Just as different parts of Britain and Ireland can be identified by terrain – the rocks, the soil composition, the quirks of industry and community shaped by rolling hills or rugged coastline – there are areas that can be mapped by clothing. Garments, always rich repositories of memory and story, hold their own geographical resonance, especially when it comes to knitwear. Many of our most beloved patterns and styles are rooted deep in the landscape, their composition holding intimate histories of the people who created and wore them. And this is particularly true for our latest Spring Summer 2025 pieces (which you can explore here).
Take the Glamis Mouline Sweater, for example, knitted in an all over rib combining cotton with Scottish lambswool for a lighter feel. This fisherman-inspired style has roots in Guernsey, where its early construction was both specific and pragmatic: original details such as a diamond shape under the arm was designed to give greater flexibility to sailors who were spending their days hauling nets and knotting ropes, while the tight gauge knit in worsted wool ensured they could withstand sea spray and wind chill. The traditional jumpers also held a series of details alluding to their seafaring origins. Ribbing on the tops of the sleeves nodded to the ship’s rope ladder, while a garter stitch panel symbolised breaking waves. Later spreading beyond the Channel Islands to other areas on the UK coast where it was sometimes known as a ‘gansey’, by 1804 Admiral Nelson was singing its praises as the “best and most valuable” garment for naval use.
This jumper, like other forms of knitwear, was also sufficiently flexible in structure that it could incorporate particular stitches or patterns that alluded to specific families or communities. Or at least, that’s the received wisdom. A commonly relayed fact – which also pops up in the history of the Aran knit, another favoured by fishermen – is the idea that such personalised stitches were a valuable tool in identifying drowned sailors. However, this story may owe more to a scene in J.M. Synge’s popular 1904 play Riders to the Sea than it does to historical records. What may, of course, have been true is that quirks in yarns, knitting style, mistakes and repairs would have helped to differentiate one jumper from another in the unfortunate case of a body found at sea. It is also not unreasonable to imagine that details were adapted and revised over time, much in the way that a folk story changes a little each time it’s told.
For Purdey, the pleasure of the Aran knit lies in its sheer tactility. The Aran islands – Inishmore (Inis Mór), Inisheer (Inis Oírr), and Inishmaan (Inis Meáin) – sit off the coast of Galway, to the west of Ireland. They are responsible for a singular knitting tradition, with undyed, cream-coloured sheep’s wool transformed into a series of elaborate basket, cable, and diamond stitches. These stitches are said to have different symbolic resonances, from safety and good fortune (cable knit) to good work ethic (honeycomb stitch) to the vicissitudes of married life (the zig-zag stitch). Although some have claimed that these patterns may owe their origins to Celtic knotwork, it was in the late Victorian era that the design we still love and know today found its form. Like the Guernsey, Aran jumpers were a practical choice – usually hand-knitted by women for their husbands. The Lammermuir Cape, knitted in soft wool-cashmere, combines this tactile structure with a soft handle, enveloping the wearer for a perfectly unstructured springtime layer.
This history of knitwear is also a history of manufacture. Handmade jumpers may be a rarer sight these days, but given that we are not short on sheep (or goats) there are still plenty of British and Irish mills that rely on old-school methods – enacting that miraculous process by which a tuft of wool becomes a dyed yarn ready for weaving or knitting. This can be seen in the Fifescar Cash Donegal High Neck Sweater, melding the speckled colour of Donegal yarn with the luxurious feel of Scottish cashmere. The cashmere is sourced from a mill that has stood at Loch Leven since 1897, the design is a play on traditional cables, and the construction a pleasing fusion of materials, geographies and distinctive histories.
“Craftsmanship and functionality are very linked to Purdey,” observes Hans Madsen, Purdey knitwear designer. “We’re really trying to celebrate that.” Scotland and Ireland both have extraordinarily rich histories of textiles production, with knowledge acquired over centuries and handed down generations, which as Madsen notes, follows the Purdey playbook to a tee. All clothing is built on the history of what came before it, but knitwear is an area in which the past and present feel especially closely tethered – stories and traditions stitched together little by little.
Shop the full Purdey Spring Summer 2025 collection here.