Two weeks ago, my sister asked me if she thought she should pull the trigger on a J.Crew fair isle sweater. As with all J.Crew sweaters and knitwear, the style is not available in tall. It is a pain point I have with the brand. The sleeve measurement would work for my 6′-2″ tall sister. The torso measurement would have rendered the sweater as an unintentional crop top. Not the cozy effect she was hoping to achieve.
One of my first blog posts was a love letter to Gap and tall sweaters. From October 2016:
I have to give it to Gap for designing sweaters that come in a tall length. Not all tall lines extend to sweaters. (Ball is in your court, J.Crew.) How annoying it is to have a sweater fit through the torso, only for the overall length and that of the sleeves to fit cropped!
Memories. Also, you can count on me for never changing and apparently J.Crew as well. I still struggle with sourcing sweaters from the retailer.
Back in the day, and by that I mean four-plus years ago, tall sweaters were easier to come by. I am talking about Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, Loft. These days, I can only speak to the first two retailers readily catering to the tall gal in the sweater and knitwear categories. It is quite tragic.
While we lost tall sweater selection from Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, and Loft, I have to give props to a heritage brand of which I was previously clueless to providing clothing, including sweaters and knitwear, in tall size range. Shame on me for writing off Lands’ End because the sweater selection is vast: I am talking cotton, cashmere, cardigans and every style and fabric and pattern.
Including fair isle. Every sweater in this post is available in tall.
