Cuts that do not date

In late September in the gulf it is twenty-four degrees at midday and fifteen on the quay at nine at night. You spend the day in the sun and the evening in the shade, you sit on wet surfaces, and you wear the same piece eight days running.

These constraints are not decorative. They explain the way the pieces are cut: collars that hold after several washes, knits that dry fast, shoulders that let the arm move, side vents so the polo hangs straight standing or sitting.

The materials, piece by piece

Most of the collection is cotton knit. The polos are piqué, most with 5% elastane for ease; the Premium is the exception, a mercerised interlock with no elastane. The t-shirts are jersey.

The cotton is organic on some pieces only, not on all of them. North Sails states it item by item, and we do the same rather than writing it across the whole collection. The certification covers how the fibre is grown, never the dyeing or the making-up. We would rather say so than let it be assumed.

Then there are the end-of-day pieces. The two zipped ones are blended fleece, 52% polyester and 43% cotton. The two sleeveless ones are quilted: recycled nylon for the men’s, light ripstop with soft side panels for the women’s.

Linen, and why it creases

Linen is the obvious material for a late-September week. It dries fast, it lets air through, it behaves well in salt and it is still bearable at twenty-four degrees. The dress and the shirt in the women’s wardrobe are made of it. So is the linen shirt in the men’s, including one colourway in a fine sky blue stripe.

It also creases, and there is nothing to be done about that. A freshly pressed linen shirt lasts an hour. Ours are cut straight, with enough ease that the fold drops rather than sets.

The fit

The pieces use Italian sizing. In practice it maps directly onto French sizes: an L stays an L.

They are fitted without being tight. On the polos the armhole is high, which is what lets you raise an arm without the garment riding up.

The signature

It sits on the chest. A red and blue pennant, the year of the edition, a round badge on several pieces, a blue-white-red tape picked up on the collar as well as the cuffs. The North Sails patch is on the sleeve.

A few pieces go further. Some carry a band of international code signal flags across the back; others carry the coordinates of the gulf, embroidered below the back neck.

It is a signature that reads from a few metres away on a quay, without taking over the garment.

North Sails

North Sails has been making sails since 1957. It is a supplier to racing before it is a clothing brand, and some of the boats entered in the gulf carry its sails. The brand is also listed among the associate partners of the event.

The collection is conceived and developed in its design studio, in Milan.

That does not make one polo better than another. But it explains where the material decisions come from, and why the collection does not look like a souvenir line.

The collection is annual. It carries the year of its edition, and the next one will carry its own: each season stands on its own. Earlier collections stay available on the VST43° outlet.