Are you an avid knitter? Then there’s a good chance you have needles from Knitpro. But KnitPro is not only professional at making great knitting needles. The company also has a big heart for its employees and a strong commitment to improving the lives of Indian women and ensuring children in local communities receive a basic education. KnitPro is a family-run Indian company. Their knitting needles are among the best-known and most popular in the world.

This is both due to their high quality and the company’s strong social engagement and care for its employees. The factory currently has 900 employees, and 400 of them are women—an unusually high proportion for an Indian company.

“Empowering and supporting women and giving them work has a deeper impact on the development of society.”

(Shirish Jain, Managing Director at KnitPro International)

The first to produce high-quality wooden needles

One of the first needle types launched in 2009 was the big favorite, Symfonie Rainbow. At that time, there were no other high-quality wooden needles available in Europe, and with its iconic design in multicolored laminated birch, it immediately became a hit among knitters. The wood for several of the needle series comes from Finland and Estonia and is carefully processed by KnitPro’s experienced woodworking team before nickel-free metal components are hand-glued. At every stage of production, strict quality control procedures ensure that any defective needles are identified and sorted out.

Taking good care of employees

“We believe that the small changes we can contribute to also influence the general attitude toward women, and that empowering women and giving them work has a deeper effect on the development of society,” says Shirish Jain, Managing Director at KnitPro International. This is reflected in the company’s recruitment policy: every woman who comes to the factory and applies for a job is hired. And not only that—KnitPro provides free transportation to and from work for all employees, so they don’t have to face the dangers of public transport in India. This care also extends to male employees, who each receive a bicycle when they start at KnitPro, so they can get to work no matter how remote their home is. The factory also offers a free daycare center and a medical clinic—all to make life easier and better for the staff.

Started a village school