built the knitting, dyeing, and finishing company Alamac from the ground up.
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With Alan's brother Marvin running Marcrest Knitting Mills, Alan ventured to Troy, North Carolina to start Alandale Knitting as a major supplier for his brother. Within two years, Alan used his expertise and community engagement to move the firm to the 120,000 square foot facility it operates in today.
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After establishing Alandale, Alan moved to rethink and re-engineer the traditional knitting process. By his passing in 2001, Alan would patent 18 different knitting technologies to change the industry forever.
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INNOVATION
Alan's first and most prominent innovation at Alandale Knitting is the Isolator Room. The Isolator Room encapsulates every knitting machine and accompanying creel system in a vacuum-controlled room that removes the vast majority of excess lint and dust. By separating the machines in isolator rooms, cross-contamination becomes non-existent. Isolator Rooms house every one of our 225 machines and make our impeccably high quality knits possible.​
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To take his obsession with quality a step even further, Alan Gutschmit created and patented over a dozen new technologies for vacuums, creels, fans, and other parts that continue to ensure the high quality knits of Alandale today.
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The Filter Flow® system, one of Alan's major inventions, is a breakthrough in knitting technology. Filter Flow removes excess lint from machine needles to drastically enhance machine efficiency and fabric quality. It is licensed to machine manufacturers Monarch and Vanguard.
Alan's entrepreneurial spirit eventually led to the creation of Alandale Industries, a company that creates the equipment necessary for the high quality knits of Alandale Knitting and other knitters around the world.
OUR FUTURE
By the time Alan Gutschmit passed in 2001, he had worked with and trained Don Trexler, his son-in-law, to operate Alandale Knitting and continue the emphasis on innovation and unparalleled quality that made it succeed.
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Alandale Knitting has survived the Great Recession and a massive manufacturing movement to foreign markets because of its emphasis on quality fabrics and services. Since the recession, Alandale has grown its commission knitting production by 28%.
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The new leadership team at Alandale continues to innovate and expand its horizons in the commission knitting industry. Don Trexler, president of Alandale Knitting, recently acquired Coville Inc. and the Carolina Apparel Group to also accommodate Cut and Sew manufacturing needs.
With close ties to North Carolina textile manufacturers, Alandale is connected to a full textile supply chain that continues to grow and innovate.
