A few weeks back, I was asked to suggest a couple of great UK menswear brands for inclusion in a national publication. I knew immediately that Inverallan was going to be one of them. Thing is, I’ve had no actual, body-on experience with the clothes. Due to irritatingly frequent laxities in my personal worth, I never seem to have the beans to hand when my size is available. And naturally, the navy 1A Cable Crew in the picture above is rarely, if ever in the sales. What I do know is, when you see these garments, you quickly realize they’re pretty much as good as it gets. Remember that lovely old hand knit that your grandma made for you? These shit all over that.
Inverallan is a company of knitters. All garments are handmade from 100% Scottish Lambswool, by cottages full of professional knitists. Having not knitted myself, I’m slightly at a loss to effectively explain the parameters of their skill set. However, one can safely assume, based on the visible results, that their needlemanship is pretty good. They know not to stick the pointy end in their eyes and they’ve got a good handle on when it’s time to stop doing the arm bit and put a cuff bit on the end.
In an effort to get Inverallan a bit of free press, I called them up and explained that they could be featured in the publication I was working for.
“We’d rather not if that’s ok”, I was told by an extremely polite lady.
Saying no to free press? That just doesn’t happen.
She explained that Inverallan actually struggle to keep up with their existing demand. Over the last few years, awareness has grown hugely, in part through retailers such as End and The Mandon Store, while exports to Japan have been going through the roof. More promotion would mean more orders, and they were already at capacity.
Even though I didn’t feature the brand, I couldn’t help but take pleasure from the knock-back. In these days of government mandated greed, to come across a simple business, seemingly content to keep things as they are and unwilling to compromise on quality (just to shift more ‘units’) is almost too perfect. Exactly like the sweaters they make.