The Story Begins
It’s not just the people who’ve worn our argyle knitwear over the years that we’re proud of – the story behind it is pretty amazing too. We’ve always loved telling stories, and this one’s too good not to share. Allow us to set the scene. Nestled amongst the rolling hills, lush green planes and soaring peaks of the Scottish countryside, you’ll find our home and birthplace, Hawick. A place that inspires us, drives us and defines us. We are Pringle ‘of Scotland’, after all.
It’s here where our story began, and where – in the 1920s – we created one of the most iconic patterns of all time. Inspired by the tartan of Clan Campbell of Argyll, which originally featured on the kilts, plaids and socks of Scottish Highlanders in the 17th century, our distinctive diamond motif took on a life of its own.
Our fine gauge machines are specifically designed to knit the argyle pattern.
Argyle goes global
Argyle went global and took the world by storm after it was adopted by the Duke of Windsor becoming an instant hit with the 20s “it crowd”. And, even though that all happened so many years ago, Argyle has been a part of pop culture and is still a hit with the current fashion set. It is is famous on the global stage, and has come so far from our home in Hawick.
Fast forward to today, and we take you from Scotland to Portugal where we had to shake things to keep up with demand. And who better to tell you all about it than our Head of Knitwear, Allan Godfrey? He’s been part of the Pringle family for over 35 years and has seen the argyle change and evolve with the times. “The Argyle pattern has been synonymous with Pringle for a long time, all over the world. For many years these styles were only made on hand intarsia looms, and the most intricate of patterns could take several days to knit. Pringle still designs some hand intarsia pieces in current collections, helping to safeguard this specialist process, however, most of the argyle patterns are now manufactured on automated machines. These were introduced in the 1980s and revolutionised commercial argyle designs. It was during this time that Pringle was producing around 10,000 pieces per week!”
This distinct diamond motif has seen continual reinvention, while staying both instantly recognisable and iconic.
How it's made
The Scheller NCI Machines were specifically designed to knit argyle patterns, and were a major advance in technology at the time, allowing between 4 and 8 panels to be knitted at once. What’s even more amazing is that there’s only a handful of these finer gauge machines left in the world, and Pringle still uses them.
Of course, we didn’t lose our personal touch, and each piece is still tended to by the human hand. We work with incredible machines and technology (it is 2019 after all), and they go hand in hand with our tradition and heritage. To this day, our iconic argyle creations pass through the fingers of our artisans who check each and every inch with extraordinary precision – ensuring that what we create today does our history proud. It’s this history, and the iconic moments that our argyle has seen and shaped, that we’re celebrating with Reissued.
The Reissued collection is a celebration of all things argyle. Of coming full circle, where iconic moments meet modernity. This is the loud, proud, bold, unisex argyle. The argyle that knows no rules, and no boundaries. That can be worn by anyone, anywhere. Because who doesn’t love a statement sweater?
Pringle Reissued
