Finishing of wool knitwear can be normally classed into two categories; these include “Wet Finishing” and “Dry Finishing”. The latter is sometimes referred to as a “Steam Finish only”.

There is a third type of finishing route, called “Solvent Finishing”, where instead of using water, the knitwear is finished in an industrial dry cleaning machine using an organic solvent. However in the wool finishing industry, generally this is not so common practice.

In the case of woollen spun knitwear, and the need to remove significant amounts of processing’s oils from the garments, it is essential that the wet finishing route is carried out. In addition in order to obtain the characteristic raised and fuzzy surface, at the same time developing an improved handle, prolonged washing, or an additional washing stage known as milling is carried out. This is conducted by the controlled washing in warm water containing detergent of the garments or knitted pieces in an industrial washing or knitwear finishing machine. Following this the garments are then hydro-extracted, tumble dried before steam pressing.

In the case of worsted spun knitwear, which are often made from fine Merino wool yarns, there is the option as to whether to carry out wet finishing followed by steam pressing, or just to carry out steam pressing alone i.e. Dry finishing.

Garments are frequently finished a partially made-up state, for example, as body-sleeve combinations without neck trims or as garment blanks with separate neck ribs, pockets etc. The reason for this is to eliminate relaxation shrinkage, which may differ between the components of the garment. In some cases if garments are linked or made up prior to finishing then the differing relaxation shrinkages may cause puckering. Trims, which are to be wet finished, should be bagged in either polypropylene or polyester mesh bags.