Margaret Howell Knitted Sweatshirt

A sweatshirt is a specific object: a heavy cotton jersey with a fleeced back, a raglan or set-in sleeve, and ribbing at the collar, cuffs, and hem. Almost everything about it comes from athletics and almost nothing about it is warm. Take the shape and knit it properly in wool instead and you get a garment that looks familiar from across a room and behaves entirely differently on. Plied yarn is the part that matters: two or more singles twisted together before knitting, which makes a rounder, stronger, more stable yarn than a single of the same weight and gives the knitted surface a firmness that a softly spun wool cannot. That firmness is what lets it hold a boxy shape rather than draping, which is what makes it read as a sweatshirt at all. The rib at the collar is knitted in a contrast, which is the one decorative decision on the garment and the only one it needs.

The sweatshirt is the most worn shape in most wardrobes and the least considered. This is the version made as knitwear rather than as sportswear, and it is warmer, better, and quieter for it.

One hundred percent plied merino wool, made in Portugal. Boxy fit, contrast rib at the collar. Color: Charcoal.

Boxy through the body, so it sits square and does not follow the waist. Lettered sizing. Plied merino holds its shape at the cuff and the hem rather than growing, which is the usual failure of a softly spun wool in this weight.

Over the Bib Front Shirt with the collar out, which is the version we would wear. Under the Stand Collar Jacket. With the flannel trousers or the pleated crop trouser, where a boxy top over a cropped trouser is the proportion the whole line keeps returning to.

Wool: cool water, no agitation, dry flat, fold rather than hang. The contrast rib is a different yarn and may relax at a different rate from the body, which is normal in a contrast knit and not a fault. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

The Seamless Crew is merino knitted without a side seam, and the Short Classic Crew Neck is cashmere and cotton, cropped short. There is more on the house on the Margaret Howell designer page. Everything we carry from Margaret Howell is listed together.