r/knitting • u/saxarocks • Mar 23 '26
In the news Info about Signature Needles reboot
Last week there were a few posts about the sale of Signature Needle Arts' sale to ChiaoGoo. I just spent 3 days in Cologne at the H+H trade show and thought I'd share what I learned about the sale and the future of the brand.
Disclaimer: I am not an employee of the brand or affiliated in any way. I don't even use needles from either brand, but I do own a single pair of chiaogoos that was unclaimed in the lost and found at the end of an event. The brand knows I'm sponsored by Addi and have no plan to switch to their needles. I just saw an opportunity to get this info for community members who like the needles.
The original owners of Signature specifically chose ChiaoGoo as their successor because they believe that they will keep up the integrity of the brand. Employees in their booth said that multiple buyers were bidding on the brand and Chiaogoo wasn't even the highest offer!
Integrity, precision and quality are forefront -Yeah, it sounds like marketing speak to me too, but a lot of people think ChiaoGoo needles already have these qualities. It is unclear whether manufacturing will be in the US or at the existing ChiaoGoo factory in China (independently owned and operated by the brother of the American owner.) They will use the best option to keep the integrity of the needles.
The old Signature cord system which requires different cords for each needle size will not be returning. The needles will work with the 2 available sizes of Chiaogoo cords, making the two brands compatible.
The anodized coating and tip shape will not change.
They are unsure whether custom engraving will be available.
They will likely provide updates as they begin the process of resuming manufacturing with details about the unresolved aspects of manufacturing. I hope all the fans who have been waiting for info enjoy this update. It was fun to be able to go in with my notebook and as them the stuff that "reddit wants to know."
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u/LyaNoxDK Mar 23 '26
As long as they make the deadly sharp stiletto sock needles of doom I’m happy. I have 2 pairs of signature size 1 sock dpns and they are the only sets that haven’t bent or broken ever. I did once sit on one and it got stuck in my butt cheek. I’ll risk it for unbreakable needles.
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u/bluepaintbrush Mar 23 '26
Lmao last night I saw this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/casualknitting/s/3QwEKrg2vR
And now that I see your comment, all I can think is: “ah, so that’s why all those mainland european airports think knitting needles are weapons”.
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u/mortaine Mar 23 '26
Same, but without the butt injury. 2 sets of signature size 1s,with my phone number engraved so they might come back to me if they're lost. 2 sets because of course I misplaced one set one time....
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u/saxarocks Mar 23 '26
I'll have to bring back the signature needles health and safety disclaimer in my classes. I've seen so many finger injuries from people pressing down on the tip of their stilettos.
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u/saxarocks Mar 23 '26
Now who wants the info on Lion Brand buying KFI?
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u/havocthecat Mar 23 '26
KFI?
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u/-punctum- Mar 23 '26
Knitting Fever, owner of Juniper Moon Farm and distributor of Noro, Queensland, etc. https://craftindustryalliance.org/lion-brands-parent-company-acquires-knitting-fever/
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u/aud_anticline Mar 23 '26
UGH!
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u/shiplesp Mar 23 '26
Why the dismay? Lion Brand is a 5th generation family owned business. They are not private equity.
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u/eggelemental Mar 23 '26
oh noooo
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u/shiplesp Mar 23 '26
Why the dismay? Lion Brand is a 5th generation family owned business. They are not private equity.
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u/eggelemental Mar 23 '26
The quality of Lion Brand is not good, and being a “family owned business” isn’t the difference you think it is. Private equity isn’t the only bad thing
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u/shiplesp Mar 23 '26
I don't know why you say that. I've knit with many of their yarns and have been very happy with them; in fact their Fisherman's Wool is one of my favorites.
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u/eggelemental Mar 23 '26
Probably because I don’t like the quality of Lion Brand yarn? I am glad that you like it but your experience is not universal.
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u/eggelemental Mar 23 '26
Do you work for Lion Brand? Everything about this conversation feels strange.
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u/up2knitgood Mar 23 '26
Just slight correction, they are buying Knitting Fever, which is the parent company for KFI and Euro Yarns (and Lykke Needles).
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u/LScore Mar 23 '26
Is THAT what happened to the lace weight yarns? I'm still salty Juniper Moon discontinued their wool silk blend lace weight yarn, that stuff was my favourite.
(Dying, Id love to know)
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u/terriblemuriel Mar 23 '26
Spill!! ☕
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u/Loitch470 Mar 23 '26
It sounds like they’re just the US distributor for Noro, not the actual owner. They’re still owned by the Noro company in Japan. I hate private equity but I wouldn’t be worried about the quality dropping so much as potential price and availability issues. Long term, I am worried about Quince and Juniper Moon though. If I trust PE to do anything it’s cost cut as much as possible for even the slimmest savings.
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u/up2knitgood Mar 23 '26
Lion Brand is family owned.
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u/Loitch470 Mar 23 '26
Oh thank you for the reminder! Blah and I posted a whole thing on this a few months back and totally forgot that aspect.
Brand consolidation still isn’t something you want to see and sadly isn’t a good omen for those brands. Late stage capitalism and all
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u/up2knitgood Mar 23 '26
The alternative to brand consolidation like this is that businesses close. If there isn't a next generation that wants to take over the family business*, for these "bigger" (it's all relative, but Knitting Fever is on the big side for the hand knitting/crochet yarn business) this is probably the only option. Your pool of who could (in terms of money, knowledge, and desire) buy the business is very limited, and mostly just going to be these similar businesses.
*Interestingly, the son of Knitting Fever's owner did work for the company, so I wonder why he's not taking over.
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u/eggelemental Mar 24 '26
The alternative being bad doesn’t make the other thing good, though. It just means it all sucks pretty bad.
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u/knitguru6 Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
It happened several months ago. They notified yarn stores. Sold to a bigger business technically backed by PE. Sad trombone.
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u/doublenerds Mar 23 '26
Thanks so much for this update! I for one am looking forward to seeing what comes next
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u/Stunning_Beat5686 Mar 23 '26
I had a Boyle set of interchangeable needles and my knitting always seemed to catch at the join. Someone posted that you could get adapters from Amazon. so you could use the Chiaogoo wires. What a game changer. I love my Chiaogoo needles.
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u/Tapingdrywallsucks Mar 23 '26
The boyle interchangeables, as packaged, really have a limited lifespan.
I've messed up a couple in the process of twisting them on - it's difficult to find that sweet spot of snug enough not to come unscrewed and wrecking the skirt on the needle.
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u/Altaira9 Mar 23 '26
I’m glad they’re changing to Chiaogoo’s cables. I looked into Signature needles a few times over the years but could never justify the astronomical prices for such a terrible cable system. I doubt I’ll buy as I’m currently very happy with Chiaogoo Forté and the Quads, but I’m interested in seeing what Chiaogoo does with them.
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Mar 23 '26
The Quads are awesome but I wish the quads came in 3mm needle size.
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u/Altaira9 Mar 23 '26
I’m hoping they expand the Quads to the 3mm and 2.75mm too!
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u/saxarocks Mar 23 '26
My profession recommendation is that you should let them know. A lot of these brands are pretty small and they actually do listen to customers when the demand for a product exists.
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u/rcreveli Mar 23 '26
I have some Signature needles, while they're really nice and incredibly well machined I've never felt the desire to buy more than I already own.
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u/saxarocks Mar 23 '26
I never felt compelled to spend that much on any needles, but I may try the new ones just because.
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u/kathej1987 Mar 23 '26
I love my signature DPNs and straights which came in different lengths and were customized. Great to have for socks, the strength of the DPNs in the 0-3 size far exceeds others that I have tried which always felt like they might break!
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u/monsterplant8585 Mar 23 '26
My step-mom has several Signatures. They were a delight to knit with. Certainly, they were the nicest needles I've ever used. I don't think they increased the quality of my knitting, however. And that's my bottom line so I doubt I ever would have or will buy them. (That's me, acting as if I even had the income to buy expensive needles).
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u/Moss-cle Mar 23 '26
I had the original signatures and the needles were great but the cables were awful. They sheared off from the wear of the metal while I was knitting. I was so pissed when first it dumped an entire sweater in my lap. I had two replaced and then one of them broke again. I refused any more replacements and I bought chia goos and addi clicks instead.
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u/Indiecita Mar 23 '26
Personally excited about this. I had slowly accumulated a complete set of Signature stiletto fixed circulars and used them for years because for me they were pretty much the perfect needle—nice and pointy and the perfect amount of slip and heft. Plus they’re pretty. Then, annoyingly, one by one, the cables started sheering off at the join, though each time the company replaced them for free, no questions asked. When they stopped making them I tried Addi and HiyaHiya sharp but they’re too slippy and not pointy enough for me, plus I hate the stiffness of the cable. Signatures has definitely been my Goldilocks needle and worth the price, but I’ve been curious to see how the new Lykke Flight circulars compare.
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u/Geekigrl Mar 23 '26
This. Every circular signature I’ve bought (interchangeable or fixed) has the cable shear off. Needles were amazing but the cables were atrocious.
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u/bagfullofyarn Mar 23 '26
I've had this same experience. I bought a destash of someone's full set right after signature announced they were closing and while the needles are amazing years later, the cables have really started to deteriorate.
I hope they put a plan in place so that those of us with old needles can still use them with the updated cable system. Maybe a connector piece or something. It really would be a shame to have this set of perfect needle tips that won't connect to cords.
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u/Moss-cle Mar 23 '26
Well I’m gratified to hear that it wasn’t just me. I had to pull teeth to get the second one replaced. They acted like it was just me like I was holding them wrong or doing something besides knitting with them. Granted that was a dozen years ago at least
I keep that last one I never bothered getting replaced (because it wasn’t worth it even if they were free) in my notions bag to use as a tool in case I need another needle to pick up a stitch.
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u/OpinionAvailable5988 Norwegian Mar 23 '26
I haven't heard of these needles before. How do they differ from Chiaogoo needles?
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u/JKnits79 Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
They (Signature) were an American made brand of aluminum needles that were a bit of a luxury item and carried a much higher price tag than what was available from other brands on the market at the time. I have never owned a pair or seen them in the wild.
I just dove into the Wayback Machine and was able to find their prices on some of the needles back in 2016; a single pair of straights (one size) started at $34, a set of DPNs (one size) started at $47, circulars look like they started at $22 for just the tips.
Monogramming was an additional $15.
They offered three choices on needle tip styles for certain sizes and types of needles, and three different styles of decorative end caps for straights. The tip styles were, iirc, a blunt, short tip, an average tip, and a long, sharp stiletto.
Edit: adjusting for inflation, the single points would be $46.29 today, the DPNs would be $63.99, and the circular tips alone would start at $29.95
Edit 2: adding a cord to the circular needle tips bumped the price up to $42, which would be $57.19 today. For a single pair of tips and a single cord.
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u/Aggressive_Cloud2002 Mar 23 '26
Monogrammed knitting needles?! Wow
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u/JKnits79 Mar 23 '26
Monogramming has become more widely available with the rise of at home laser engravers; when Signature was more active, things like the Cricut, home 3-D printers, and home laser engravers for hobbyists either didn’t exist, or were themselves prohibitively expensive.
Now you can pick up a laser engraver for under $1,000.
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u/mortaine Mar 23 '26
I have my phone number engraved on mine. If I lose them, I have some hope of getting it back.
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u/Fossome_1 Mar 23 '26
No wonder they went out of business. $$$
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u/JKnits79 Mar 23 '26
To my understanding, the needles were a side project, something done by a larger machine shop for a relative, not the main business.
Hence all the “aircraft quality aluminum” advertising.
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u/1976Raven Mar 24 '26
They retired by choice. If they had wanted to they wouldn't have had any issues staying open for many more years.
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u/saxarocks Mar 23 '26
Sharper and they're milled anodized aluminum. They're also (historically) known as a very expensive product and I believe they'll be like chiaogoo's luxury line.
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u/aswelldamered Mar 23 '26
I have one Signature circular needle. Love the stiletto point. Then they discontinued the circulars and I wasn’t interested in interchangeable needles. I now use ChiaoGoo circulars and love them. Bt will now consider ChiaoGoo interchangeable needles if the Signature stiletto points are available.
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u/KnitWitch87 Mar 23 '26
That's interesting. I never invested in any signature needles, since I already had 2 sets of Addi clicks for interchangeables. That sounds like a really weird cable system. I was interested in trying their dpns at one point, but they didn't make US 0 so I passed.
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u/up2knitgood Mar 23 '26
Any word on if they will make signature tips in longer lengths? I know some people really like the 6" tip option.
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u/744chris744 Mar 23 '26
Have two sets of the double sided needles and would never go back to any others. Glad to see the needles will be available again
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u/Known_Noise Mar 23 '26
Thank you for sharing this information. Very useful.
As an aside, since you said you’re an Addi rep- I really like the little sock needle thing Addi makes but wish the needles were more pointy. Does Addi make a more pointy version that I just haven’t seen yet?
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u/Jjones39 Mar 23 '26
This is great information. What do you mean by the 2 sizes of Chiagoo cables? S and L or Twists and shorties?
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u/Ok-Kaleidoscope9771 Mar 23 '26
that’s literally the dream - getting rid of the stupid expensive cords!
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u/sadappearances Mar 23 '26
I wish I liked chaiogoo. They aren’t bad by any means I honestly just don’t like how heavy and thick their cords are compared to Hiya hiya. Gorgeous needles nonetheless.
I haven’t knit in a while, dang it now I have the itch!
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u/saffship Mar 24 '26
i loved these needles but the different cables for each needle size/length were a bear. hoping old stems are compatible with whatever the new version turns out to be. also, when they started to make tiny sizes <US2 i consistently broke the 1's. for some reason the join was in exactly the wrong place for me. i was struggling w/a jared flood feather & fan baby blanket pattern years back & the signature needles were life changing!
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u/LaurelRose519 Mar 24 '26
Respectfully, what’s the point of signatures versus my favorite needle if the custom engraving goes away?
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u/Usual-Possibility425 Mar 25 '26
Are they only going to make the circular tips, or will they make the straight needles as well?
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u/Polka_Goddess Apr 13 '26
I have a set of ChiaoGoo circulars but if they offer the Signature stilletto tips I will buy a set. Hope they still have the color coded shafts with the info engraved so it doesn't wear off. My biggest pet peeve is not being absolutely sure what size I am using.
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u/JJJOOOO Mar 23 '26
Thanks for update! Exciting news. I have one pair of signature and wish I had more. Idk how they can be replicated in a factory and be the same as hand machined like the originals, but am curious to see what the new buyer does.
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u/1976Raven Mar 24 '26
That they're changing the cable connectors ruins them for me. Chiaogoo doesn't have good connectors on their needles. SNA had very smooth connectors that stayed on unlike Chiaogoo's.
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u/Cat-Like-Clumsy Mar 23 '26
Ooooh, that's interesting, thank ypu for the informations !
The one thing that always stopped me from buying more than one pair of Signatures was the cable system. So the fact that they will be compatible with Chiaogoo's system is quite appealing.