At 63, I carry my love for cats everywhere I go

A coat painted with cats in stained-glass color, lined in soft fleece, with a hood for the mornings that bite.

By Margaret Ellison · Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

Posted August 2026 · 6 min read

I am 63, and I have had cats in this house for thirty years. Everybody knows it. My daughter jokes that the Christmas cards write themselves. But there is a line you learn not to cross at our age — the cat sweatshirt, the cat brooch, the mug with the whiskers on it — because the moment you cross it, people stop seeing you and start seeing a joke.

So I kept it to the house, and my coats stayed navy, beige, and quiet enough that nobody looked up. I had started to feel a little invisible in my own clothes.

It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who found the one thing I did not think existed: cats you could actually wear. She sent me a link one evening with three words: just read it.

The Clarke family runs a small boutique here in South Carolina, family-run since 1986 — three generations, mother to daughter. The coat is called the Isa, 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.

1Cats you can carry with you everywhere

The Isa is painted, not printed with a cartoon. The cats are built out of panels of color — orange, teal, ruby, gold — the way a stained-glass window is built, so from a few steps away it reads as art and only up close do you see them looking back at you. It is for the woman who loves her cats and still wants to be taken seriously.

2Lined inside, without the weight of a winter coat

The whole inside is lined with a soft brushed fleece, collar to hem and all the way down the sleeves, behind a textured woven face that holds the artwork clean and bright. That is where the warmth comes from — not from thickness. It holds the heat like a proper coat and still sits light on your shoulders all afternoon.

3A cozy hood, for the mornings that bite

We lined the hood in that same soft fleece and left it roomy, with a drawstring so you can pull it close when the wind turns. Up, it keeps the chill off your ears and the back of your neck. Down, it sits like a soft collar behind you. It is the difference between walking the dog and staying inside.

4Two fabrics, one easy layer

Open the front and you can see how it is built. A textured woven face on the outside, brushed fleece behind it, and nothing stiff between them. It does not crackle when you move and the lining does not slide around inside the sleeve. It hangs open and easy, and it goes on over whatever you are already wearing.

5Long enough to cover, easy enough to live in

We run the Isa past the hip and cut it relaxed, so it covers the waistband and the back of your jeans and never grips at the middle. Worn open it falls in two clean lines down the front. It is a layer you can drive in, sit down in and carry the groceries in without thinking about it once.

6It fits the body you have

We make the Isa from a size S all the way to 4XL, and every size is cut on the same relaxed lines — the larger ones are not simply stretched out, and the artwork is scaled so the cats stay in proportion. There are six designs to choose from. Order the size you usually wear, or one up if you like a thick sweater underneath.

The Isa, against the coats you've been buying

Why they're clearing it now

They priced the Isa at $294.95 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 coat is going out at well below half of what it was.

Mine came in a kraft box on a Tuesday, folded in white tissue. The cat sat in the empty box for the rest of the afternoon, which felt like approval.

I do not usually write things like this. But I spent thirty years keeping the thing I love best inside the house — and now I carry my love for cats everywhere I go, and people stop me to say how beautiful it is. If that sounds like you, I hope you find your size before it clears.

— Margaret Ellison · Mount Pleasant, SC

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.