As we continue to highlight our knit fabrics as part of our paving the way to offer a stylish wardrobe that addresses a modern lifestyle, this week, I am focusing on our Poly Tech Knit offered in bright and classic colors. When it comes to custom-made menswear, this fabric is a stand-out because of its sporty characteristics, something which is only usually found in off-the-peg athletic brands.
As we strive to make our custom-made clothing accessible to all with pricing that should fit every type of budget, this affordable knit jersey is becoming an ever more important part of our line-up as we offer our clients unique options that fit perfectly into his lifestyle and the J.Hilburn wardrobe. The unique fabrications we currently offer are a big part of what differentiates us today, alongside a perfected, individual fit and of course, the multiple options that can be selected to build each style one-by-one, personalized unlike anything else on the market. Our fabrics are selected and developed to sit seamlessly and coordinate perfectly alongside our Italian suiting and shirting with a focused effort on exceptional quality.
More so in the case of what we call our Poly-Tech knit, which was a fabric we originally developed thinking of active sports such as golf and tennis. This fabric, like many from the technical sports arena, has found itself becoming much more business-friendly as part of the increasing casualization of menswear and, of course, the giant wave of comfort born out of the working from home needs.
This knit is a plain knit, which means it is knitted with the same stitch you find in sweaters but using a much smaller stitch and finer yarn. The yarn itself is spun from extra fine, crimped filaments that are pulled together into the spinning process capturing fine air pockets and creating tension that is much stronger than other yarns such as cotton or linen. The crimping adds natural “bounce,” which when knitted into the looped jersey stitch is emphasized and thus stretches as jerseys do, giving maximum comfort and movement, making it the perfect choice for high-performance gear. The finished fabric is also super lightweight, making it exceptionally comfortable for guys who appreciate lightness, perhaps because they run hot or sweat – another reason why this fabric works well for active sportswear.
The color of our Poly-Tech fabric is particularly rich as the synthetic fiber is color saturated under high pressure creating depth and quality and what is termed “color fastness,” which applies to color luminosity lasting over time and multiple washes.
The obvious first choice of this fabric is for any active use, and the golf course is one that spring to mind. This colorful knit works hard under the performance of playing golf, but this client tends to want the best of everything so being able to offer his polos as a customizable is a real advantage over his off-the-peg brands. He can choose his collar style, polo fastening (including zip options), buttons, thread color, monogram his initials, or lucky numbers, all with his personalized fit for maximum comfort and style on the golf course. All these performance characteristics and personalization options work just as well off the golf course, in other sports, and, of course, fit perfectly well into a modern lifestyle with our on-the-go clients who are looking for modernity and style. I have heard of our stylists creating split front knits for guys who run hot as this silky lightweight fabric performs nicely as a shirt option, which is another aspect to consider when offering this fabric, but not everyone likes the drape of this fabric. The knit jersey poly-knit fabric sits within our other successful fabrics in this performance category like Canclini and Ratti and thus deserves to be rediscovered as it performs alongside higher-end, modern Italian fabrics.
