Our cashmere silk tennis polo is inspired by vintage pre-1950s tennis tops, with their signature longer short sleeves and larger spread collars.
They would have been knitted too, just like ours is, except ours is crafted using the world’s finest, luxurious cashmere silk yarn from Italian fine yarn experts Cariaggi Lanificio, giving the piece an unimaginably soft, “melt in your hand” texture, and a light, airy and relaxed feel when worn. With the mix of silk within the cashmere, it makes the knitted fabric much lighter than 100% cashmere, thus keeping the incomparable softness you get from cashmere, but allowing it to be a lot lighter and breezier, perfect for warmer weather when you do not want to compromise on the quality of clothing you are wearing but want to feel exceedingly comfortable.
It is knitted densely, fully fashioned and hand linked, giving the tennis polo substance and a neat fit (unlike the majority of modern polos which are cut and sewn).
The collar is in a Milano stitch (a complex knitting technique that requires a lot more time and yarn to produce), giving it some firmness compared to the rest of the knit, allowing one to wear a sport coat over the top without flattening the collar. But the collar is not too stiff at the same time, keeping it a relatively casual, relaxed piece.
We have opted for a three button closure, with beautifully crafted mid brown horn buttons (rather than white mother of pearl or plastic), as we believe the horn buttons make the piece more muted and elegant. We admit that the use of horn buttons is an extravagant choice, used sometimes in the past, certainly not something you see even on the best of polo shirts anymore, but our core belief is in the return to an older philosophy of garment making which puts quality above all else.
In keeping with the tennis sport shirts of old, our tennis polo has the following design features:
- It has longer short sleeves, sitting about 2.5 - 3 inches above the elbow, covering most of the upper arm. The longer short sleeves are a deliberate design feature to give the tennis polo a sense of modest elegance, in contrast to cotton polos nowadays which often stop mid-bicep, making them more informal.
- The cuffs and hem have longer ribs, keeping the top well fitted around the body, enabling ease of movement. We believe that the longer ribs also look more flattering and elegant on the wearer than shorter ribs or no ribs (like modern t-shirts and polos).
These smarter aspects are inspired by tennis polos from before the 1950s, when they often were worn with tailored clothing. This makes our tennis polo a versatile piece – wear it to look more dressed up with casual clothing like jeans, but it would work just as well with a pair of light weight trousers, as a substitute to a shirt.
As it is a piece with its yarn spun in Italy, but knitted and washed in the Scottish Borders, it possesses the unique quality of being light, breathable and soft (characteristic of knitwear made with Italian yarn), but has a robustness that comes with having been washed in Scottish water, with all its unique minerals that strengthen the knitwear, making it last decades. The perfect spring/summer staple to wear season after season, as part of a casual outfit, or with tailored clothing, in place of a shirt.
