Newly Arrived: Custom Cricket Sweater from Rochford Knitwear

There's hardly a more iconic item of sportswear more identified with classic British style than the Cricket jumper (tennis sweater for us Yanks).  These wonderfully colored sporting items were ubiquitous in the first half of the 20th century (my personal favorite period of men's wear.  Given their ubiquity in the period, It's a bit shocking that well-made cricket jumpers seem so difficult to find these days.   The Gentleman's Gazette has a very interesting history of the Cricket Sweater on their website, which I would encourage you check out for more background.

This photo from the great movie 'Chariots of Fire' from 1981 being a film that had a huge effect on my own love of men's wear when I saw it while in high school.  In it, the cricket jumper was featured heavily:

As a fan of British style, I have increasingly had the good fortune to find British brands (often little know), that provide simply outstanding customized/made-to-measure services.  Spencer's made-to-measure Trousers and Ryder & Amies collegiate stripped scarfs being just two that spring immediately to mind.  Well, I have recently discovered another great brand, which provides custom 100% wool knit cricket/tennis sweaters and slipovers (pullover vests) as well and I honestly couldn't be more thrilled: Rochford Sports knitwear LTD.  Here is what it says on their website:

'Rochford Sports Knitwear has been Successfully trading and marketing First class traditional cricket sweaters For over 30 years.

All cricket sweaters are traditionally hand framed and hand finished using best quality pure new wool. Cricket sweaters are made to the highest standard, using strong pearl strapping on neckbands and armbands on sleeveless sweaters.

Our sweaters are widely distributed throughout England to hundreds of schools, cricket clubs and major county cricket clubs.'

Having just received my first custom sweater from Rochford, I can tell you that I am very much more than satisfied.  Firstly the design app on their website is really fun to work with and after you get the hang of how it works the various combinations of possible strip combinations are endless!  I spent about 2-3 fun-filled hours mulling over the many combinations I would like for my first customized sweater (I'm sure this will not be my last) and decided upon the Navy/Red/Green strips you see here.  I went with a bit deeper color combo for this sweater because I intend to wear it with my fall/winter tweed and flannels.  And the first combination I've chosen is my navy flannel blazer and Chinos that you see here.  I think it looks smashing.  

It's hard not to absolutely love the service that Rockford provides - the icing on the cake is that from the time of order to delivery to me here in Germany was only 18 days - this for a fully bespoke design is frankly astonishing!  As you can see from the photos, the V is nicely beep which is a very traditional design element and I chose to have my strips added to the neck, the cuffs and the waist, however, Rochford will be happy to do any combination of these or none if you prefer a plane Ecru cable knit (Other base color options are Navy, Green or Sky Blue).  These together with the nearly limitless strip options results in thousands of possible custom sweater designs!