Available here is a sweater from the Needles label, one of the Nepenthes family of brands that includes Engineered Garments, South 2 West 8, the Rebuild by Needles brand and a number of others. Nepenthes always keeps their designs rooted in vintage and workwear territory, although they also allow for a lot of exploration in their designs. Each of their various labels have their own particular focus, where the Needles label, at least in my opinion, looks to 1960s and 70s designs.
What we have here is a fairly straightforward cardigan with a few little twists added on for good measure. Material is an 81% acrylic, 10% polyester, 9% wool blend. This is a very soft fabric. It has a bit of a hair-like texture to it, sort of like a mohair fabric, making it nicely insulating and ideal for the colder weather. Pattern is based on the buffalo check plaid, a classic outdoors wear motif but rarely applied to sweaters as you see here. Silhouette is relaxed to ensure maximum comfort, while the closure is just slightly asymmetric with a four buttons made out of shell. Seams on the bottom and cuffs are raw as well.
Size is labeled a medium and fits relaxed as noted. I measure the chest at 23” / 59cm, shoulders at 18” / 47cm, length at 27” / 69cm from the base of the neck, and sleeves at 23” / 58cm from the shoulder. The sweater comes in lightly used, very good shape with no holes, tears or stains. Made in Japan.
Shipping from Japan to anywhere will be $26.
