Knit Lambswool CPO

Knit Lambswool CPO

$428.00
$428.00
  • Navy blue Knit Lambswool CPO shirt with long sleeves, a collar, and two chest pockets. NEW
  • A man wearing a dark Knit Lambswool CPO adjusts his cuff while standing in front of a red wall decorated with maps and framed art. NEW
  • A bearded man wearing a dark navy Knit Lambswool CPO over a striped shirt holds a glass of amber liquid. NEW
  • A man wearing a navy blue Knit Lambswool CPO with two chest pockets. NEW
  • A bearded man buttons a navy Best Made Co. Knit Lambswool CPO shirt over a striped collared shirt. NEW
  • Close-up of a dark navy Knit Lambswool CPO with anchor-embossed buttons, worn over a striped button-down shirt. NEW
  • A hand in the pocket of a dark merino wool Knit Lambswool CPO jacket with a striped sleeve cuff visible. NEW
  • A bearded person wears a navy Knit Lambswool CPO over a light-colored, thin-striped collared shirt while holding a glass. NEW
  • A man wearing a dark blue Best Made Co. Knit Lambswool CPO shirt with two chest pockets. NEW
  • A man seen from behind wearing a dark blue Knit Lambswool CPO overshirt with a folded collar. NEW
  • A rectangular clothing label sewn onto a dark Knit Lambswool CPO shirt, listing care instructions, fiber content, and origin information. NEW
  • Close-up of a clothing label on a dark merino wool Knit Lambswool CPO shirt, reading Be Optimistic, Best Made Company, and RN No. 170048. NEW

Knit Lambswool CPO

Knit Lambswool CPO

$428.00
$428.00

First issued to US Navy’s Chief Petty Officers before World War II, the CPO was traditionally a heavy wool overshirt built to keep the chill off on long watches. Sailors brought them ashore, and the CPO became one of the more enduring pieces of American workwear. For our new iteration we kept what made the original indispensable and changed one thing to make it a little more wearable: the cloth.

The traditional CPO is woven, dense, and doesn't offer much mobility. Ours is knit like sweater, so it moves across the shoulders and through a full reach, then recovers its shape. We kept the two flap chest pockets and the US Navy issue urea buttons, embossed with an anchor. We also added side pockets for hands, keys, or glasses, a detail the original never had.

The New Zealand merino lambswool is spun in England by a 260-year-old mill, then knit and sewn in Madagascar by a woman-owned and operated knitter. The result is a CPO as useful as the original, with a little more room to maneuver.

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Product Details
Sailors in the US Navy called it the CPO; it was issued between the First and Second World Wars and named after the Chief Petty Officers who wore it. They cut it generously from heavy Melton wool so sailors could wear it over a sweater as outerwear, the first layer against the nautical elements. Its dark color hid the wear of shipboard work, and its anchor-stamped urea buttons held up to salt, weather, and constant use.

The design changed very little over its service life. During the Second World War, the two chest pockets were reduced to one to simplify production, and the second pocket returned in the late 1940s. Traditionally, they had no hand pockets. A sailor with his hands in his pockets was considered out of uniform.

After the war, surplus CPOs filled army-navy stores, where outdoorsmen, tradesmen, and returning sailors bought them in scores. By the 1960s, “CPO” had come to mean an entire category of heavy wool overshirts. Ours keeps the two flap pockets and the anchor buttons, adds the hand pockets the Navy never permitted, and replaces woven wool with a knit that moves as freely as a sweater.
Knit Lambswool CPO
- 100% New Zealand lambswool
- Urea buttons
Wool asks for little. Air it out between wears and it will rarely need washing. When it does, hand wash in cold water with a wool detergent, or have it dry cleaned. Press the water out gently without wringing, then lay it flat on a towel to dry, reshaping it while damp. Never tumble dry.

Store it folded, never on a hanger, which stretches a knit at the shoulders. Cedar in the drawer will keep moths away.
Made in Madagascar

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