Where the fisherman jumper comes from
The fisherman jumper comes out of the working knitwear of the British and Irish coasts, the garment also known as the gansey or the guernsey. It was knitted for men who worked on the water, where a jumper had to hold its shape, hold in warmth, and keep doing both through a long day in the cold. The ribbing that runs through the neck, cuffs and hem is the practical part of that: it closes the openings where warmth is lost first.
Gloverall's fisherman jumper, style MK5089, is that jumper cut for everyday wear rather than for the deck. It keeps the ribbed construction and the weight, and it is made to be worn under a coat through winter or on its own in milder weather.
How this one is made
The jumper is knitted in England from 100% Merino wool, in a regular fit. It has a tubular ribbed neck, and ribbed cuffs and a ribbed hem. The tubular neck is knitted as a closed round rather than folded and stitched down, which is what gives it its weight and its shape at the collar.
It runs from size XS to 2XL. The style code is MK5089.
Gansey, guernsey or fisherman jumper
These three names describe the same garment. Guernsey is the older name, after the Channel Island, and gansey is the spoken form of it that spread along the coasts where the jumpers were knitted and worn. Fisherman jumper is the plainer modern name for the same thing. If you are searching across brands you will meet all three, and they will usually be pointing at a ribbed, heavyweight, high-necked wool jumper of this kind.
Eleven colours, the widest choice in the range
The fisherman jumper is made in eleven colours: Army Green, Black, Burgundy, Citrus, Ecru, Green, Grey, Light Grey, Mushroom, Navy and Petrol Blue. That is the broadest colour run of any Gloverall knit.
Ecru, Grey, Light Grey and Navy are the quietest of the eleven and the ones that sit least noticeably under a coat. Army Green, Burgundy, Green, Mushroom and Petrol Blue carry more colour without being loud. Citrus and Black sit at either end of that range. Every colour is the same jumper underneath: 100% Merino wool, knitted in England, regular fit, XS to 2XL.
Sizing and fit
The jumper is cut to a regular fit and runs from XS to 2XL. The ribbing at the neck, cuffs and hem holds the jumper close at those points, so the fit reads snugger at the openings than through the body. If you plan to wear a shirt underneath, check the size guide against your own measurements rather than assuming the size you take in a finer knit, since a heavyweight ribbed jumper sits differently from a lightweight one.
Choosing a fisherman jumper
Fisherman jumpers differ mainly in three things: what they are knitted from, where they are knitted, and how the neck is finished, since the neck is the part that carries the most weight and shows wear first. Gloverall's is 100% Merino wool, knitted in England, with a tubular ribbed neck. Those three points are the simplest way to set one fisherman jumper against another.
It sits alongside the Aran jumper and the shawl collar cardigan in the same knitwear range, all knitted in England. The Aran is the cable-knit of the three, the shawl collar cardigan buttons rather than pulls on, and the fisherman jumper is the ribbed one.
