Josh Bennett grew up in Pennsylvania where he learned to knit from his grandmother at the age of 8. After a short time, he stopped, because “boys don’t knit”. In 2000, Josh worked at Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, CT where he picked up knitting again from the show’s cast members, and he hasn’t stopped since.
After moving to New York City in 2001, Josh worked at a yarn shop on the Upper West Side where he learned how to write custom patterns for the shop’s customers. Noticing the lack of menswear patterns being designed and published, he was determined to use his new pattern writing skills to change that.
From 2010 to 2012, Josh studied Menswear Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). While there, he began a collaboration with CFDA Award winner Michael Bastian on a hand knitted line, Michael Bastian by Josh Bennett, which was sold at Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, and stores worldwide. They continued working together on projects for the exhibition “Folk Couture: Fashion and Folk Art” at the American Folk Art Museum, Le Cabinet de Curiosités of Thomas Erber, and a fashion helmet for the NFL/Bloomindale’s/CFDA Super Bowl XLVIII collaboration which was auctioned off to benefit the NFL Foundation.
Josh was the Men’s Sweater Designer at Tommy Hilfiger and has worked with and designed for GANT by Michael Bastian, Perry Ellis, Alexander Wang, Rowan Magazine, Vogue Knitting and various other designers and publications. In addition, he is the designer of his own exclusive capsule collection of men’s hand knitted sweaters at Bergdorf Goodman, Josh Bennett + Goodman’s, and has partnered with MARVEL to create MARVEL x Josh Bennett, a hand knitted limited edition sweater collection inspired by MARVEL Studios’ films and characters.
You can find Josh, every Tuesday, hosting The KNIT@NITE Show, at actor and knitter Alan Cumming’s cabaret hotspot in the East Village, Club Cumming. @knitatnite
Photo: Eilon Paz