![]() ![]() “I spent a lot of time getting those relationships, but those companies weren’t doing good business with me,” Hilton said. Rather than basking in the glow of the new business she was receiving, Hilton opted instead to pull the plug. Swaddelini had contracts with big box giant Buy Buy Baby, shopping channels QVC and HSN and e-commerce platform Zulily by September 2020. Whether it takes six months or six years, someone who really wants to build a company will keep trying.” She exemplifies the tenacity that it takes. ![]() She just keeps trying and trying until something connects. “She has that classic grit and determination you see in entrepreneurship. “We’ve gotten to see Liz’s journey from the beginning with her first 3D knitting machine, and she has never stopped innovating,” Moore told MiBiz. Start Garden Director Paul Moore says Hilton’s evolution is reflective of the tenacity that eventually pays off for entrepreneurs. Hilton was already a familiar face at Start Garden, having won a 5x5 Night business pitch for KNITit in 2015. In 2018, she pitched the Swaddelini at Start Garden’s annual 100 Ideas pitch competition and won $20,000 to develop the product. ![]() “My husband grabbed my hand that morning and said, ‘Liz! You’re going to sell a million of these.’ That was the moment KNITit started to transition.” “Our first night with my son in Swaddelini, he slept the whole night,” Hilton said. ![]() She invented the Swaddelini in her early days as a new mom. Today, the company primarily produces a product Hilton invented in 2018 known as the Swaddelini, a 3D-knitted swaddle with trademarked light compression therapy that keeps babies snug without restricting their movement. Hilton shifted to contracting out capacity at KNITit to various companies, producing office chair suspension backs, oven gaskets and shoe uppers, among other items. “It opened up a lot of doors for me, and I got to knit a bunch of things,” Hilton said. While the model wasn’t sustainable, Hilton said the experience proved to be invaluable. Hilton started KNITit to provide a place for others to develop their ideas and products without the burden of committing to high volume. “That is where KNITit shines,” Hilton told MiBiz. The CNC knitting machines specialize in tubular and layered designs. Hilton has plans to acquire two more of the machines, which make products all in one piece in what she calls “soft good additive manufacturing” - essentially, a process of making the product where the entirety of the raw material is used, leaving no waste. HOLLAND - Liz Hilton’s journey to launch a customized 3D knitting manufacturing business has taken her from a startup studio space in Grand Rapids to her garage and to KNITit LLC’s new headquarters at a 6,000-square-foot building in Holland.Ĭurrently, KNITit’s shop floor at the new facility holds three CNC knitting machines made by Japanese manufacturer Shima Seiki that run 24/7 to keep up with demand. ![]()
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