Our Lightweight Cotton Sweater, 1979

(click to enlarge)

Source:

The New Yorker - 9/10/79

COTTON SWEATERS are now basics in many warm-weather wardrobes. But such was not always the case, since traditions, even woolen ones, die hard in men's dressing. Perhaps the turning point came eight years ago, when Brooks Brothers, that bulwark of sartorial propriety, introduced a cotton, cable-stitched, V-neck sweater. It was an instant success and ''is now the bulk of our sweater business for the spring and summer,'' says Peter G. Newman, vice president and merchandise manager for furnishings.

Success was slower in coming for Ron Chereskin, the award-winning men's-wear designer. ''In 1977, I was told that men would not understand cotton sweaters,'' he says. ''Today, my cotton-sweater business does about $10 million at wholesale annually.''

Source:

New York Times Magazine - 5/12/85