A letter from a reader Aileen
I did not want a sweater with a cat on it. I wanted this one.
On the knit where the cat is lying along the color line — because somebody designed the two of them together.
I am 63 and I have had cats my whole adult life, and I have never once bought anything with a cat on it. Not a mug, not a dish towel, and certainly not a sweater.
It is not that I am above it. It is that the cat is always the same — planted square in the middle of your chest, staring out, with a little face drawn on. It does not look like a design. It looks like a picture that was put there afterward, and I am not going to walk around with one.
It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who sent me a photograph and said look at where this one is lying. I looked, and then I looked again. Before I tell you what changed my mind, I think you should read the Clarke family's letter first.
The Clarke family runs a small boutique here in South Carolina, family-run since 1986 — three generations, mother to daughter. The sweater is called the Aileen, and their letter walks through the handful of things they refused to compromise on. I am going to let their words carry it, because they say it better than I could.
1The cat is lying on the color line
The sweater is worked in two colors, one above and one below, and the cat is stretched out along the join with its front paws and its tail hanging down over the lower half. It is using the seam as a ledge. That is the difference between a design and a picture stuck on a sweater: this cat could not exist on a plain sweater, because there would be nothing for it to lie on.
2Which means the two colors are structural
Most color-blocking is a decorative choice, and you could take it away and still have the garment. Here the block is the whole reason the thing works — it makes the edge the cat is lying on. Design a sweater and then put a cat on it and you get a novelty. Design them at the same time and you get something that had to be made this way and no other.
3Two circles for eyes, and no other face
Look at the head. Two small pale circles, and that is every feature the cat has. No mouth, no nose, no whiskers, nothing smiling at anybody. That restraint is the entire reason a grown woman can wear this — the moment somebody draws a face on an animal it becomes a children's garment, and almost everybody draws the face.
4The yarn stands up off the surface
It is knitted in a high, brushed yarn with a real pile to it, which does two things at once. The whole sweater is soft to put on and warm without weight — and the cat carries that same soft pile, so it reads as fur rather than as a flat black shape. Run your hand over it and the animal is the part that feels most like an animal.
5Boxy and short, so wear it with a high waist
We will be straight with you about the length. This one is cut boxy and sits at the waist rather than over the hip, which is deliberate — the cat needs to be where people look, and a long body would drop the whole picture below the eye. Wear it with a high waist and it is right. Wear it expecting hip coverage and it is not the sweater for you.
6Ten colors, and sizes S all the way to 5XL
The Aileen comes in ten colors — more than anything else we stock — and the one you see me wearing is the light blue. The lower half and the cuffs are cream in every one of them, so the cat always has its ledge. Sizes run S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL and 5XL. It is cut oversized already, so take your usual size.
The Aileen, against every other animal sweater
| The usual cat sweater | The Aileen | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the cat is | Square in the middle, staring out | Lying along the color line, paws over |
| The face | Drawn on, and smiling at everybody | Two circles for eyes, and nothing else |
| The colors | One color with a picture added | Two colors the design needs to exist |
| The yarn | Flat, and the animal is a shape on it | High and brushed — the cat has fur |
| Who can wear it | It reads as a children's garment | A grown woman, meaning it |
- The cat square in the middle, staring out
- A face drawn on, smiling at everybody
- One color with a picture added to it
- Flat yarn, and the animal is a shape
- It reads as a children's garment
- Lying along the color line, paws over the edge
- Two circles for eyes, and nothing else
- Two colors the design needs to exist
- High brushed yarn — the cat has fur
- A grown woman, meaning it
Why they're clearing it now
They priced the Aileen at $154.95 when it launched, and it sold at that price all season. But for America's 250th, the Clarke family wanted to give something back to the women who have kept their doors open since 1986 — so every one is going out at well below half of what it was.
Mine arrived a few days later in a box on the bed. My own cat sat on the box, which I am aware is exactly the sort of thing people say.
The Aileen Sweater
- The cat lies along the color line, paws and tail over the edge
- Two circles for eyes — no drawn face anywhere
- Color-blocked because the design needs it, not for decoration
- A high brushed yarn, so the cat has fur and the sweater is soft
- Boxy, sits at the waist · 10 colors · sizes S–5XL · Free UPS shipping
The Aileen Sweater · $54.95 while sizes last
Buy 2 get 10%, buy 3 get 15%, buy 4 get an extra 20% off. When it's gone, it's gone.
I do not usually write things like this. But I have spent forty years refusing to wear anything with a cat on it, on what turns out to have been perfectly good grounds — and then somebody finally designed one properly. If you have been holding the same line, this is the one worth breaking it for.
— Margaret Ellison · Mount Pleasant, SC
See the Aileen — $54.95 →This is a personal account from a Clarke Family customer. Margaret was not paid to write it. · The Clarke Family · Family Fashion · South Carolina, since 1986 · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee.