Rewind to the summer of 2020, during a “lull” in Covid cases, I found myself with a 100-year-old Brown’s Beach Cloth vest headed for Peggy Hart’s studio in Shelburne Falls, Mass.  While sitting in her garden, I had a look at an old textile book that explained tricot weaving while Peggy used her magnifying glass to inspect the structure of Brown’s proprietary, double-faced knit fabric.  With Peggy’s deep knowledge of textiles, wool and wool producers, we discussed a regional production strategy for a modern version of this textile.  With cost and functionality in mind, we realized we could make a textile using a warp of cotton, linen and our fave Merino wool from Jagger Spun in Maine, along with a custom weft made of local, outerwear wool.  Knowing that Brown’s vests were originally made of shoddy, recycled wool in RI, we were excited to take an opportunity to tap the SE New England and Western Mass Fibersheds to see how genuine we could be.

Fast forward to December 2020, at Peckham Farm URI, and me loading 60 pounds of raw Dorset wool in the back of my truck.  After skirting the raw wool, l sent it off a short distance to Putney, VT to get washed and spun by the wonderful people at Green Mountain Spinnery.  From Putney, our yarn made its way to Philly where it was custom dyed dark indigo at Caledonia Dye House before heading to Peggy’s barn studio to get set up on one of her historic looms.  After a quick wash in the kettle at Draper Knitting Co in Canton, Mass our bespoke, locally woven cloth made its way to the atelier of Lily Bell, formerly of Coggeshall Museum (where she worked making reproduction work clothing). Over the course of a couple months, Lily and I worked to fine tune the production of a brilliant pattern from our star pattern maker, Marilyn, just in time for cool weather and testing in the real world.

Between prickly rose canes and sharp edged chicken cages, I was delighted by how hardwearing this cloth proved to be and how after a short break-in period, it draped like a perfectly broken in baseball glove. Lined with a bulletproof, time-tested, 100% wool Pendleton® lining and a hemp & linen facing hand-woven by Suzi Ballenger in South Kingston RI. Vintage inspired, basket weave snaps are made in CT, and cotton herringbone twill tape made in PA finish the exterior.  

Making a product first made in RI over 100 years ago, we had to name the Hope Vest for RI’s state motto, but we’re also happy to point out the pun… we have high hopes for future collaborations with local fiber producers. 

Please send your sizing/ fit questions to ella@gamineworkwear.com.     

• Available in 5 sizes; scroll down for more sizing info

• Wool, cotton linen

• Hand made in Bristol, RI

• Hand wash as needed, lay flat to dry.