A letter from a reader Christina S
Stripes only measure you when they repeat.
On the sweater whose colors come and go in no order at all — so there is nothing on it to count.
I am 63, and I have avoided horizontal stripes since somebody told me not to wear them, which was probably around 1998. Everybody knows the rule. I have never once questioned it.
What I never thought about is why it is true, and it turns out to matter. An ordinary stripe is evenly spaced — same width, same gap, over and over. That is not a pattern, it is a ruler. Your eye counts the bands, and counting bands across a body is how you measure it.
It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who held up her phone and said look properly at this one, and pointed me at a small family boutique here in South Carolina. Before I tell you what it did, 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 Christina, 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.
1Not one stripe on it repeats
Stand in front of it and try to find the pattern. There is not one. No two stripes are the same width, the colors arrive in no order, and nothing comes back around. That is the entire difference — an even stripe is a measuring tape laid across you and your eye reads the numbers, while an irregular one gives it nothing to count. It stops being a grid and becomes a color.
2Every color you own is already in it
Count what is in there: rust, blue, teal, pink, gold, gray, cream, a purple. Whatever you pull out of your closet to wear underneath or over the top of it, one of these stripes is already picking it up. A single-color sweater has to be matched to something. This one has done the matching in advance, which is why it turns out to be the easiest thing in the drawer.
3A wide boat neck across the collarbone
The neckline runs out wide toward the shoulders rather than sitting round at the base of the throat. Two things follow from that. It broadens the line of your shoulders, which makes everything below look narrower by comparison, and it leaves the collarbone showing — which is the one part of herself almost every woman we serve is happy to have on view.
4Solid blue cuffs, and nothing else solid
The cuffs are knitted in one strong plain blue, and they are the only place on the whole sweater where the color stops moving. A garment busy from edge to edge has no ending — it simply runs out at the wrists. Two blocks of solid color put a frame on it. It is the same reason a painting gets one, and it is the difference between busy and finished.
5Knitted loose, so it is warm without weight
Hold it up to a window and you can see light through it. That open gauge is not the maker being mean with the yarn — air trapped in a loose knit is where warmth actually comes from, so you get the heat of a heavy sweater without the weight of one on your shoulders. It also means it drapes and moves rather than sitting on you like a board.
6One colorway, and sizes S all the way to 5XL
There is only one version of the Christina, because with this many colors in the yarn there does not need to be a second. Sizes run S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL and 5XL — the whole way up, which is not something most knitwear bothers with. It is cut relaxed and falls to the hip, so take your usual size.
The Christina, against the striped sweaters you've put back
| The usual striped sweater | The Christina | |
|---|---|---|
| The stripes | Evenly spaced — a ruler across you | Irregular, with nothing to count |
| Matching it | Two colors you have to work around | Every color is already in it |
| The neckline | Round, at the base of the throat | Wide, out across the collarbone |
| The cuffs | More stripes, running off the end | Solid blue, framing the whole thing |
| The weight | Warm because it is heavy | Warm because the knit is open |
- Evenly spaced stripes — a ruler across you
- Two colors you have to work around
- A round neck at the base of the throat
- Stripes running off the end at the cuff
- Warm because it is heavy
- Irregular stripes, with nothing to count
- Every color already in it
- A wide boat neck across the collarbone
- Solid blue cuffs framing the whole thing
- Warm because the knit is open
Why they're clearing it now
They priced the Christina at $189.95 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 less than a third of that.
Mine arrived a few days later in a box on the bed. I held it up to the window first, to see how open the knit was.
The Christina Sweater
- Irregular stripes that never repeat — nothing on it to count
- Every color already in the yarn, so it goes with anything
- A wide boat neck sitting out across the collarbone
- Solid cobalt cuffs, the only plain blocks on it
- An open knit — warm without weight · sizes S–5XL · Free UPS shipping
The Christina Sweater · $59.95 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 had followed a rule about stripes for nearly thirty years without ever asking what the rule was actually about, and it turns out it was about the spacing and not the stripes at all. If you have been putting striped things back for as long as I have, I hope you find your size before it clears.
— Sandra Thompson · Mount Pleasant, SC
See the Christina — $59.95 →This is a personal account from a Clarke Family customer. Sandra was not paid to write it. · The Clarke Family · Family Fashion · South Carolina, since 1986 · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee.