Guernsey Press

Japan places Alderney orders

THE Alderney sweater is making a comeback, with an order for 100 jumpers destined for Japan.

Published

The traditional Guernsey, and its slightly lesser known cousin the Jersey, sell in their thousands worldwide.

But the pattern for the traditional Alderney, featuring the rearing lion emblem of the island, was in danger of becoming lost when the item was discontinued by the only manufacturer known to knit it in recent times.

But clothes shop Channel Jumper, following a change of ownership a few years ago, through much research, has re-created the original lion pattern, which is knitted into the tightly packed worsted wool fibres.

Many of the features of a Guernsey are very well known. For example, the cable along the rib at the top of the sleeve (which is said to represent a sailing ship's rope ladder in the rigging) and a raised seam across the shoulder representing a rope. The new Alderney, however, features some intricate knitting patterns which were discovered to have been in use at the time that the Alderney was originally in production.

A finished sample was taken to the Moda fashion exhibition at Birmingham's NEC in February this year along with several Guernseys. A Japanese agent took particular interest in the design and introduced it to one of their customers following the show.

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