Archival Review: Filson Knitwear

Scale Model Perfection: Style 710 Outfitter Sweater

Discontinued Filson Cardigan

If I ever earn a spot on Filson's Council for Women (an advisory and field testing group), I'd recommend that Filson introduce a line of made-in-USA knitwear for women (and slim-framed gents).

Filson currently offers only one sweater for women--the snowflake and deer patterned Cowichan.

The first installment in my knitwear collection for women would be a scaled down version of the Outfitter sweater. Although a few other US outdoor clothing companies offer a heavy duty, all wool waterfowling pullover, none match the overbuilt quality of the Filson Outfitter.

Side note: the nearest commercial match to the Outfitter sweater would be the McAlister Duration Waterfowl sweater (if you like your waxed cotton in an Advantage Camo pattern) or the McAlister Duration 3-button version (at $149.00, an attractive option for an austerity shopper in the standard S-XXXL size range).

In addition to bringing out a new women's Outfitter sweater, I'd reintroduce a modernized version of Filson's (discontinued) worsted wool cardigan. My updated version would have an overall slimmer fit with narrower sleeves (no balloon arms), shorter body length (avoiding the bathrobe effect) and a much higher buttoning neck (no deep V-neck cardigans for me) . I'd also remove the suede shooting patches or swap them out for waxed cotton. The final sweater might look something like this:

Although many commercial knitting mills have gone out of business in the Northwest, I'm optimistic that Filson is still having their US-made sweaters manufactured in the region. Out of curiosity, does anyone know who does the contract knitting for Filson?

Visual addendum for Filson:

Archival News: McAlister waxed cotton outerwear and accessories

I recently received an email from a reader who was wondering if I was just another workwear (or waterfowling?) poseur since I do not hike in my Alden Indy boots or use my Barbour jacket for game hunting. What the individual may not realize (aside from the fact that my Barbour is a now-discontinued "urban transport" model designed for cycling--not bloodsports) is that for the most part, I cannot wear most of the clothing pictured on this blog because it does not come in my size (and/or it is only available on cellulose nitrate). For this reason, I've never bothered to order anything from the McAlister clothing company, an amazing US based outdoor clothing company featuring some of the most functional yet stylish waxed cotton and outdoor clothing on the market. McAlister specializes in unstructured, non-fussy tin cloth field coats and waxed cotton down jackets and vests (which I am told are made out of a waxed cotton duck originally sourced to CC Filson before Filson switched vendors). At this time, they do not offer a women's product line.

McAlister is one of those stealth companies about which no one seems to know (unless you stall out in the middle of a Cabelas catalog). To my knowledge, their products have not made it to Japanese market though this amazing sweater will be featured on the cover of my Japan-only Archival Clothing 1986 brand catalog--in women's sizes too!

Randomly, on the subject of waxed cotton, here's a link to an interesting thread on waxed cotton garment rewaxing (and alternative methods of preparation and treatment). In a week or so, I'm going to designate a specific day as national waxed cotton garment treatment day. Stay tuned!