A little history to begin, Fred Perry was an English tennis player in the thirties, did well at Wimbledon (may have won, I don't know, I never get the sport questions right) and then pissed off the tennis establishment by turning professional. He ended up in America reasonably wealthy having in the course of his career sold his name to a clothing label.
The Fred Perry cardigan was an acrylic creation with plastic faux leather buttons, six in number, made to look like footballs. They were available in plain finish or an argyle pattern. They had the trademark laurels on the left chest and to my eyes owed something to the style of American letter cardigans I discussed a while back. They were very popular at the time and I certainly thought they looked well sexy. They now command preposterously high prices on EBay. I have one of the plain ones, in a rather sorry state; it's been through the washing machine too many times. I am more than happy to be boastful and indiscreet and say that it is my, how to put this delicately, most "gigged" cardigan, if you get my meaning.
The label continues to this day and seems to have moved upmarket in price and now occupies a designer niche. The football style buttons are long gone and more upmarket fabrics are now the norm; fings certainly ain't wot they used to be. Times may have changed but the fond memories will, however, remain with me as detailed and vibrant as the day they were acquired (the rash cleared up after a few days, fortunately).
Here’s a nicely photographed one that sold on EBay some time ago.
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