by UnwashedMolasses » Thu Aug 28, 2014 5:08 pm
I did some research on woolly pullies.
From what I've been able to find, the original woolly pullies were made by TW Kempton, or rather by the company that TW Kempton was then a part of. From its site, "its roots go back over 75 years as it was previously the specialist military knitwear division of a larger group." They manufactured and supplied woolly pullies to British military. From what I can tell, somewhere around 30 years ago they did two things - split their knitwear division off into its own company, , and began shipping to the US, retailed through Brigade Quartermaster. The color standard established by Brigade GM was Army = Black, Navy = Navy, Air Force = Light Blue, and USMC = Olive. Unfortunately Outdoor Knitwear no longer supplies the US or UK militaries, as each have moved to overseas production. The woolly pully doesn't seem to be a standard part of the uniform for either military, rather being an optional addition.
Thankfully Outdoor Knitwear does still sell the original woolly pully , still made in Leicester, still manufactured to British MOD specification UK/SC/3712, same as it has been for over 50 years. I don't know, to me that's pretty cool. They also sell it in twelve different colors now.
Credit for some of the leads goes to, of all places, The Fedora Lounge.