While the blueprint was laid out in the last century, there has been some fine-tuning over the years. You simply don’t feel it when you wear it,” explains Brooke. “The fabric was specially designed so it’s lightweight, smooth and breathable. Hill’s solution was to recalibrate Sunspel’s lace looms (the firm is based in Nottingham, the home of British lace-making) to weave an airy, mesh-like cotton that was then fashioned into its signature Riviera polo. “He thought they were itchy and uncomfortable, and decided to come up with a better version.” “Back then polo shirts were made from coarse, heavyweight cotton piqué,” explains Nicholas Brooke, CEO of Sunspel. In the Fifties, Peter Hill, the grandson of Sunspel’s founder, was rather partial to trips to the French Riviera - just the sort of place in which the cool, casual polo comes into its own - but found the designs of the day wanting.
The secret to its success is knitted into its fabric.
