New colours in the Arran scarf and PS watch caps

The popular PS Watch Caps and exclusive Arran scarves from Begg & Co - introduced last year - have just been restocked on the PS Shop, with two additional colours.

It was a real struggle last year to get things in on time, with delays not just with the mills but the spinners and raw materials. Everything stacked up, amounting to weeks of delay.

So this year we’ve tried to get ahead of ourselves, and some of these Autumn/Winter PS staples are arriving now, rather than say November. We’ve also ordered more, so hopefully they’ll be available through into the new year.

First to arrive was the Bridge Coats a couple of weeks ago, now the scarves and hats, and the Wax Walkers will be arriving soon too.

I’m really proud of how popular the watch caps have become, and now see them regularly around in London.

The simple pitch of a smaller size that sits neatly on the head, and therefore looks more put together, seems to appeal to guys that need to wear something, but aren’t going to wear a fedora or a baseball cap. It’s nice that it rolls up in a pocket easily too.

This year we’ve added black to the mix, which probably won’t surprise readers given how much of that (non-)colour I’ve been showing recently.

I see the black as a direct swap for navy - one which will be smart and dark, but actually suit some colours more, such as the colder and more muted ones we’ve spoken about in the past (dark olives, cold browns, greys, taupes).

You can see that particularly in the images above and below, where the black watch cap is worn with the very dark-brown Wax Walker. It’s better there than navy would be, and that’d be the same with the brown Donegal Coat too.

The scarves were an interesting one. I wasn’t sure how well they’d do, given they were just colours in the classic Begg & Co ‘Arran’ quality that the company didn’t offer, or had discontinued.

But we ended up scrambling a second order in January as the first batch all sold out in a couple of weeks.

I assume that was partly because I’ve talked about and worn the Arran so much over the years, and readers identified with the lack of a darker navy or olive green in the rest of the Begg collection - which, to be fair, has to straddle a range of customers from everyday to high fashion, male and female.

Inspired by that success, this year I spent a while going through all the other yarns that weren’t being offered in Begg’s collection.

There were a few I liked, and perhaps some of them will make an appearance in the future. But my favourite was the ‘clay’ grey you see above.

One issue I have with wearing dark, muted colours, is that everything can become a little washed out - too black-and-white. It’s one reason a cream shirt might look better with black tailoring, for example - as here with black cords.

In shoes, Alden’s Color 8 cordovan does the same job. It can be worn in pretty much every situation where you’d otherwise wear black shoes. But dark as Color 8 is, it’s not black. There is some pigmentation in there, some richness.

This clay colour does the same with grey. It still works in any situation where you’d normally wear a grey scarf, but it also adds warmth to those very tonal combinations. You can see this particularly with white shirts (as pictured).

One more way to put it - it’s like the grey high-twist suitings I like from Drapers. There’s some brown in that grey.

The scarves are available on the PS Shop now in clay, dark navy and olive (last two pictured above).

The watch caps - also made in Scotland, by Johnston’s of Elgin - are now available in five colours. Historical shots of those also below.

We have had to put up prices very slightly this year, to reflect our increasing costs. But as always, this is the only reason we put them up and we are always up front about it.

Any questions on that or the merits of a particular colour, just drop me a line in the comments below. For the rest of what’s coming up, when, see last week’s Autumn/Winter summary.