An ode to olive: how to style olive knitwear
Olive may not be as common a colour as navy and grey for knitwear - but this is the very season it is so versatile and why it is one of our favourite colours. Given how many articles of clothing are likely to be in navy and grey (speaking for ourselves!), olive is a great colour to pick for knitwear as it means you can wear your knitwear all the time with other items in your wardrobe without them clashing.
Olive is also a more unusual colour that helps lift the outfit. We’ve made sure to design our pieces in muted, dark olive colours so that they help to elevate other items of clothing rather than detract.
In this article, we want to show you a few ways that we love to style our knitwear in olive, and in doing so, hopefully show why we like this colour so much.
1. Our olive knitwear goes beautifully with denim, both light and dark denim
2. Our olive knitwear works well as a substitute to navy, allowing it to pair well with other articles of clothing in navy and grey (classic colours for the “menswear uniform”) without clashing
3. Our olive knitwear pairs very well with black and white items of clothing
4. Our olive knitwear goes well with cream, oatmeal, tan and brown - items of clothing that belong in the “beige/brown” palette, whilst a colour navy wouldn’t work as well
5. Our olive knitwear works with pops of colours, like our vintage camel mock neck
Olive with denim
Cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive
Dark denim jeans
In this outfit, the dark olive on our cashmere shirt cardigan complements the dark denim well, as both are matt colours. The denim is essentially a navy base garment with hints of grey - which is what makes is congruent with the dark olive.
Extrafine merino sport shirt in olive
Dark denim jacket
White jeans
Another example of our olive knitwear pairing well with dark denim - this time in the form of a jacket
Superfine lambswool cable rollneck in olive
Dark denim jeans
White denim chore coat
Similar to the outfit immediately above, but we flipped the top and the bottom so you have the white denim on the cable rollneck in olive, whilst the dark denim is on the bottom.
A couple more examples:
Right
Cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive
Dark denim jeans
Superfine lambswool shawl coat in navy
Left
Superfine lambswool shawl collar cardigan in olive
Dark denim jeans
Cashmere shawl collar cardigan in dark olive
Dark denim shirt
Cashmere Belmondo rollneck in navy
Some heavy layering for winter weather. Another example of the dark olive sitting well with denim. The three pieces sit well together as they are within the olive/navy world and they are all matt colours.
Cashmere shawl collar cardigan in dark olive
Light wash denim shirt
Cashmere Belmondo rollneck in navy
Swapping the dark denim shirt out for a light one - works just as well.
Below are a couple of more examples to show that our olive knitwear works well with light denim
Cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive
Navy blue corduroy shirt
Light wash jeans
We chose a dark navy corduroy shirt to contrast with the light wash denim. Both pieces of clothing are in the navy/blue palette which is why they both work with the dark olive of our cashmere shirt cardigan.
Superfine lambswool shawl collar cardigan in olive
Superfine lambswool cable rollneck in navy
Light wash jeans
Same colour principle as above - dark navy top, light wash jeans, with olive coloured outerwear. Only difference is that this outfit is more designed for very cold weather given the much chunkier knitwear featured. 
Olive with navy and grey
Olive works really well as a navy substitute. Given that navy is likely to be the most common colour found in people’s wardrobes, having olive in the mix, especially when it comes to knitwear, means you can go to that piece of olive knitwear time again and not worry about it clashing with your navy jacket, chinos or jeans.
The other common colour is grey or charcoal, and our olive colours work just as well. In fact, our olive is designed to go with the classic “menswear uniform” consisting of the navy jacket and grey trousers.
Here are a few examples of how our olive knitwear works well with navy and grey.
Cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive
Navy double-breasted blazer
Superfine lambswool mock neck in oatmeal
Grey flannel trousers
The cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive pairs nicely with the dark navy of the jacket - had the knitwear been navy, it wouldn’t be able to sit quite as well with the navy jacket. The oatmeal of the mock neck serves as a lighter colour so the colour combination doesn’t end up looking too dark.
Superfine lambswool cable rollneck in olive
Navy herringbone blazer
Grey flannel trousers
Swapping the cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive out for a chunky cable rollneck in olive for colder days. The colour principle is the same - had the cable knit been navy, it would morph together with the navy jacket and the knitwear wouldn’t stand alone as much.
Cashmere cotton Breton Stripe in olive and navy
Navy herringbone blazer
Cream cotton trousers
A slightly warmer weather outfit - here we’ve paired our cashmere cotton Breton stripe sweater in olive and navy with the same navy herringbone blazer, the olive and navy working well together. Again, the matt, darker olive sits well with the dark navy. Cream cotton trousers here as to lighten up the outfit for warmer weather.
Extrafine merino sport shirt in olive
Navy blazer
Dark denim jeans
Superfine lambswool cricket sweater cream, burgundy and navy
Here is another example of olive on navy. This time it is the navy blazer with dark denim jeans. We’ve got the cricket sweater round the shoulder as it is cream and lifts another dark outfit, plus the more textured cables on our cricket sweater help to contrast against the plainer textures of the other items in the outfit.
Cashmere crew neck in dark olive
Navy chore coat
Grey flannel trousers
A more casual iteration of the above with the navy chore coat, but the principle is the same. Our dark olive goes well with navy and grey.
Cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive
Navy blue corduroy shirt
Light jeans
Instead of a navy jacket, this time we’ve got it underneath olive in the form of a shirt. Works just as well.
Cashmere shawl collar cardigan in dark olive
Cashmere Belmondo rollneck in navy
Same principle as above, olive outerwear with navy as the inner layer, just a heavy knit version.
Cashmere shawl collar cardigan in navy
Cashmere polo shirt in dark olive
Cream trousers
Swapping the two knits around so that you have the navy shawl collar this time as the outerwear, and our cashmere polo shirt in dark olive on the inside.
Superfine lambswool shawl coat in navy
Cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive
Dark denim jeans
A variation of the outfit above with the shawl coat instead of shawl collar cardigan
Olive with black and white
Superfine lambswool cable rollneck in olive
White jeans
Black denim jacket
Our olive goes really well with black and white too. We’ve paired our cable rollneck with a black denim jacket and white jeans in this outfit - the more rugged look of the cable rollneck we felt leans itself well to casual items like denim jacket and jeans. To illustrate how well they go with black and white - we’ve chosen a black denim jacket with white jeans here.
Cashmere cotton Breton Stripe sweater in olive/navy
Cream cotton trousers
Another example of our olive knitwear with white, just a warmer weather outfit.
Superfine lambswool shawl collar cardigan in olive
Black denim jacket
White jeans
As with the first outfit, we’ve got a black denim jacket and white jeans together, paired with the shawl collar cardigan in olive. The shawl collar cardigan is another piece with slightly rugged texture which leans itself to casual pieces like denim jacket and jeans
Extrafine merino sport shirt in olive
White shorts
Another warm weather outfit example that illustrates olive goes well with white.
Olive with beige/brown
Because olive does not have as much of a black base in it, unlike navy, it leans itself more naturally to colours like beige, light tan, oatmeal and brown. Navy would not have been able to be paired as well with these colours.
Here are some examples:
Extrafine merino sport shirt in olive
Superfine lambswool crew neck in oatmeal (over the shoulder)
Tan linen sport coat
Cream shorts
The olive sits well alongside oatmeal, tan and cream, whilst navy would not have worked as well within this outfit.
Cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive
Cashmere silk tennis polo shirt in cream
Grey trousers
Here the olive colour is in the outerwear, and sits nicely with the cream tennis polo.
Cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive
Superfine lambswool mock neck in oatmeal
Grey trousers
A variation of the outfit above - more appropriate for winter weather. Swapping our the tennis polo in cream for the mock neck in oatmeal - the dark olive cashmere shirt cardigan goes with the oatmeal just as well.
Cashmere shawl collar cardigan in dark olive
Cashmere silk tennis polo in cream
Cream trousers
Similar to the outfit above, but swapping out the cashmere shirt cardigan for the cashmere shawl collar - as you can see, the dark olive complements the cream colours of the polo and trousers well.
Superfine lambswool shawl collar cardigan in olive
Cashmere Belmondo rollneck in oatmeal
Grey flannel trousers
A more winter outfit to illustrate this point - olive with oatmeal this time.
Superfine lambswool shawl collar cardigan in olive
Cashmere shirt cardigan in oatmeal
Denim shirt
Grey flannels
A slight variation to the outfit above - swapping the rollneck out for the cashmere shirt cardigan in oatmeal. Again olive and oatmeal make for a great pairing.
Cashmere cotton collegiate sweatshirt in dark olive
Cashmere silk tennis polo in cream
Cream trousers
A sportier example - this time we’ve combined our collegiate sweatshirt in dark olive, with cream polo and cream trousers. The dark olive sitting beautifully with cream.
A different shade of olive on the sport coat to achieve a tonal effect with the collegiate sweatshirt. But the concept remains the same - olive and cream go well together.
Cashmere crew neck in dark olive
Suede jacket and brown
Cream trousers
Olive also works well with brown whilst a navy wouldn’t work as well.
Olive with vintage camel
Lastly, a slightly more unusual combination - our olive also goes very well with our vintage camel, as illustrated in the two outfits below.
Superfine lambswool shawl collar cardigan in olive
Superfine lambswool mock neck in vintage camel
Cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive
Superfine lambswool mock neck in vintage camel
The olive knitwear featured in this article are:
Cashmere shawl collar cardigan in dark olive
Cashmere shirt cardigan in dark olive
Cashmere polo shirt in dark olive
Cashmere crew neck in dark olive
Superfine lambswool shawl collar cardigan in olive
Superfine lambswool fisherman cable rollneck in olive
Cashmere cotton collegiate sweatshirt in dark olive
Cashmere cotton breton stripe sweater in olive and navy