Our Design Process

Combining heritage with modern knitting technology, we produce traditional ‘fully fashioned’ knitwear, meaning each piece is shaped to fit with very little to no waste.


OUBAS founder Kate Stalker hand draws new knitwear designs using pencils


Unlike with cut and sew clothing where there is fabric waste, with knitting you only use exactly the amount of yarn needed to produce the item; it is already very low waste. For OUBAS styles you can find pure natural fibres - British wool, merino wool, linen, organic cotton and cashmere which are all known for their soft hand feel and longevity. 

Using pure natural fibres means our clothing returns to the land again and biodegrades.
We select quality yarns that will last, hand-finishing and considering the construction of garments so they are created to be long lasting and comfortable.


A green OUBAS knitwear jumper is measured to check sizing and finish

Wool swatches and colour combinations are experimented with from a swatch book

We use Stoll CAD knitting machinery - we can create very fine drapey fabrics, or much heavier knitwear.
We have traditional linking machines; a process done by hand, these machines join together panels of garments together and each stitch is carefully linked together creating a beautiful finish.

We also have specialist hand tools that we use to finish our pieces; latch tools to hide the ends of seams, and needle hooks to catch any dropped stitches when mending items. We have high pressure steam irons and steam benches to press the knitwear, setting the fabric and settling the structure of the knit.

The innovation in this machinery and our own principled internal processes, means that we currently operate on a small batch, made-to-order model; building a resilient and truly more regenerative model as we do not buy in large amounts of stock and then discount at the end of a season, but offer timeless styles.


An industrial knit linker machine is used to create luxury OUBAS knitwear in the studio





You can read more about the yarns and materials we use here.