Navy Officer Sweater (Saint James)

Description

Sizes available :

88/92 (S)

96/100 (M)

104/108 (L)

112/116 (XL)

120/124 (XXL)

Saint James is a French knitwear house that began life as a woolen mill in 1850 in Saint-James, Normandy, before becoming the iconic brand of sailor sweaters and marinières we know today in 1889. Its history follows the evolution of the drapery village, from fishermen’s sweaters to ready-to-wear sailors’ garments exported all over the world.

From origins to spinning

In 1850, Léon Legallais, mayor of Saint-James, founded the “Moulin du Prieur” spinning mill to spin and dye local wool from the salt meadow sheep of Mont-Saint-Michel Bay. Production consisted of yarns sold to haberdashers and hosiery manufacturers in Normandy and Brittany to make hats, socks and underwear.

In 1889, the workshop became a limited company under the name “Filatures de Saint-James”, marking the official birth of the Saint James brand. It was at this time that Léon Legallais launched the first Saint James garment: a woolen shirt for sailors, the forerunner of the famous sailor sweater.

The sailor sweater and the marinière

The “true sailor sweater” in pure wool, close-fitting and almost waterproof, quickly forged the company’s reputation with fishermen, and later with top sailors and yachtsmen. In the 1950s, after the Bonte family buyout, the company concentrated on these marine sweaters, reviving its prosperity.

From 1982 onwards, Saint James added cotton marinières to its range, which in turn became an emblematic piece of French fashion, associated with seafaring style and adopted far beyond the maritime world. These products helped establish the brand as one of the jewels in the crown of French knitwear, combining the image of a seafaring worker with that of a fashion garment.

Industrialization and expansion

The company took on an industrial form in the early XXᵉ century and officially adopted the name “Tricots Saint-James” in 1957, reflecting its specialization in sweaters. Over the decades, the Saint-James production site was expanded, notably in 1994 and 2001, to double capacity and meet growing demand.

From 1990-2000, the brand developed a network of boutiques and corners in France and abroad, with a strong presence in Japan, Switzerland and the United States. This expansion was accompanied by a broadening of the product range to include a complete range of nautical-inspired ready-to-wear: sweaters, sailboats, jackets, shirts and pants.

A living heritage company

Saint James remains firmly rooted in its home village, where the main production unit is still located and where it is one of the leading employers. The brand’s knitting and tailoring expertise is 100% or mostly made in France, in keeping with the local cloth-making tradition.

This know-how and continuity have earned the company the “Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant” label, which distinguishes French houses of industrial and artisanal excellence. Today, with several hundred employees and sales in the tens of millions of euros, Saint James is the embodiment of a French success story in marine clothing, halfway between maritime workwear and timeless fashion.