The seasonal made-to-order (MTO) offer that we do every spring – for delivery in early autumn – is now open and will close on April 26th, after the PS Pop-Up. 

The big new things this year are a quilted liner for the donegal coats, a small number of donegals in the archive colours of brown and charcoal, and a donegal special in a heavy, Fox Brothers wool. 

On the knitwear side, the cashmere crewneck and cashmere rugby will also be available MTO in seven colours each, with several new ones. 

The great thing about the MTO system is we can offer a really big range of colours like this – and extra small and big sizes – that wouldn’t otherwise be possible, as it would be too much stock to carry. More patience and discernment from the PS reader, equals more choice. 

We’re changing the name from pre-order to MTO, by the way, to make it clear that these are custom orders, and so not exchangeable or refundable. They would not necessarily be made otherwise and are just for that customer – as opposed to the pre-order on the chinos, which is a way to reserve upcoming stock. If that’s not clear at all, please do shout.

The donegal liner

Let’s start with the liner, as I love how quirky it is. No other brand would offer something like this. 

Hundreds of people out there have donegal coats. Some have noted that while it’s a very versatile piece of outerwear, it would be great if it could carry through into really cold weather – let’s say, when it gets down to freezing or so. 

The only way to do this logistically is for us to sell a removable liner, which attaches to the coat with buttons, and to send this out to the reader with the buttons included. They then need to have a local alterations tailor that can attach the buttons in the right place – or indeed sew them on themselves, as it’s not a hard thing to do (even I can do it). 

No other brand would offer this, as it requires so much from the customer. But the obvious alternative – everyone sending their coats back to the factory – would be prohibitively expensive. So again, the PS reader benefits from being more engaged and willing to put in that little bit more effort. 

How much an alterations tailor charges to do this will vary, but as an indication of the top end, The Valet in London say they would do it for £80.

The liner is made of the same material as the existing lining of the coat, with wool wadding quilted into it. We specifically chose wool wadding because of how much better it performs compared to synthetics. 

Wool is warmer and also responds thermodynamically to body temperature, regulating moisture and variations in activity. Having it as the wadding means you stay warm when you do things like walk briskly, or move between hot and cold places, by reducing humidity inside the coat. 

I know some readers will ask how much space is required for the liner, and therefore whether it will be able to fit inside their existing donegal. Well, the liner is 6mm thick and I can fit it inside my size 4 coat, which is a neat fit on me – so much so that I did a video comparing it to a size 5, arguing I could wear either. 

Also, bear in mind the liner only runs around the body of the coat – not the arms – and around halfway down the shoulder. It doesn’t make the shoulders or sleeves any smaller. 

The liner also has two patch pockets on the chest, so you don’t lose access to those, just to the larger pocket on the left hip. It is available to order on the MTO page of the PS Shop. There are no current plans to stock it going forwards. 

The donegals

The liner is pictured inside the special edition of the donegal this year: a heavy navy wool from Fox Brothers. 

We started these special editions last year with a W Bill camelhair, and it went down very well. The camel sold out within a week, and people have asked about it ever since. Again, MTO allows us to offer more colours in the donegal, and more expensive cloths too – as Fox is. 

The material we chose this year is CT15 from Fox, a midnight heavy-set wool that wears warmer than its 26oz weight would suggest, due to that set and the flannel-like finish. Lucas had a sample made in it last autumn and it’s a beast, wearing easily warmer than the other donegal cloths and keeping him toasty all winter. 

It’s therefore quite a different offering to the lighter weight navy we introduced a couple of years ago – this is less shiny, less of a business coat (although still pretty smart) and much warmer. The Fox special edition will only be available during the MTO period. 

The last offering from the donegal coats in this MTO is four archive colours: charcoal, brown, mid-grey (also known and black/white) and the lighter weight navy. 

We get a few requests every year for the archive colours, so we added up all the little lengths that were with different suppliers – The Valet, Lafayette Saltiel, Private White, my wardrobe – and found we have enough for about 15 charcoal coats, 8 dark brown and 20 lightweight navy. 

The mid-grey donegal is the only one of these that will be stocked in the autumn, but if people want to secure their size now, they can also order that. The weight of all the cloths is the standard 760g, except the lightweight navy which is 680g. 

The knits

Knitwear is more straightforward. The two standard PS styles are the same, and many of the colours are the same as last year as well. The only difference is that we’re adding one new colour in the crewneck – oatmeal – and two colours in the rugby – charcoal and dark olive. That’s the new colours above. 

The other colours available for MTO in the crewneck are navy, grey, charcoal, black, sky blue and lavender. Only navy and grey will be in stock in the autumn. 

The other colours available for MTO in the rugby are navy, grey, brown, black and swan. Navy, grey and natural will be in stock in the autumn. 

As most readers will be very aware, the cashmere crewneck is our version of that foundational wardrobe piece, while the rugby is slightly more unusual, being a dense heavyweight that is rarely offered these days but we wanted to bring back. The colours are all shown below. 

The indulgent shawl-collar cardigan is not being offered for MTO this year, and may be discontinued. If you’ve been thinking about one for a while, it’s worth getting one that’s in stock now.

The terms

These items are all available now, on the MTO page of the PS shop. They will be available there until April 26th. Payment can be made in full or half on ordering, half on delivery. 

The knits will be delivering at the beginning of October, and the donegals and liners at the end of that month. Both timed hopefully for when they’re most needed. 

As a reminder, this is made to order, so these pieces are non-refundable and non-exchangeable.

Everything will be available to see in the PS Pop-Up, which is in our showroom from April 23-25. The hours are 11am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 5pm. All other details on events here.