I pay around £80 – £150 for a cashmere jumper from various well known high street outlets. Why should I pay a premium for a Last Of England one?
This question will be answered in three parts. The first concentrating on the differences in quality between high street offerings and Last Of England jerseys.
In quality terms, Last Of England cashmere jerseys are at the highest point.
Only the top grade of cashmere fibre is used.
These fibres have to be long so as to have the tensile strength to keep the jersey’s shape and not ‘pile’ (bobble). High street jumpers are mostly made up of shorter hairs which lack this strength and are quickly prone to ‘piling’ and stretching.
The jerseys are two ‘ply’ meaning that the density of cashmere knitted into the jersey is much greater than most cashmere items currently available on the high street. This results in higher costs as, the more cashmere used, the higher the cost of construction.
You could conceivably wear out a high street cashmere offering in one to two seasons due to the low cost- low quality trade off. A Last Of England jersey due to its superior quality will last you years and ultimately work out to be a much better investment.
Tomorrow, part two focusing on ‘Design’.
Technical definitions are to be found in the ‘Glossary of Terms’ page below this post.
Partial Answer To A Question
I pay around £80 – £150 for a cashmere jumper from various well known high street outlets. Why should I pay a premium for a Last Of England one?
This question will be answered in three parts. The first concentrating on the differences in quality between high street offerings and Last Of England jerseys.
In quality terms, Last Of England cashmere jerseys are at the highest point.
Only the top grade of cashmere fibre is used.
These fibres have to be long so as to have the tensile strength to keep the jersey’s shape and not ‘pile’ (bobble). High street jumpers are mostly made up of shorter hairs which lack this strength and are quickly prone to ‘piling’ and stretching.
The jerseys are two ‘ply’ meaning that the density of cashmere knitted into the jersey is much greater than most cashmere items currently available on the high street. This results in higher costs as, the more cashmere used, the higher the cost of construction.
You could conceivably wear out a high street cashmere offering in one to two seasons due to the low cost- low quality trade off. A Last Of England jersey due to its superior quality will last you years and ultimately work out to be a much better investment.
Tomorrow, part two focusing on ‘Design’.
Technical definitions are to be found in the ‘Glossary of Terms’ page below this post.