Day 134. Bergen, Norway.

We're in Bergen for 2 nights. I went to the Dale of Norway Sweater Factory today. It was a very interesting tour. Dale of Norway Factory (since 1911) used to have 1,000 employees; now 100, due to automation. Started making sweaters with cotton. Now they use merino wool and a combination wool called "new wool." She suggests that you hang sweater outside (but not in direct sunlight) to freshen it up instead of washing it. This wool can hold water and it rolls off. It's fire resistant & slightly wrinkle resistant.
Dale started supplying olymipic wear for Oslo Olympic games in 1952 and have made them for World Games and Olympics since then.
Machine-made sweaters hold their shape much better than hand knitted ones. Each year, they create a new pattern, and it takes about 3 months to get the pattern correct with the machines. They only assemble 10% of them here. They ship the rest out for assembly.
These machines can knit about 640 sweaters/day.
They told us never to use fabric softener and never put them in the dryer. They are odor resistant, so you don't need to wash them. If stained washed by hand and stains come out very easily.Read more