Aero RAF Comfort Sweater

[IXL]

Plumbline, please inform your Aunt Lizzie to be on the lookout for a bunch of flowers and $20 from America. Size 40/Med and the color matters not!

 

[Smithy]

It's a good looking jumper but over 200 quid for a piece of knitwear is too rich for me.

As I said in the other thread Paddy, glad you made it out alive but you must have been completely hatstand to even entertain the idea of doing it

 

[Stand By]

I cannot believe that you chose to wear your ELC RAF sweater for that !!! Brave. It looks shrivellingly cold to me!

 

[ChiTownScion]

Not very realistic I know, but really love my Orvis RAF Sweater.

Soft, warm, and doesn't look like something I'd be arrested for vagrancy in! J/K....I appreciate Aero's attempt to recreate the home spun style.




Deacon

Meh. "Authenticity" is vastly overrated.

I wear an Orvis Submariner cotton sweater with my A-2, and it does a great job of keeping me warm on blustery days. Until I have the Jug (or you have the Spit or Hurricane) to go around the jacket, or we're on extra call for a film, there's too much in the way of Little Boys Playing Soldier that the thread counters want to throw that prevents one from just enjoying their clothes.

 

[Edward]

or there is souwestchunkies who would make one to your measurements for so little you wouldn't believe it!

D

Yeah, the stuff on their site looks great. I'll be looking at them too when I've had a major clearout. Can't figure out how they do it for the money, unless they're using knitting machines that can do whole body panels a hell of a lot faster than knitting by hand.

Great idea..! Looks good too! Well Done to those boys in Scotland.


My RAF Aircrew jersey is quite a few years old now but still a lovely well made piece by ELC. As its got stained through the years (oil; grease..etc) I'm probably going to dye it either dark navy or black.
Pics are from the New Year morning sea swim in the North Sea (in said jumper!). Pain reminds you you're still alive View attachment 23658

Jinkies, talk about testing it in all-weathers! Did it keep the heat in?

 

[Stand By]

20 pounds for wool?
Well, maybe if your local Walmart has a bargain bin of wool.
And you don't mind your new sweater itching like a mo-fo …
And the colours … well, maybe Stevie Wonder wouldn't mind them.

 

[Plumbline]

You need to live in a country that has a lot of sheep ... and a sister who works for Edinburgh Woollen Mill

 

[Sloan1874]

Sadly, and quite shockingly, EWM's production staff are unlikely to be very familiar with Princes Street or the Royal Mile...

http://companyinfoz.com/company/the-edinburgh-woollen-mill-limited

 

[Big J]

Sadly, and quite shockingly, EWM's production staff are unlikely to be very familiar with Princes Street or the Royal Mile...

http://companyinfoz.com/company/the-edinburgh-woollen-mill-limited

Ah yes! Edinburgh, just outside Chirkunda, India IIRC.

 

[Plumbline]

I assume you're talking about "The Edinburgh Woollen Mill" who's registered Head Office is in Langholm and who is one of the largest retailers of woollen products ( if not the largest) in the UK and one of the few who still produce in the UK in the borders ( but who source from over 40 countries including many in the East) ..... ( posting a link to the EWM Liason Company in India and it's FCRN Number ( Foreign Companies Registration Number) is at best sloppy .. at worst misleading Sloanie.

... but then they do know a thing or two about wool ( and tartan and cashmere) and they do know a thing or two about jumpers

 

[Stand By]

You need to live in a country that has a lot of sheep ... and a sister who works for Edinburgh Woollen Mill

Ah, hence the "mate's rate" on the price of wool! Good for you (but not, alas, for the rest of us). If I had a sister like that, I wouldn't be able to shut my drawers with them being stuffed to the gunnels with sweaters! One cannot have too many out here.

 

[OnTheCroft]

I must say, I think the sweater looks really fantastic! It looks like a great partner to any Irvin and because the neater knit and ecru colour type is what everyone (Joe Public) thinks of (thanks to the Battle of Britain film), I think the rougher knit and RAF blue helps break up that look - the one that can draw uninvited and unimaginative comments from certain insufferable sheeple.


Then you have to find a very witty knitter - and let's say it takes 15 hours of solid knitting to make the sweater. And at just 5 pounds an hour - that's another 75 pounds. .

I love how you think it would take 15 hours solid knitting to make one of these, let's just say it's closer to 40 hours, that and the time it took to get the pattern just right with the wool that is available to use, the original sweater knitted up small so lots of sitting down and re-working it so that it still looked as close to the original and then size choices, glad Ken Calder and Aero have continued to support my knitting habit.

 

[Stand By]

I love how you think it would take 15 hours solid knitting to make one of these, let's just say it's closer to 40 hours, that and the time it took to get the pattern just right with the wool that is available to use, the original sweater knitted up small so lots of sitting down and re-working it so that it still looked as close to the original and then size choices, glad Ken Calder and Aero have continued to support my knitting habit.

I have an Aero RAF sweater and perhaps you made it for me? I can certainly attest to its quality and it is still going strong many years later and I'm still delighted with it.

I never said it would take 15 hours to knit a sweater. I merely gave an example of time relating to relative costs and justifying the prices that Aero charges.
If you care to look on page 1 of this thread and re-read my first comment (Jan 29 2015), you will see that you just furthered my point for me. Thank you.

 

[Carlos840]

Sadly, and quite shockingly, EWM's production staff are unlikely to be very familiar with Princes Street or the Royal Mile...

http://companyinfoz.com/company/the-edinburgh-woollen-mill-limited

Funny you say that, because after my trip to Aero last week, we went to Edinburgh and tried to find a nice tartan scarf.
Everything available on the royal mile was so cheap it didn't feel right.Also nothing had a "made in Scotland" tag on it.
It really reminded me of Venice, with all its chinese made glass and handbags that are sold for super cheap by identical shops all over the city.
We did a bit of googling and realized that most of the things sold on the royal mile are pretty much chinese made tourist traps, and i ended up ordering my scarf online from Locharron.
Cost four times as much but at least it's made in Scotland...

 

[wdw]

Yeah, never buy anything "Scottish" from these shops. I'd always go for something you're certain's been made in-country, even though it will be a lot more expensive.

 

[Sloan1874]

I knew a girl who worked in a tartan tourist trap up on the Mile. She used to stand outside the shop in a white blouse and tartan skirt, twinned with a pair of armour mittens and a Claymore sword. It was quite a look.

 

[willyto]

This one is my grandmother version of a RAF sweater:

I know it's not the usual colour but I like it with all the tiny different colourful flecks. It's way too hot to wear it in Barcelona with anything else but the sweater. In london i was wearing just a cotton Mallory jacket over it and it was a warm day... Too warm.

 

[Carlos840]

Nice sweater, nice stache!