Johnstons of Elgin Menswear: The Men’s Guide

Johnstons of Elgin menswear is the men’s knitwear, shirting, trousers and outerwear made by the Scottish mill founded in Elgin in 1797. You can browse Johnstons of Elgin menswear at Coveti, where it sits alongside the rest of our men’s cashmere knitwear, and the obvious place to begin is the Rory Grey Classic Cashmere Crew Jumper, a 2-ply crew at $1,090 at Coveti.

So what does the men’s line actually consist of? Coveti carries 187 men’s pieces from the house, and 156 of them are knitwear. That is 156 of the 327 pieces in our whole men’s knitwear category, close to half. The rest is a short run of overshirts, trousers, jackets and coats, plus two hoodies and two T-shirts.

The house makes its knitwear in the Scottish Borders. “Our woven goods are crafted at our mill in Elgin, while our knitwear is produced at our Hawick mill,” the house says on its FAQ page. Hawick was established in 1980. For the longer history, start with who Johnstons of Elgin are and how the mill works.

The men’s line in numbers

A men’s wardrobe from this house is mostly jumpers. The table below lists the fourteen men’s styles with the most colourways live at Coveti, and twelve of them are knitwear. Among those knits the composition is 100% cashmere, with one exception, the Craigie, which is 100% lambswool in 3-ply. The Fin and Forsyth use 100% superfine cashmere, the house’s finer line.

Ply matters more than the style name when you are choosing weight. Ply is the number of yarn strands twisted together. The house labels 2-ply as lightweight and 3-ply as midweight, and prints that on each product page. It does not put a label on 4, 6 and 8-ply. More ply is a heavier knit, not a better one. For how ply relates to the needle count of a knit, read our note on cashmere gauge, and for the wider picture of fibre and yarn, see Johnstons of Elgin cashmere, from ply to superfine.

Fit lines are printed on each page too. Almost every men’s knit here is regular fit. The Pioneer is relaxed, the coats are relaxed, and a few shirts are oversized. Men’s models on the brand pages are 178 to 187 cm tall.

The core styles: Rory, Fin, Reuben, Pioneer, Tweel and Calder

Rory

The Rory is the house’s plain 2-ply cashmere, regular fit, and it has the most colourways of any men’s style at Coveti: 28 in the table below. It comes as a crew, a V neck, a zip neck and a cardigan. Grey, navy, black and natural are there, and so are brighter shades such as Kelpie Green and a bright blue. A lightweight crew like the grey Rory goes under a jacket without bulk.

Fin

The Fin is knitted in 100% superfine cashmere at 3-ply, so it is the midweight of the core group, and it has 20 colourways. It comes as a plain jumper, a V neck and two kinds of polo. The Fin Superfine Cashmere Polo Shirt in Clyde Blue is $1,370 at Coveti. The short sleeve version, such as the Fin Grey Superfine Cashmere Short Sleeve Polo Shirt, is $1,130 at Coveti.

Reuben

The Reuben is another 2-ply, 100% cashmere, regular fit style, with ten colourways. It comes as a crew, a V neck and a zip neck.

Pioneer

The Pioneer is the heavy one: 100% cashmere at 6-ply, cut in a relaxed fit. Some colourways shade from one colour into another, with names such as Navy to Black and Light Brown to Grey. The Pioneer Natural Shawl Collar Cashmere Cardigan is $2,710 at Coveti, a cardigan that can stand in for a light jacket indoors. Our guide to shawl collar cardigans covers the shape in more detail.

Tweel and Calder

Both are 2-ply cashmere, regular fit, with seven colourways each. Several Tweel colourways mix two colours, and the style appears as a half zip, a rugby shirt and an oversized cashmere shirt; the Tweel Brown Cashmere Half Zip Jumper is $1,460 at Coveti. The Calder is a cable knit jumper, and the Calder Natural Cable Cashmere Jumper is $1,400 at Coveti.

Polos and zip necks

A knitted polo sits between a shirt and a jumper. Worn with tailored trousers it looks smart without a tie, and under a soft jacket it fills the neckline neatly. The Fin polos are midweight, so they are a cool weather knit rather than a summer one; the short sleeve version is the lighter way to wear one.

The zip neck is the easiest jumper to layer over a collared shirt, because you can open it to show the collar and close it when the wind picks up. In this line there are zip necks in the Rory and Reuben, half zips in the Tweel, and a half zip in Donegal cashmere called the Kinnaird.

Donegal and argyle

Donegal tweed is woven in County Donegal, Ireland, and the area is best known for a plain weave with small pieces of coloured yarn woven in at irregular intervals, which gives a heathered effect. Cloth with that flecked look is often labelled donegal regardless of where it is made. Johnstons of Elgin uses the term for its flecked yarn, printed as 100% Donegal Cashmere. The men’s Donegal knits are the Tiree crew, the MacKintosh roll neck, the Kinnaird half zip and the Monteith.

The Tiree Grey Donegal Cashmere Jumper is 2-ply and $1,320 at Coveti; it is the simplest way into the fleck. The Monteith Natural Exploded Argyle Donegal Cashmere Jumper, $1,510 at Coveti, puts an exploded argyle on the flecked yarn. A flecked knit carries a lot of colour at close range, so wear one flecked piece and keep everything around it plain. Our sibling guide on Donegal cashmere and how to wear the fleck goes further.

For a more classic diamond, there is the lambswool Rusky. The Rusky Brown Argyle Lambswool Jumper is 3-ply, regular fit, and $950 at Coveti. See our guide to argyle sweaters for the pattern’s background and how to pair it.

Overshirts and the Kirk sweatpants

Beyond knitwear, the men’s line starts with overshirts. The Corrie Dark Blue Twill Overshirt is 90% wool and 10% cashmere, tailored fit, at $1,960 at Coveti. The Atholl overshirts are half cashmere, half wool. An overshirt is worn open over a knit, buttoned over a T-shirt, and in mild weather it stands in for a jacket. Our guide to luxury overshirts for men compares the cloths.

The Kirk is listed under trousers, in a cashmere blend at 2-ply, regular fit, with five colourways. The Kirk Light Grey Cashmere Sweatpants are $1,510 at Coveti. Wear them with a Rory crew in a matching shade. For tailored trousers, the Traquair Glen Urquhart Check Trousers are 90% wool and 10% cashmere, tailored fit, at $1,960 at Coveti. The Glen Urquhart check is a woollen twill of small and large checks, also called Glen plaid and the Prince of Wales check, named after the Glenurquhart Estate in Inverness-shire. More trousers sit in our men’s trousers edit.

Coats: the Balmacaan and the car coat

A balmacaan is a loose-fitting, single-breasted overcoat with a small rounded collar and raglan sleeves, cut for ease of movement and traditionally made in heavy woollen cloth for hard weather. The name comes from an estate near Inverness, on the western shore of Loch Ness.

The men’s Balmacaans here are 100% wool, relaxed fit, in four colourways according to the table below. The Balmacaan Moorland Glen Urquhart Check Coat is $3,370 at Coveti. Alongside it, the Wool Car Coat in Grey is 100% wool, relaxed fit, at $2,440 at Coveti; it also comes in Shale. Our full guide to the Balmacaan coat explains the raglan cut and the cloths, and the wider choice is in men’s coats.

How to build a winter wardrobe from the line

Start light. A 2-ply crew in a dark neutral is the piece you will wear most, under a jacket on workdays and on its own at the weekend. Add a zip neck in a second colour for the days you wear a collared shirt.

Next, add one midweight knit with a collar: a Fin polo. Then choose a single texture to break up the plain knits: a Donegal crew for the fleck, a Calder for the cable, an argyle if you like pattern. Pick one until you know which you reach for.

The heavy layer comes last. A 6-ply Pioneer cardigan replaces a jacket indoors, and a Balmacaan covers the whole outfit outdoors. For a wider comparison across houses, our guide to men’s cashmere sweaters puts this line next to others.

Care for men’s cashmere, lambswool and wool coats

The house’s care advice is short. For knitted cashmere, comb the surface gently to lift small balls of fibre, hand wash with a shampoo made for cashmere, reshape after rinsing and dry naturally. Never tumble dry. Store it in a drawer, a box and a breathable bag with cedar wood balls. Knitted lambswool, like the Craigie and the Rusky, is hand washed at 40 degrees C with a mild detergent, rinsed in lukewarm water, never wrung, reshaped while damp and dried flat on a towel.

Always fold knitwear. Never hang it. Tailored outerwear is the reverse: hang a Balmacaan and a car coat on a sturdy shaped hanger in a breathable garment bag, never plastic. The house also works with Cashmere Circle, a Scottish aftercare company, on a repair, revive and recycling service for its knitwear. Our step by step guide on how to wash cashmere covers the hand wash in detail.

Johnstons of Elgin menswear around the world

In the US, these pieces are sweaters; in the UK, jumpers. The product pages use letter sizes, from XS to XXL across the range, and print a garment table in cm with chest width measured flat, body length and underarm sleeve length. Our Johnstons of Elgin size guide shows how to read it against a jumper you already own.

For the northern US, the UK and most of the EU, the full layering plan works from October to March: 2-ply under a jacket, 6-ply and a wool coat for the coldest weeks. In the GCC, where winter evenings are mild and interiors are air conditioned, the 2-ply crews, the Fin polos and the overshirts get the most wear, and the heavy coats are for travel north. Prices at Coveti are shown in US dollars, every piece is 100% authentic, and we are London-based and ship worldwide.

All 187 men’s pieces are on the Johnstons of Elgin brand page, and the full men’s range is in men’s clothing.

Johnstons of Elgin menswear at Coveti

How we measured: the fourteen men’s styles with the most colourways among the 187 men’s pieces live on Coveti on 1 November 2026. Type is the Coveti category; composition, ply and fit are copied from each Johnstons of Elgin product page; prices are US dollar list prices.

Frequently asked questions

Is Johnstons of Elgin menswear made in Scotland?

Yes. The house says its knitwear is made at its Hawick mill in the Scottish Borders and its woven goods at its mill in Elgin. Most product pages carry a Made in Scotland, Knitted in Scotland and Woven in Scotland line: 381 of the 433 Johnstons of Elgin pages at Coveti have one.

Which Johnstons of Elgin men’s jumper should I buy first?

A 2-ply Rory crew in a dark neutral is the most useful first buy. It is 100% cashmere, regular fit and lightweight by the house’s own label, so it layers under a jacket and works alone. The Rory Grey Classic Cashmere Crew Jumper is $1,090 at Coveti, and the style has 28 colourways live.

What is the difference between the Rory and the Fin?

The Rory is 2-ply 100% cashmere, which the house labels lightweight. The Fin is 3-ply 100% superfine cashmere, which it labels midweight, and superfine is the house’s finer line. Both are regular fit. The Fin also comes as a polo, including a short sleeve version, while the Rory comes as a crew, V neck, zip neck and cardigan.

What does 6-ply mean on the Pioneer cardigan?

It means six strands of yarn are twisted together to make the yarn, so the knit is heavier than the 2-ply and 3-ply styles. The house labels 2-ply lightweight and 3-ply midweight but does not label 6-ply. More ply is a heavier knit, not a mark of better quality. The Pioneer is cut in a relaxed fit.

Does Johnstons of Elgin make men’s coats?

Yes. Coveti carries the men’s Balmacaan, a 100% wool raglan overcoat in a relaxed fit, in four colourways including Glen Urquhart check and herringbone. There is also a 100% wool car coat in grey and shale. Hang both on a sturdy shaped hanger in a breathable garment bag, never plastic, as the house advises for tailored outerwear.

How do I care for a men’s cashmere jumper?

Hand wash it with a shampoo made for cashmere, reshape it after rinsing and let it dry naturally, never in a tumble dryer. Comb the surface gently to lift small balls of fibre. Always fold it to store, in a drawer, box and breathable bag with cedar wood balls, and never hang it on a hanger.