A Guernsey: Continued

Approx. read time: 5 minutes

The story behind the

Guernsey Woollens x

Fox Roll Neck

The Guernsey jumper was never meant to be noticed.

Long before knitwear became seasonal or styled, it existed as a working garment. Knitted for fishermen and dock workers along the Channel Islands, it was designed to withstand cold wind, salt air, and long days at sea. Dense, close-knit, and practical by necessity, the Guernsey was shaped by environment rather than fashion.

It was made to be pulled on in the dark, before a tide, before a long day.

Its form followed function. And for generations, that was enough.

 

Made on the island,

as it always was

That lineage still matters.

Since 1974, Guernsey Woollens has been producing authentic Guernsey knitwear in St Sampson, remaining one of the very few makers still knitting garments on the island itself. Each piece is made from pure British wool, spun to their own traditional specification, and knitted on the round.

There are no seams.
No shortcuts.
No reinterpretation of the process.

The result is a garment with substance and weight, a close-knit that softens slowly with wear. It is recognisably Guernsey, not by branding or label, but by how it feels in the hand and how it wears over time.

This is not heritage as styling. It is heritage as practice.

Picture above: An authentic Guernsey jumper worn dockside. Shown here to reflect the working origins and maritime tradition that underpin the Guernsey Woollens x Fox Roll Neck.

Fox’s role was

deliberately restrained

When Fox began working with Guernsey Woollens, the aim was not to redesign the Guernsey jumper.

The classic crew-neck Guernsey is already complete. Any intervention had to be quiet, considered, and genuinely useful.

Our contribution was a single adjustment.

We introduced a roll neck to the traditional Guernsey structure.

Nothing else was altered. The body remains unchanged. The density of the knit stays true to the original. The method of construction remains firmly rooted in island tradition. What shifts is how the garment functions and how it is worn.

The roll neck offers additional protection against the elements, echoing the practical layering worn by fishermen and harbour workers. At the same time, it allows the piece to sit comfortably within a modern wardrobe, whether worn beneath tailoring or on its own through colder months.

It is not a reinterpretation. It is a continuation.

 

Colour chosen with care

The original Guernsey palette was shaped by availability and practicality. Undyed wool, deep navy, colours that hid wear and weather.

That thinking remains.

The returning Navy and Ecru colourways reflect the most traditional expressions of the garment, understated and enduring. Alongside them, Fox introduces Midnight Black. A modern addition, selected carefully. Still quiet. Still grounded. Offering a more contemporary expression of the same island craft.

Different in tone, but not in intent.

Picture above: Midnight Black. A new colourway for the Guernsey Woollens x Fox Roll Neck. The same island knit, carried quietly into darker hours.

A garment that

earns its place

The Guernsey Woollens x Fox Roll Neck is not designed to follow a season or mark a moment. It is intended to be worn, lived with, and returned to year after year.

Like the original Guernsey, it improves with time. The wool softens. The shape settles. The garment becomes familiar.

This collaboration exists because Fox and Guernsey Woollens share a belief that clothing should be shaped by purpose first, and that things made properly deserve to last.

A Guernsey, continued.
Not reinvented.
Not rushed.
Simply carried forward.

 

Midnight Black VIEW >

Naval Blue VIEW >

Submariner White VIEW >

Portsmouth Red VIEW >

Available in:

Midnight Black

Naval Blue

Submariner White

Portsmouth Red

 

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