A letter from a reader Lilian S
If there is one thing I have learned, it is that you cannot be too early for Christmas
A painted tree on soft waffle knit — the sweater I bought in August and have been waiting all year to wear.
I am 63, and if there is one thing I have learned over the past few years, it is that you can never be too early for Christmas shopping. Every December used to end the same way: three shops on the twenty-second, everything picked over, and a stack of gifts I had settled for. Then in January I would find the thing I actually wanted, at full price, in one size.
So now I buy in the quiet months. And this year, for once, I bought something for myself first.
It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who sent me the link one evening with three words: just read it. She knows me. She knows I would rather have it hanging in the closet in August than be hunting for it in December.
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 Lilian, 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.
1A tree that looks painted, not printed
The Lilian started as a painting. The tree is worked in loose brushstrokes — deep green, gold, red and a little snow — with the color bleeding softly into the cream around it. There is nothing cartoonish about it and nothing that flashes or lights up. It is the first Christmas sweater we have made that a woman can wear to lunch in town.
2Warm, but light enough to keep on indoors
December is a month of overheated rooms. So we made the Lilian light: it holds warmth the way a good thermal does, without the weight of a winter knit, which means you can wear it through a cold morning and keep it on right through dinner at somebody else's house without quietly cooking at the table.
3The waffle knit does the work
We make the Lilian in a soft waffle knit — a little raised, a little textured, the way a good thermal feels against you. It gives with you when you move instead of pulling, it holds its shape through a long day, and there is none of the scratch women our age have learned to expect from a festive sweater.
4Three small buttons at the neck
We finished the neck with a short placket and three small buttons, the way a good shirt is finished. It is a quiet detail, and it is the reason the Lilian reads as a sweater rather than as a novelty. Done up or left open, the neckline sits flat instead of gaping when you lean forward.
5Buy it early, and stop hunting in December
Every year the Christmas pieces go first, and the sizes we hear about most are the ones that go earliest. Women who order in the quiet months get the design they wanted in the size they wear, and they have a gift wrapped and waiting long before the rush. There are eight designs in this family, and a size does not come back once it is gone.
6It fits the body you have
We make the Lilian from a size XS 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 painting is scaled so the tree stays in proportion on every size. Order the size you usually wear; it is meant to sit easy on you, not to be sucked into.
The Lilian, against the Christmas sweaters you've been buying
| The usual Christmas sweater | The Lilian | |
|---|---|---|
| The look | A cartoon tree, and everybody knows it | A painted tree in soft brushstrokes |
| The feel | Scratchy enough to need a tee under | Soft waffle knit, wearable on the skin |
| The weight | Too warm the moment you are indoors | Light enough to keep on all evening |
| When you wear it | One party, then back in the box | All December, in town and at home |
| The sizes | S to XL, then good luck | XS to 4XL, print scaled to every size |
- A cartoon tree, and everybody knows it
- Scratchy enough to need a tee under
- Too warm the moment you are indoors
- One party, then back in the box
- S to XL, then good luck
- A painted tree in soft brushstrokes
- Soft waffle knit, wearable on the skin
- Light enough to keep on all evening
- All December, in town and at home
- XS to 4XL, print scaled to every size
Why they're clearing it now
They priced the Lilian 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 sweater is going out at less than a third of that.
Mine came in a kraft box on a Tuesday, folded in white tissue. It is hanging in the closet now, months early, exactly where I want it.
The Lilian Christmas Tree Henley
- A painted tree, not a cartoon one
- Soft waffle knit — warm without the weight
- Three small buttons at the neck
- Relaxed cut that skims instead of clinging
- Sizes XS to 4XL · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
The Lilian · $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 have spent too many Decembers settling for whatever was left on the shelf — and this year, for once, the nicest thing I am giving was bought in the quiet months and is already wrapped. If that sounds like you, I hope you find your size before it clears.
— Margaret Ellison · Mount Pleasant, SC
See the Lilian — $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.