A letter from a reader Katrina
A cardigan that does not look like a cardigan.
On the knit with a proper shirt collar — so it reads as a top you chose, not as something you put on because you were cold.
I am 63, and I own a great many cardigans I do not much like. They are all perfectly warm and every one of them announces something about me that I did not agree to — that I was cold, that I was making do, that I had reached the cardigan stage of life and settled into it.
It is not the garment. It is the round neck and the shapeless front, and the fact that every cardigan ever made looks like the same one.
It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who told me to stop settling and try one from a small family boutique here in South Carolina. Look at the collar, she said. 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 cardigan is called the Katrina, 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.
1We put a shirt collar on it
Almost every cardigan ends at a round neck, and a round neck is what makes it read as a cardigan. So we knitted a proper pointed collar into the Katrina, cut to fold over the way a shirt collar does. It changes what the garment is. Buttoned up it looks like a knitted shirt you chose deliberately, rather than something you reached for because the room was cold.
2Light enough to keep on all day
Knitted at a weight that works indoors from morning to evening — warm enough on a cool day, never so heavy that you take it off the moment a room warms up. That matters more than it sounds. A cardigan you keep removing is a cardigan you end up carrying, and then leaving somewhere.
3A waffle knit holds its shape
The stitch is a waffle — small raised squares rather than a flat face. That texture is structure as much as it is decoration: it gives the knit body, so it hangs from the shoulder instead of draping into every line beneath it. A flat knit follows you. This one holds its own shape and lets you move underneath it.
4Deep ribbing at the cuffs and the hem
Cuffs and hems are where a knit gives up first. A shallow rib stretches out inside a season, and then the sleeves hang open and the hem flares where it should not. We use a deep rib at both ends so it holds, wash after wash. It is the least visible decision in the garment and the one that decides how long you keep it.
5Closed it is a top, open it is a layer
Because the front buttons the whole way and the collar sits properly, the Katrina works closed with nothing underneath it — which is not true of most cardigans. Open over a plain top it goes back to being a layer. One garment doing both jobs, and the buttons decide which one you are having today.
6Four colors, and a size for you — S to 3XL
The Katrina comes in four colors and the one you see me wearing is the soft pink, which I was not expecting to choose. There is a deep red and two blues besides. Sizes run S, M, L, XL, 2XL and 3XL, cut relaxed through the body so it goes over a shirt. If you are between sizes, take the smaller one.
The Katrina, against the cardigans you've been buying
| The usual cardigan | The Katrina | |
|---|---|---|
| What it reads as | Something you put on because you were cold | A knitted shirt you chose |
| The neckline | A round neck, like every other one | A pointed shirt collar, knitted in |
| The knit | Flat, and it drapes into every line | A waffle stitch with body to it |
| Cuffs and hem | A shallow rib that stretches out | Deep ribbing that holds its shape |
| Worn closed | Still looks like a cardigan | Works as a top on its own |
- Reads as something you put on for warmth
- A round neck, like every other one
- Flat knit that drapes into every line
- A shallow rib that stretches out
- Still looks like a cardigan buttoned up
- Reads as a knitted shirt you chose
- A pointed shirt collar, knitted in
- A waffle stitch with body to it
- Deep ribbing that holds its shape
- Works as a top on its own
Why they're clearing it now
They priced the Katrina at $184.95 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 cardigan is going out at less than a third of that.
Mine arrived a few days later in a box on the bed. I did the buttons up on the kitchen table before I put it on, just to see the collar sit.
The Katrina Cardigan
- A pointed shirt collar knitted in — it stops reading as a cardigan
- Waffle stitch with body, so it hangs instead of clinging
- Deep ribbed cuffs and hem that hold their shape
- Buttons the whole way down — a top closed, a layer open
- 4 colors · sizes S–3XL · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
The Katrina Cardigan · $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 quietly accepted that a whole category of clothing was going to keep saying something about me that I did not agree with, and it turned out the fix was a collar. If your closet is full of cardigans you do not much like either, I hope you find your size before it clears.
— Margaret Ellison · Mount Pleasant, SC
See the Katrina — $59.95 →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.