Workwear British-Made Men's Cardigans — Voted by the Community

The cardigan takes its name from James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, a British Army officer who led the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava during the Crimean War. The garment is said to be modelled on the knitted wool waistcoats that British officers wore to keep warm in that war, and at first the name meant only a sleeveless knitted vest. Over time it came to mean the familiar knitted layer that buttons or hangs open at the front, and it moved from military use into everyday civilian dress, worn in both informal and smart settings. Britain’s long history of wool and knitwear, centred on textile regions in England and Scotland, gave a foundation for making cardigans at home as knitting technology developed through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. British spinners, knitters and mills built up the skills to turn wool into garments with warmth, structure and comfort suited to the UK’s changeable climate. British-made cardigans today continue this line, combining long-standing knitwear skills with current patterns and yarns.