Products With Personality
Products With Personality: Tweed Workshirt
In the depths of winter we all have our rituals for bundling up before we head outside. We layer on sweaters, thick socks, heavy coats, and hats, before we brave the icy winds. As the weather warms up and spring arrives, some of those colder weather clothes will be packed away in the closet for next winter, while others will transition to multiple seasons with ease. A wool overshirt has its uses as a winter inner layer, a spring or fall outer layer, and a throw-on light jacket on cool summer nights.
Products with Personality: Academic Scarves
Academic scarves, also known as rowing scarves, have their origins in the annual boat race between Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Beginning in the 19th Century, both schools competed heavily to develop a superior rowing team, sending their boats out in all weather. Rowers bundled up against the cold in scarves, and soon each school developed its own pattern of knit stripes to differentiate its rowers on and off the water.
Products with Personality: Repp Stripe Tie
Repp stripe ties are a staple of a classic men’s wardrobe. These diagonally-striped silk ties in a variety of color schemes can pull together almost any look, and can be easily worn at different levels of formality. Originating in Great Britain, the repp stripe design has been adopted as a cornerstone of American menswear and of Ivy Style in particular.
Timeless Traditions: Donegal Tweed
As we’ve discussed in a previous blog post, the wool cloth collectively known as tweed was developed as a hard-wearing material for country wear in Scotland and Ireland. Using locally produced wool, regional tweeds evolved to suit the needs of the outdoorsmen who would wear them, resulting in variations that would come to represent the style of entire regions of the British Isles.
Products With Personality: Chrysalis Field Jacket
Centuries of hunting and fishing in rural Britain have led to the evolution of a hardy, practical, and stylish piece of outerwear that is useful in all kinds of settings and weather. Often called the shooting jacket or the field coat, it is a roomy, weatherproof garment with large pockets intended for shotgun shells or other gear, and a wide collar to shield the wearer’s neck. In 1985, Chrysalis England began producing its own version of this iconic jacket, which the Andover Shop is proud to provide to you.
Timeless Traditions: An Introduction to Tweed
Most of the clothing that we cover here on The Andover Shop Blog originates in the British Isles. Famous for their changeable weather, particularly in chilly winters, Great Britain and Ireland are also historically a center of wool production. During the Middle Ages, the English economy was supported primarily by the production of sheep’s wool and the weaving industry. The historical importance of this industry can be seen in the fact that to this day the presiding officer of the House of Lords sits on The Woolsack, a symbolic chair stuffed with wool.
Products With Personality: Aran Sweater
As we’ve discussed in previous articles, traditional cold weather wear is almost always derived from the clothing worn by people performing manual labor out in the elements. The average sweater-wearer today is probably not managing a country estate or hauling in nets full of mackerel, but the durability and warmth of items like the Aran sweater will serve anyone well in the dead of winter.
Products With Personality: Mask Up, Dress Up
This turbulent year has brought a lot of changes into our lives. Work and home schedules have been disrupted, and the most visible representation of these changes are the masks that we all wear to keep each other safe. During the holiday season it can be even more important to keep everyone healthy, and if you want to add a new stylish accessory to your wardrobe at the same time, The Andover Shop’s mask offerings are a great option.
Timeless Traditions: Argyle
A common assumption about menswear is that it all looks the same, that men dress in homogenous shades of blue and grey with little to differentiate them. Since opening in 1948, The Andover Shop has prided itself on challenging this stereotype, providing vibrant colors and interesting patterns in all its offerings.
