The Critter Sweater

This issue of the late Japanese magazine Free & Easy, which frequently celebrated “Dad’s Style,” showing that respect for one’s elders still exists in some parts of the world, featured an interesting sweater from J. Press Japan with embroidered sheep and shears. The Ivy-prep canon includes critter pants, ties, shorts and sportcoats, but sweaters such as this are much rarer.

14 Comments on "The Critter Sweater"

  1. Every once in a while Ralph will put one of these out in his outlet stores. I saw one a few years back that was a vibrant yellow with Irish Setters embroidered all over them. Interestingly, there was a matching throw pillow available for purchase at the same time…

  2. The sweater reminds me of a joke I know about Aussies, Kiwis, shearing, and sheep, but it has to be told in dialect, and I’m afraid that I have neither an Australian nor a New Zealandish keyboard at my disposal.

  3. I like the sweater. It does remind me of a story.
    I once went down to a small Kansas town to play golf with my lawyer friend and his older brother. I had never met his older brother before, we shared a golf cart and he proceeded to tell me about growing up in a small Kansas town. He had lots of stories about their father being both a sheep farmer and one of the few lawyers in the county. He told me some great stories about his younger brother, my friend Craig. He told me that once in driver’s ed the instructor asked if anyone knew how to make a U-turn, Craig raised his hand. The instructor acknowledged Craig and he answered, ” No, but I know how to make their eyes bug out”.

    I knew I had been punked, till we pulled up to the sixth tee box which their family sheep farm backs up to. As we stood waiting to tee off, a group of about fifty sheep noticed us and came running toward the fence. As they ran toward us they were bleating,”Craaaaaaig Craaaaaig………” turn story!

  4. I love their illustrations. They always make me smile. I have seen a few PRL critter sweaters as well (I recall a mallard one specifically), but never a J.Press one. I have seen a few other interesting Japan only J.Press items that have made me envious.

  5. @ oxford cloth button down

    Re: ” I have seen a few other interesting Japan only J.Press items that have made me envious.”

    Hats off to a gentleman who knows the difference between
    envious and jealous.

    My guess is that you also differentiate between convince and persuade.

  6. My guess is that he thought “envious” sounds more intellectually advanced than the more common “jealous,” so he used it.

  7. Dutch Uncle | October 12, 2012 at 1:58 am |

    Envious: I’d like to one of those sweaters.

    Jealous: I want to have your sweater.

  8. Rugby has a version with a hunting shoulder patch and various critters in their current collection I was thinking of picking up: http://www.rugby.com/shop/item.aspx?productId=13237309&categoryId=3372179&cp=3138868

  9. Roy R. Platt | October 12, 2012 at 1:54 pm |

    The Rugby sweater is orange, just like some of the products in the L. L. Bean Hunting Catalog. Rugby might be thinking that real hunters would buy one.

  10. Does the Rugby hunting sweater come in a left handed model? 😉

    Two of my favorite sweaters where Polo, one was a heavy cream cardigan with double shooting shoulder patches. The other I still have is a navy shawl collar blazer length cardigan, no patches or stripes. Bought them in the 70s.

  11. @ Old Guard:

    thanks for differentiating envious from jealous.

    I had never really considered the difference, and now that I am aware, am curious of the difference between convince and persuade.

    would you share an example?

  12. @Robert

    Convincing involves changing someone’s beliefs or opinions (“He convinced me that must-iron Oxford cloth shirts are really better than non-iron”), while persuading involves spurring them to action (“He persuaded me to throw all non-iron shirts away”). Grammatically, “convince” is followed by “that” or “of,” while “persuade” is followed by “to.”

  13. Speaking of shoulder patch sweaters, I still have my U.S. Army issued double olive green shoulder patch sweater in all wool. It looks great with jeans, but now 50 years later it is getting a little tight.

  14. Critter sportcoats? Really? I’ve seen shorts, pants, ties, and even a sweater or two, but never a sportcoat. I’m intrigued.

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