Kate Knight is a knitwear designer who specialises in recycled and sustainable cashmere and cashmere blends. Currently she lives just outside of Bordeaux, France after living and working in New York City, London and the Swiss Alps. Kate has designed knitwear for brands such as Nordstrom, The White Company, Lands' End, Barney's and Whistles. She has taught every age group from 7 year olds to PhD students and industry professionals and loves to build connections with factories, yarn agents, brands, fellow freelancers and designers. Today, Kate is passionate about design and building communities and helping to educate people on knitwear design.
Freelance Knitwear Designer & Consultant I collaborate with brands and factories to design and develop high-quality cashmere knitwear collections across womenswear, accessories, babywear, and dog apparel. 🔹 Knitwear Expertise: In-depth knowledge of sustainable and recycled yarns, knitting stitches, and production processes 🔹 Technical Development: Create industry-standard tech packs using Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop, formatted in MS Excel or Google Sheets for factory-ready precision 🔹 End-to-End Support: From concept to production, ensuring fit, quality, and manufacturability Clients Include: The Woolly Brand, WearWith Cashmere, Kennedy The Label, Nearly New Cashmere, Conjetta Designs, Fiorla, TopDrawer and JM Vibes
Taught years 5-13 Art and Design, iGCSE and IB. Led and managed critical paths for a team of 60.
Designed new start-up cashmere brand for women’s and men’s contemporary market. Concept boards, sketching, technical design and fitting advice.
Taught Design Technology and Art including vacuum forming, resistant materials (wood), painting, textiles, ceramics, digital photography and sculpture.
Designed collections for a luxury, cashmere brand based in London. Responsible for design and fit of collections for women and men as well as accessories. Worked closely with the factory to make sure that photo shoot samples and bulk deliveries arrived on time.
Headed up a new upmarket division of Jo Y Jo, a major knitwear supplier to the High Street and Supermarkets. Sourced cashmere factories and designed cashmere ranges to sell to High Street customers such as Jigsaw, The White Company, Jaeger and L K Bennett. Sourcing cashmere factory and designing cashmere ranges to sell to high customers such as Jigsaw, The White Company, Jaeger and L K Bennett.
Taught industry professionals from companies such as Ted Baker, The White Stuff, ASOS, George at ASDA and Peacocks modules in technical knitted structures, common fit issues, knitwear finishing and quality assurance.
Start-up UK office of DZ Group- a knitwear supplier based in Shanghai and Beijing, specializing in cashmere sweaters and accessories. Clients included: Whistles, The White Company, Jigsaw, Jaeger, Paul Smith and LK Bennett. Provided creative and technical design on a bespoke basis for UK clients. Ensured daily communication with teams to guarantee smooth development.
US Clients included: Lands’ End, Nordstrom’s, Macy’s, Barney’s, Brooks Brothers, Ann Taylor, Penguin, Orvis and Express
Taught knitting and design to BA, MA and PhD students.