Fair Isle Sweaters offer the most fundamentally stylish and charismatic range of men’s knitwear that you’ll ever come across. These hand-knitted one-of-a-kind classics have a charm and tradition all their own. In every sense, a rare affair…

Part Jarvis Cocker, part Sebatian Flyte, part Fairport Convention, the Fair Isle sweater traverses a gamut stylish men, and we like it. First made exceedingly popular when worn by the Duke of Windsor in the 1920s, the Fair Isle –  with its quirky, intricate, horizontal geometric patterns – has had an up-and-down history, but it’s never gone away.

Officially, you can’t actually buy a Fair Isle sweater anywhere except on Fair Isle – one of the most remote islands in the UK, poised between Shetland Isle and the Orkneys, where the sheep outnumber the people by more than 10:1. A ‘real’ Fair Isle must be knitted by one of the dozen or so craftswomen knitters of the island, and they don’t sell their wares in any shops outside the island. You can order them on the internet (each sweater takes about 100 hours to make, so expect a waiting list longer than on Saville Row), and you can visit the island. Otherwise, think of this as one of the last great cottage industries. And the real standard-bearer of men’s knitwear.

We are especially fond of ‘Katie’s Pattern’, as knitted by lovely Rosabell Halcrow, combining indigo blue, madder red, creamy whites and yellows. It will set you back £350, but no one else in the world will have this same sweater and it’s the real thing. British Airways flights from London to the Shetlands will set you back about £150, or just see www.thistleandbroom.com.

Most people won’t end up getting Rosabell’s one-of-a-kind and will opt for the fake rather than the real thing. Happily, there are good options out there. If you are cardigan-minded (and who isn’t these days?), then take a look at Crombie’s little slice of heritage, with chunky leather buttons. If you are more of a V-neck sort of man, Thomas Pink does a lovely one in cashmere, with grays, mossy greeny browns and lavender. Ralph Lauren, always one to steal and update the best ideas in style classics and sell them to the common man, has done a twist on the Fair Isle with a chunky black turtleneck with cream pattern. It suggests a Nordic sweater, but just about qualifies as a Fair Isle, in a pinch.

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