PRINGLE OF SCOTLAND Icon Polo Shirt

June is flying by, and Father's Day is here! (Well, almost.) Are you in need of a last-minute gift for the super man/men in your life? A polo shirt tends to be a welcome gift for dads. Affordable and presentable, it can be worn to work on a Casual Friday, or for a day on the links. Pringle of Scotland, one of the oldest and most established names in the British knitwear industry (and not to be confused with Pringles the potato chips, hehe), has a smart and solid polo that comes with a contrast embroidered regal logo. So classy, you may want to buy two!
(RRP US$175)

(Or if you prefer a shirt or a tie, we stock those, too, of course -- traditional gifts that Dad never tires of!)


PRINGLE OF SCOTLAND
Pringle of Scotland is a knitwear company with a long and proud history.
Established in 1815 in the Scottish Borders, Pringle’s trademark argyle sweaters, twinset and golf-wear became increasingly popular in mid 20th century when it found fans among the likes of Edward, Duke of Windsor, and the early ‘Sweater Girls’ who included sophisticated leading ladies such as Dame Margot Fonteyn, Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons, Bridget Bardot.
However, the later part of the 20th Century saw a decline in the company’s fortunes. A perceived “stale-ness” and declining sales saw the company shrink to a shadow of its former glory.
Thankfully, despite its slightly vulnerable position, Pringle gained a fresh lease of life in the new millennium when it was acquired by SC Fang and Sons, a Hong Kong-based textile dynasty and worldwide knitwear manufacturer, in 2000.
Over the next decade, the Fang family would invest more than £50 million into Pringle, as a vision and strategy was put in place to diversify the knitwear-centric heritage brand into high-quality and sophisticated tailored wear for a younger market, and to re-establish Pringle as an international luxury fashion label.
Like Burberry, Mulberry and Daks to name a few, Pringle of Scotland has since enjoyed a renaissance driven not only by a successful repositioning, but also by the recent ‘post-modern’ love affair with all things retro.

While it may have nothing to do with snack chips, Pringle does have a funny bone and appreciates a good laugh. Last year the brand commissioned David Shrigley (the Glasgow-based artist whose “faux naive” yet mordant illustrations often depict the humour in everyday life as seen with a distinctly British sense of humour) to make a bizarre but delightful little video about the company :-)

Pringle of Scotland creative director Clare Waight Keller (Tom Ford's capable senior designer during his Gucci days), who has earned considerable praise for mixing her own daring vision with Pringle's storied history, talks about the Pringle Spring/Summer 2010 men’s collection:-

A long-time supporter of the arts, Pringle also made the bold move of presenting its women’s Spring Summer collection in the form of an artsy short film, created by New York photographer Ryan McGinley in the lush Scottish countryside. The campaign stars Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton (herself a Scotswoman), who dashes around trees and climbs through a castle window dressed in beautiful frocks from the Pringle collection. (This collaboration is the first in a series of creative projects planned for the brand with the aim of promoting Scotland’s renewed cultural surge.)

Footnote: Regrettably, in response to the changing nature of the market, Pringle has closed its last remaining mill in the Scottish Borders in 2008.