Riffing through the archives I came across the following 1976 J. Press Fall and Winter Brochure presentation:
A NEW J. PRESS EXCLUSIVE is our range of Brushed Shetland Hopsacking specially woven in Scotland in our own colorings of Natural Tan Mix, Blue Green Lovat, or Gorse Lovat, in which the unique nature and characteristics of our world-famed SHAGGY DOG SHETLAND KNITWEAR is more than matched in weaving.
Ah yes, I remember hearing of the legendary post-World War II meeting between Irving Press and Drumohr Knitwear’s founding family honcho Hamish Robertson that inspired its famed Shaggy Dog acronym. Together with Drumohr’s renowned excellence in knitwear since its 1777 founding, the two company principals explored means of differentiating the J. Press Shetland sweater from mainstream sweater modes of neighboring competitors. They devised the method of systematically brushing the sweater until it barked as if a Shetland Island Sheepdog literally offered her paws for our famous acronym.
Fast forward to the mid-seventies winter season buying prep between Irving, his doppelgänger merchandise manager, former Savile Row journeyman tailor John Norey and yours truly. Norey suggested replicating the brushed Shetland soft hand of the Shaggy Dog sweater into the tweed sport jacket version announced above.
Segue to our current revitalization. The J. Press 2024 Shaggy Dog sport jacket made with pure Shetland wool woven, washed, and brushed in the Yorkshire Dales of the United Kingdom and tailored in our soft make three-button sack model. The color palette suggesting dark barleycorn shades betrays its Northern English Border pastoral origin.
And it still barks
RICHARD PRESS
2 comments
Superb. A safe guess that yesteryear Squeeze was the most tastefully innovative of all American sartorial bulwarks of that bygone era. A question for Dick Press: how was the “shaggy” quality of the tweed achieved? The spinning (yarns) — or the subsequent finishing of the (woven) tweed? If the former, do you recall which U.K. yarn spinner offered this?
Love all things Shaggy Dog. Would love to see some patterns on the next batch.