The pre-order window for our most popular product last year – the Cashmere Crewneck – and my personal favourite – the Cashmere Rugby – opens today.
The point of the pre-order is to make sure no one misses out on them – as some did last year – and to offer a broader range of both colours and sizes than we can normally afford. Anyone that always complains we don’t do XXL, this is your chance!
There will then be a standard restock of both products in the Autumn. These will only be for the regular sizes, however, and in a reduced number of colours.
For the pre-order colours, we are both expanding in new directions and bringing back old favourites. So for the Cashmere Rugby, we are offering all three colours that have been available in the past – navy, grey and brown – plus a new colour, Natural.
This latter is a lovely beige that fits perfectly into the ‘cold colour’ wardrobe theme. It’s a light brown but subtle, cold and with a touch of grey, making it a great match for something like black as well as the more standard charcoal or navy.
We called it Natural because it’s close to a natural shade of the cashmere fibre – and actually, that’s another angle with a lot of these shades of brown: they feel both more sophisticated and easier to wear when they are more natural, closer to the fleece itself.
That’s the natural shown above, worn with my black Bryceland’s jeans.
This colour of the Cashmere Rugby will also be stocked in the Autumn, along with the navy and the grey, but the dark brown will not. So as with pre-orders in the past, this is your only chance to get that old-season colour.
The dark brown last year was chosen for similar reasons to the Natural, the shade being subtler, cooler and perhaps smarter than most.
For the popular Cashmere Crewneck, we’re adding a whole range of colours, but only dark navy will be added to the Autumn stock, alongside the existing flannel grey.
The other new colours are charcoal and – a left-field choice for PS – lavender.
We looked at quite a few more interesting, brighter colours for this pre-order, but found we were rather limited by the yarn. The reds were a little too scarlet, the blues too aquamarine, the yellows too acidic.
The only one we really loved was this lavender, and I’ve liked it more and more as I’ve worn it in recent weeks.
Mostly that’s because it’s so versatile – that old PS chestnut. It’s interesting and different, but also works with both blue and black jeans, grey flannels and navy.
In the first image above you can see it with my black Bryceland’s jeans again, and the slightly washed colour of them is really nice against that powdery lavender.
It’s a rather different look to the second image, which is preppier. A blue-and-white striped oxford shirt, blue jeans, and somewhere down below, some penny loafers.
I think both are really nice, if rather different aesthetics. The lavender can then also be smarter with a simple white shirt and grey flannels, for instance.
The other colours are a charcoal, which I’ve shown below with a dark-brown suede jacket, and the dark navy. No one needs any suggestions on how to wear these, but the navy is what you’d hope for – satisfyingly dark, what you could call menswear navy.
The pre-order for these two pieces, in a total of seven colours, starts today and will last for three weeks, until April 3rd. Our order will then be placed and delivery is expected in October. Right for when it starts to get proper chilly.
As the amounts are lower than the previous pieces we’ve offered for pre-order (the Donegal and the Indulgent Cardigan), we ask for the total amount now. As with those other pre-orders, returns and exchanges are also not possible, but hopefully most people have a decent idea of their size now. If they don’t, please let us know and we can give some advice.
The sizes available will run from XXS to XXXL. There is a new size chart on the shop page, so you can see how those bigger and smaller ones compare.
All of the pieces will also be on display in the pop-up shop in London next week, running from March 20-23, so you have a chance to see the colours in person. We won’t have sizes in both, as the Cashmere Crewneck is sold out, but for the Rugby we’ll have a few, hopefully XS to L.
Any other questions, please let me know.
And now, I will attempt to summarise the two products, why I like them and why we offer them. This always feels like a little bare bones to me, so if you want to read the full reasons behind each, do have a look at the launch articles – here for the Cashmere Crewneck, here for the Rugby.
This was driven by two things. Firstly, falling in love with four-ply cashmere, a quality no one really sells anymore (it’s not considered commercial, too much cashmere in there) and secondly, a desire to create a really versatile knit, that elevates anything from tailored trousers to sweatpants.
- Called the ‘Rugby’ because the density of the cashmere is similar to how good quality rugby shirts are compared to regular cotton. Plus the collar of course.
- Made in Scotland with four-ply cashmere, 15 gauge and high tension. Creates a really luxurious feel and a winter warmth.
- Easy to pull on at the weekend with jeans, but also dresses up an office outfit.
- Designed with a slightly higher neck at the back, and classic body fit
- Comes up a little small in the sizing – I wear a Large rather than his regular medium
The Cashmere Crewneck is much more of a standard piece of knitwear, but one that is surprisingly difficult to find in a Scottish make – Italian knits, which use a lower tension and therefore less cashmere – are more common. Originally offered in just a mid-grey flannel because that particular colour wasn’t available, the design has also been changed from the standard to give it a slightly longer sleeve, a higher neck and a single cuff.
- A classic and a piece that was really missing in my wardrobe. I wear it on its own but also frequently as a piece underneath coats, jackets and overshirts
- Very versatile, like the Rugby, and wearable with both jeans and tailored trousers
- Now expanded into the four colours listed above
