The weather is now cold enough for heavy knitwear and I was able to finally track down a Saint James Matelot in my size thanks to the team at Archival Clothing, which carries a good selection in its webstore. Very close fitting, the thick knit wool of the Matelot is designed to keep the elements away from the body and is a great alternative to the Binic II if you have long arms.
Saint James was also recently featured in Men’s File Issue 4 where they visited the factory and wrote a short piece about the manufacturing – apparently some the equipment is so old that punch card programming is still used. During their visit, they were able to check out a number of vintage sweaters shown below and it inspired the creation of two modern pieces for bikers and cyclists (both made by Saint James).
More reading – Archival Knitwear: Saint James Matelot
