Prince of Wales Check

A while ago I was invited to a luncheon at Highgrove hosted by HRH The Prince of Wales, to discuss one of his many initiatives, The Campaign for Wool. 

Prince Charles was very concerned that sheep were not being sheared because the price for wool had diminished substantially. 

If you look around the Hackett shops you will notice a great number of woollen products, so the quandary for me was how could Hackett help to raise awareness of this important issue. It struck me as I sat opposite the Prince resplendent in a Prince of Wales check suit that perhaps it was time to revive this most quintessentially of British cloths. 

Inspired as I was by Prince Charles I felt the need to express my gratitude, which prompted me to contact The Prince's Trust, a charity that is close to the heart of the Prince with the purpose to help disadvantaged young people.

We came to an arrangement with the Trust that for every product that bore the Prince's Trust emblem we would make a donation to the trust. So last week we launched The Prince of Wales Check at the Hackett Sloane Street store.

Prince of Wales Check Suit with Muffin

Appropriately, all the product is made in the British Isles; the P.O.W. tweed was woven in Scotland, the P.O.W. flannel came from Fox Bros in Somerset and the P.O.W worsted from Huddersfield. What could be more British?

Prince Of Wales Check Cornflower Button Hole

We have made the cloth into suits and jackets and added caps, picnic rugs and scarves. At the last moment I added P.O.W. tweed slippers, after reading that at the time that the Duke of Windsor was P.O.W. he owned a Cairn  terrier called 'Slipper', so I couldn't resist including them in the collection.

During the evening at Sloane Street, several speeches were made but one that shall remain with me was from one of the Prince'sTrust ambassadors, a young man named Kevin, spoke movingly about how the Trust had supported him and enabled him to start his own gardening business which is now flourishing. Having begun with only one customer he now has 70 regular clients. 

So anyone making a purchase from The Prince of Wales collection will also enjoy the satisfaction of helping what is an incredible charity.

Jeremy Hackett