Our merino father’s polo is inspired by the made in Scotland polo shirt that Colhay's founder got passed down to him by his father. His father bought it with his first pay check back in the 1970s - back then, buying a piece of knitwear made in Scotland was a mark of adulthood; a sign that you have made enough to afford to invest in a high quality piece of clothing. After more than 40 years, it was still in immaculate condition. This piece was one of the many items that inspired the Colhay’s project.
As a firm all year favourite, we have now made this piece available for preorder. Please see the collection here.
Or see below for more design details and styling tips.
In homage to the original, the polo shirt boasts saddle shoulders, a deeper front placket, longer ribbed cuffs and hem, and a slightly more generous fit than our usual cut.
It is also knitted in an extrafine merino “superwash” yarn from Italian heavyweights Zegna Baruffa, a beautifully soft and slightly crisper variation to the standard extrafine merino used for our sport shirts and henleys. The use of this yarn is deliberate, as it most closely resembles the original yarn that was used in the founder’s father’s polo shirt that inspired this piece - it was then called “virgin new wool”.
It is the perfect all seasons weight, and particularly great for transitional seasons. The extrafine merino has great temperature-regulating qualities and doesn’t make you as hot as cashmere as it is a lighter, airier fibre that results in a very breathable and comfortable knitted fabric.
It is available in navy, forest green and dark brown, and here are a few looks we put together with the merino father’s polo.
First up, we have the forest green. This is a great colour choice, as it can easily go with any of the navy and grey clothes that people normally have in abundance in their wardrobe. To demonstrate this, we’ve firstly styled the merino father’s polo in forest green with a pair of dark grey trousers and navy jacket, otherwise known as the “menswear uniform”:
The collar has some stiffness so as to allow it to fit nicely under a jacket:
The forest green colour is dark and muted, so that it blends in well and easily with other items of clothing:
Another look at the nice saddle shoulder design. The saddle shoulder has the benefit of accommodating a wider range of shoulder widths as there is no hard shoulder line on which the shoulder seam needs to fall:
For an outfit that is more casual, you can swap out the navy jacket for a cardigan, like so:
View our full cardigan collection here.
Keeping with the casual theme, and for those days that aren’t that cold, you can simply wear the merino father’s polo on its own with a pair of jeans:
The merino father’s polo in dark brown, is a very dark, beautifully rich brown, and would work well with other dark bottoms, like a pair of dark denim:
As the polo is quite dark, you can pair it with other jackets and coats that are also in a brown shade, provided it is in a different shade, like this mocha coloured jacket we have styled it with here:
Finally, the merino father’s polo in navy will require very little effort in styling. It can go with any of the clothes that we have used so far as seen above, plus it can also go well with olive, like these trousers we have styled the polo with here:
