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Cashmere Sweater Hierarchy

bdavro23

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Speaking of Lockie, someone here asked about green cashmere colors a while back, and I offered to post these. Then I forgot...
PXL_20220128_143416067.MP.jpg

PXL_20220128_143427251.MP.jpg
 

Verve

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Let’s talk about “mid-tier” cashmere.

Do you all consider the retail price to be around $100-$300 per article or a different range for this topic?

What would be some brands in this range?

Anyone with experience with such brands, comparisons, or preferred brands?
 

RJman

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Any thoughts on either N. Peal and Alan Paine? I have two old (early 70s that I bought vintage and mid 80s that was a Christmas present my senior year in high school) Shetlands from the latter that are still going strong. Any reason to go a bit higher in price and with whom? I checked John Smedley and no pure cashmere and no black v-necks in their merino-cashmere blend.
N Peal and Paine are now just brand names without manufacturing facilities. Peal used to sell sweaters made for it by Laing and others until the early 1990s when it bought its own facility in Scotland. It then shut down for a few years in the early 2000s to refocus and has relaunched as a cashmere brand whose product is usually labelled made in China. Someone in this thread said they had some MTO done that was labelled Made in England, but in any case, I don't have experience with it and there's no reason to believe quality has been consistent across the decades and different makers. Paine was a famous knitwear house in Godalming England that I believe went out of business and was relaunched a few times, at one point in the early 2000s as a made in China label. I think it's re-relaunched recently but have no recent experience with it. For vintage it'll really depend from which period the Peal/Paine stuff you're looking at is from.

re Smedley I thought most of their cashmere stuff is supposed to be very lightweight. The 100% cashmere stuff was aces for lightweight knits, but the cashmere-cotton mixes pilled badly IME.

someone asked about mid-tier cashmere... I can't speak much to that as I'm a vintage queen and my impression is that at that range quality can vary enormously not just between brands but between whom they might use from season to season, and there's no reason to favor one over the other for using (for example) a fancy brand name yarn or anything. But others may have other opinions.
 

stifler

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Anyone know who makes the knitwear for Bergdorf Goodman? I saw in store and it looks great
 

bdavro23

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It was me and thank you so much for this. Would you say serpentine has cold or warm undertones?

I would say warm as it has a bit of a brown undertone to it. I should note Serpentine is only offered in the Oxton and Chirnside sweaters.
 

aristoi bcn

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Thanks. I have the Oxton rollneck in Loden Mix and I love it but doesn’t look good with warm toned jackets like this one.

FBAB70D4-352B-4AF3-80FE-E9D5059552EE.jpeg
 

JamaisAssez

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The loden looks to me like a gray-brown color, but I think you can make it work with your jacket by balancing with a light blue collar shirt.

I have the Oxton in foliage and it is a stunning color.
 

double00

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Anyone know who makes the knitwear for Bergdorf Goodman? I saw in store and it looks great

i've seen bergdorf goodman house label knits with cucinelli interior tags not sure if that's true across the board tho
 

JamaisAssez

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I already own Loro Piana knits but I just placed an order for a baby cashmere crewneck, this time for an experiment: I plan to wear the thing every day while working from home, giving it no special treatment except handwashing when needed, will be happy to provide a review after a week.

After returning the JOHNSTONS 6-ply I bought a LORO PIANA baby cashmere crewneck in pegasus blue. I was planning to experiment by wearing it consecutively for a week to assess durability.

This is to report that I returned the thing immediately upon receipt. Although marketed as "superlight", it was too dangerously thin and flimsy for my liking. This particular style was 1/3 the weight of the WILLIAM LOCKIE Oxton 1-ply.

Caveat emptor. You can probably find much better use for that amount of dough (USD $1,425 + tax).

The LORO PIANA style code is FAF6086.

1643399992340.png
 

stifler

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After returning the JOHNSTONS 6-ply I bought a LORO PIANA baby cashmere crewneck in pegasus blue. I was planning to experiment by wearing it consecutively for a week to assess durability.

This is to report that I returned the thing immediately upon receipt. Although marketed as "superlight", it was too dangerously thin and flimsy for my liking. This particular style was 1/3 the weight of the WILLIAM LOCKIE Oxton 1-ply.

Caveat emptor. You can probably find much better use for that amount of dough (USD $1,425 + tax).

The LORO PIANA style code is FAF6086.

View attachment 1745217

It's supposed to be light/thin. Does that deter from durability?
 

JamaisAssez

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The knit felt delicate and fragile, and thin jumpers tend to not wear well.
 

RJman

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The knit felt delicate and fragile, and thin jumpers tend to not wear well.
Just like a baby. Antoine Arnault would ask you why you hate zee babies. j/k LP is infamous for constantly trying to arms race esoteric luxury fibres so it can sell them for a huge amount.
 

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