Our cashmere shirt cardigan is designed to be a versatile piece with dual use - it can be worn as a shirt, tucked into trousers, and worn under a sport coat or jacket, or as a cardigan, with another shirt or t-shirt underneath, acting as a mid-layer or light outerwear. In keeping with our philosophy of investing in high quality garments that go with a wide range of outfits, maximising wear, we believe this shirt cardigan is the epitome of this.
As it is made using a mid-weight 2-ply cashmere yarn, whilst it will feel exceptionally warm, it will fit comfortably under a tailored jacket so can easily work as a substitute to a dress shirt if you wanted to make your outfit more casual and add interest.
Wearing it as a shirt brings with it a unique joy and comfort of its own - we can only speak from experience, but having the world's highest quality Scottish cashmere directly against the skin is a feeling like no other, softer than the softest of finely spun cotton dress shirts, but because it is so densely knitted, retains structure so that it does not look too slouchy.
It has a button through closure and is furnished with Italian made horn buttons. We have opted for small, matt horn buttons as opposed to shiny horn, or white mother of pearl or plastic, as we believe matt horn buttons give the shirt cardigan a sense of understated elegance - well considered but not showy, and the brown goes better with the more muted, camel colour of the sweater.
The collar is knitted using the milano stitch technique, giving it structure so that it doesn't flatten under a sport coat, but allowing it not to be too stiff either (like a dress shirt), thus making it a more casual piece. The milano stitch technique is much more time consuming than plain stitch and requires a lot more cashmere yarn (in order to give it its firmness), but we believe it is worthwhile to give it some structure as we think it makes the collar sit a lot more beautifully compared to a plain stitch collar.
The welted straight hem allows the piece to look polished when it is worn untucked as a cardigan.
The shirt cardigan is luxuriously soft yet durable, made to the world's highest standards in the Scottish Borders, using the world's finest 100% 2-ply cashmere by revered Scottish yarn mill Todd & Duncan. A garment made to last.
It is a unique piece with remarkable properties - breathable, soft and feels exceptionally light, yet comparable to the warmth of a chunky lambswool sweater. It is this wondrous combination that has earned cashmere its name "the fibre of kings".
The camel colour of this sport shirt works with any shade of brown (and will go nicely with our brown shawl collar cardigan, or a brown check sport coat and cream trousers) as well as denim of any wash (white, dark, medium or light). See the pictures on this page with our model for more styling inspiration.
Learn more about the inspiration and design of this piece here.
