Theo had been a knitwear buyer for ten years. Season after season he watched the same sweater get a little thinner, so that the price on the tag could stay where it was. A looser gauge uses less yarn and knits faster, and nobody notices until the elbows go. Nell was a pattern maker for technical outdoor apparel, a field where a seam either holds in the rain or it does not, and where the fit of a sleeve is measured, not described.
What they agreed on was simple to say and slow to do: make fewer things, and make them properly. Tight knitting takes longer and costs more. It is also the reason a sweater holds its shape after years of wear.
The wardrobe, one piece at a time
The rest was added slowly. Tees and base layers came in 2017, in organic cotton cut and sewn in Los Angeles and merino jersey from Portugal. Denim followed in 2018: Japanese selvedge, also sewn in Los Angeles, in a raw version and a washed one, with the shrinkage of the raw one written on the page in inches because that was the question everyone asked.
The Waxed Field Jacket arrived in 2019, in waxed cotton from England, with a two-way brass zip and a corduroy collar. It was designed to be re-waxed and repaired, and it needed somewhere to be repaired, so the workroom opened the same year. Pants came in 2021, and the flagship store opened beside the warehouse in 2022.
I spent ten years watching sweaters get thinner so the price could stay the same. We wanted to do the opposite and say so on the label.
Sized honestly
Most of what customers write to us about is fit. The same person is a different size in the Fisherman Rib, the Merino Crew and the Slim Taper jean, and raw denim shrinks. We cannot make that simple, so we make it plain: every garment page says how the cut runs and which way to go between two sizes, and where a fabric shrinks or gives, the page says so. When we still get it wrong, an exchange for size is free for 45 days, and the new size ships as soon as the carrier scans the return.
Repaired, not replaced
The repair program covers everything we make. For two years from delivery, a seam that opens, a zip that fails, a snap or a button that pulls out under normal use is repaired for free. After that, the same repairs are done at cost. The work happens in the Portland workroom, by a repair team that would rather put a new zip in a four-year-old jacket than see it thrown away.
There are limits, and we say them too. The warranty does not cover normal wear: pilling, fading, abrasion, a crushed corduroy pile. It does not cover washing against the care label. And a waxed jacket keeps its cover only while it is re-waxed once a season.
Core and drops
The core colors of the core pieces are restocked every season. If your size is out, it comes back. A handful of limited drops each year are different: they are made once, they sell out, and they do not return. We tell you which is which on the page.
Wrenfield today
Sixty-eight people work at Wrenfield, in one building in Portland's Central Eastside that holds the offices, the repair workroom and the warehouse every order ships from. We sell mostly direct, through about sixty independent stockists, and from the flagship beside the warehouse.
What we will and will not tell you
- We will tell you how a piece fits and how much it shrinks, in inches where it matters.
- We will not guess a measurement the page does not give.
- We will tell you the composition of every fabric and where it was made.
- We will not call a fabric hypoallergenic or safe for a condition. We publish the composition and point you to your doctor.
- We will tell you when something is a limited run, and we will not promise a restock date that is not confirmed.
- We show the garment itself, in every color, with a detail and a swatch of the fabric. We do not show it worn.
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- Best seller
Sweater
Merino Crew Sweater
Extra-fine merino knitted at a tight 12-gauge, in a unisex regular cut that runs true to size
5 colors
$148
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Jeans
Straight Selvedge Jean
A mid-rise straight leg in 13.5oz Japanese selvedge, in Raw Indigo that shrinks and One Wash that does not
2 colors
$168
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- Low stock
- Best seller
Jacket
Waxed Field Jacket
Our signature jacket: 8oz British waxed cotton, a corduroy collar, a two-way brass zip, built to be re-waxed and repaired
3 colors
$348
