I have bought a sweater every fall for fifty years. This is the first one I am writing a letter about.
Six things a cashmere wool sweater gets right that fifty falls of sweaters got wrong, written down by a customer, not a knitter.
Emily Johnson · Customer · Columbus, Ohio · 5 min read
I am 68, and by my arithmetic I have bought a sweater every fall for about fifty years. Most of them let me down by Christmas. Itchy ones, staticky ones, ones that bobbled, turtlenecks I had to fight my way out of at the doctor’s. So when the woman ahead of me in line for my flu shot turned out to be wearing a cream sweater that looked expensive and comfortable at the same time, I asked her about it before they had even called my name.
It is called the Rosamonde, from Sophie & Ella, a small American boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. It is cashmere wool, it costs a fraction of what cashmere usually does, and I ordered one fully expecting to send it back. Instead I wrote the boutique a letter about it, and they asked if they could put it up for other women to read. So here it is, the six things this one gets right.
Sweaters, if you have bought as many as I have, come in two piles. The first pile is soft and beautiful and costs more than the winter heating bill, so it lives in a drawer being saved for best. The second pile is affordable and lets you know it every minute you are wearing it, scratchy at the neck, crackling when you pull it off, bobbled by January.
Lovely or wearable, never both. I stopped accepting that a woman has to choose, and this sweater is the proof I was right to.
It is actual cashmere wool
Not a cashmere-feel, not a soft-touch blend name invented by a marketing department. Cashmere wool, with a fine brushed surface that has a softness you can see across a room, which is exactly how it caught me in that line. You feel the difference the second it goes over your head, and you keep noticing it all day, every time a sleeve brushes your arm.
The brushed surface, up close. This is what stopped me in line.
“I own cashmere that cost more than twice this and I honestly reach for the Rosamonde first.”
Barbara T., Naperville, ILThe mock neck, not a turtleneck
High enough to keep the chill off your neck all fall, low enough that you are not fighting your way out of it at the doctor’s office or flushing hot in the grocery store. It frames a scarf beautifully and needs nothing at all on its own. Whoever settled on this height has stood in line in an Ohio October.
The neck. Warm, and not a wrestling match.
“Turtlenecks make me feel throttled and crew necks leave my neck cold. This one is exactly right.”
Christine M., Dayton, OHIt skims, it does not cling
The cut is relaxed without being shapeless. It falls straight from the shoulder, skims over the middle, and finishes at the hip, so it flatters without gripping anything on the way down. And because it is light, it slips under a coat without that stuffed feeling heavier knits give you.
On. Relaxed, not baggy, nothing clinging.
“First sweater in years I do not tug down every time I stand up. It just hangs right.”
Dorothy S., Lancaster, PAThe ribbing is only where it should be
The body is smooth and plush, and the ribbing is saved for the neck, the cuffs and the hem, where it keeps everything neat and holds its shape at the wrists. It is the difference between a sweater that looks finished and one that looks slept in by lunchtime.
Folded on the table. The trims keep it looking new.
“Washes and wears beautifully and still looks smart enough for church. The cuffs have kept their shape.”
Sylvia R., Grand Rapids, MIWarmth without the weight
Cashmere wool is warm for its weight in a way cheap knits never manage, so this is a sweater you can wear indoors all day without cooking, then put a coat over for school pickup without feeling like a parcel. Fall in Ohio is fifty degrees and raining. This is the sweater for exactly that.
The morning it arrived.
“Warm enough for my cold kitchen, light enough to forget. I have barely taken it off since it came.”
Kathleen B., Carmel, INEleven colors and honest sizing
The cream is the one people comment on, but it comes in eleven colors, navy, grays, a green, a red, a soft blue, and it runs from a US 2/4 to a 14/16 in the same relaxed shape the whole way up. I started sensible with the cream and I am going back for the navy. Possibly the red. It is that sort of price.
Three of them on the bed. Choosing the second is the hard part.
“Bought the grey, went back for the navy within the week. At this price you can.”
Maureen G., Rochester, NYThe Rosamonde, against the sweaters you have been buying
You can find an ordinary sweater almost anywhere. I know, because I have bought fifty falls’ worth of them. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Scratchy at the neck by mid morning
Static crackle every time you pull them off
Bobbled and tired looking by Christmas
Either clinging or shapeless, nothing between
Heavy under a coat, cold on their own
Cashmere wool with a soft brushed surface
A mock neck that warms without strangling
A relaxed cut that skims and hangs right
Ribbed trims that keep it looking finished
Real warmth with next to no weight
About the price
I will be straightforward about the price, because it was the thing that made me suspicious. The Rosamonde is $44.95, and it was $89.95. Cashmere wool at this price sounds like a story, and I said so.
The boutique says it is simple arithmetic: they sell directly with no department store taking a cut in the middle, and they price the first run of fall stock to get it onto real shoulders rather than sitting in a warehouse. That is their arithmetic, not mine. What I can tell you is that I have stood in department stores holding cashmere at well over twice this price, and the sweater I am wearing as I type this cost less than the cab home from one of them.
If you have spent fifty falls choosing between lovely and wearable, this is the sweater I would put over your head myself, while the first stock is still here.
Emily
ROSAMONDE | Cashmere Sweater
- ✓Cashmere wool with a soft brushed feel
- ✓Mock neck that keeps the chill off
- ✓Relaxed fit that skims, never clings
- ✓Ribbed neck, cuffs and hem
- ✓Eleven colors, US 2/4 to 14/16
- ✓Free US shipping and 30 day returns
The first fall stock is already going. Cashmere at this price does not hang about.