Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette In another episode of is it worth it?
Today, we'll take a closer look at the iconic men's scarf from Burberry in a
check made of a hundred percent cashmere.
So before we get there, let's take a brief look at the history of Burberry.
Burberry was established by namesake, Thomas Burberry, in 1856 with a simple
mission, to protect people from British weather. A few years later in 1879,
Burberry developed gabardine fabric which, at the time, was a breakthrough in
terms of weather proofing fabric. Gabardine in cotton is a traditional
fabric used even in trench coats today. Burberry is closely associated with the
trench coat. If you want to see if that one's worth it or not, check out this
video if you want to learn more about the history of the trench coat and how
it came to be, this guide is for you. In the 1920s, for first time, Burberry trademarked
their signature checked lining, many call it Nova Check. Burberry themselves, today,
call it Vintage Check. Basically, it's a traditional checked pattern with a beige
or camel colored background with white and black plaid on top, as well as a red
windowpane. Today, Burberry calls it Archive Beige. Just like many other
heritage brands, Burberry has developed a way from a functional item more
towards a high-fashion brand. Because of that, Burberry uses trademark check for
branding all over the place. They also have an interlock B branding but it's
far less iconic than the Nova Check. In my opinion, most of Burberry's fashion-forward
clothing and accessory lines today are a far cry from their elegant past.
Nevertheless, the Burberry check is still synonymous with Burberry as a brand.
Today, you can find this check plastered all over sneakers, handbags, scarves, and
even overcoats. In fact, you can even find shirts, wallets, and shorts in a Nova Check
plaid. While the Burberry check used to be a hidden detail on the inside that
wasn't visible to the wearer, it's now on the outside and it's screams to everyone
"look at me, I can afford this." That being said, the
classic Burberry scarf with a Nova Check is one of those items that could still be
worth having in your wardrobe because it's such an iconic design and a quality
item that is so small that it's not like plastered all over your outfit. As we
always do, we wanted to buy the most iconic and traditional version of the
scarf, that meant a classic pattern in their archive beige colorway.
Turns out, what Burberry calls the classic check is, in fact, an oversized
check that is very popular and comes in 33 different colorways including the
archive beige. What we want, though, is something more appropriate for gentlemen, it
is called the classic vintage check. Unfortunately, that one only comes in
nine colorways, not including the archive beige so we picked a scarf that was as
close to that color as possible which is called Antique Yellow. In my mind, both
background colors are camel colors, with the antique yellow being a little more
yellowish and the archive beige being a little more
khaki tone-ish. Frankly, I was surprised I couldn't find the original scale scarf
in the original traditional color scheme but that just shows to me that Burberry
doesn't care all that much about their heritage anymore. Honestly, a glimpse
through the men's cashmere scarf section on the Burberry website confirms that,
there are a lot of out there designs on there, not much classic stuff.
Burberry offers a range of different scarf materials, we went with the king of
scarf materials, cashmere. On the website, it retails for $470,
we got ours at Bloomingdale's which is an official retailer of Burberry
scarves at $430. It's still marked as a retail price on
the tag so I think that must be an old stock and we still got it at that price.
These days, Burberry scarves are heavily faked because of that, you can find a lot
of tags in the scarf. There's one regular tag, there's two care
tags, as well as one hand tag. Fake Burberry products often have issues with the
details, maybe the R on the tag is not quite like the one on the original or
there's no serial number. Now, on this original Burberry scarf, you have the little hang
tags and you can see that Burberry bears the Royal Warrant
of Queen Elizabeth II, as well as Prince Charles. While going through their product
description on the website, unsurprisingly, Burberry provides very
little detail about the scarf. We learned that it's a hundred and sixty eight
centimeters by thirty centimeters which is sixty six point one inches by eleven
point eight inches wide. Frankly, for men, that is quite short, especially if you
want to wear it as a sling around your neck. In terms of weight, there's no
information but we weighed the scarf and it just comes in under 150 grams which
is about five and a quarter ounces. It says the scarf
is made of a hundred percent cashmere but as we learned in our Cashmere
Explained guide, not all cashmere is alike. So where are the Burberry cashmere scarves
made? If you dig through their FAQ, you'll learn that they're made in Scotland at
two historic mills; one in Elgin and one in Ayr. Unfortunately, Burberry doesn't
tell you exactly what manufacturer makes those scarves but if you dig a little
deeper, you'll find that in Elgin, there is a manufacturer called Johnstons of
Elgin. I watched one of Burberry's videos which describes how their scarves are
made. If you take a closer look, you'll see that they show the factory. Now, if you
take a look at this photo from Johnstons of Elgin, you will know that the
producer is most likely Johnstons of Elgin. Obviously, the chimney in the
buildings are the same. On the other hand, in the Scottish Ayr, there's a company by the
name of Begg & Co which also produces high quality cashmere scarves.
My guess is Begg and Johnstons of Elgin are two producers for Burberry scarves.
Both producers have been making and weaving cashmere for over 150 years and
they're known for their high quality. Because of the reputation, they're likely
also more concerned about the quality they put out. Frankly, I was a bit
surprised to read in a Burberry website that the scarf was treated with teasels
to create that soft finish you're known from a good cashmere scarf. You can see
it utilized in their video and that's certainly an added production step that
is more expensive. That being said, both Johnstons of Elgin and Begg both use
Teasels in their finishing process. Unfortunately, what they don't share in
that Burberry video is the origin of the cashmere and the quality of it, the staple
length, and the thickness. Now, these days, all high quality
raw cashmere materials origins in Mongolia and China. In the video, you can see
how the raw cashmere is spun into yarns and both Johnstons of Elgin and Begg
do that today. Begg claims to utilize cashmere that has a thickness of 15 to 6
and a half microns but doesn't mention anything about the staple length.
Johnstons of Elgin neither mentions the thickness of the material nor the staple
length on their website. So what does good quality cashmere look like? Actually,
you can learn all about it in our cashmere explained guide video here. In
a nutshell, a quality woven cashmere scarf should not be stretchy and once you pull
in another direction, it should spring back into its shape. Also, higher-quality
cashmeres usually come in a tighter weave. That being said, if we're testing
the Burberry scarf for those two things, it passes with honors. It's a very
densely woven cashmere, it springs back into its original shape. Now, with a
retail price of $470, how does it stack up compared to other cashmere
scarves on the market? Let's take a look at this Fort Belvedere cashmere scarf
which retails for$195. It comes in a range of
classic patterns or solids without any bold logos or branding.
Just like the Burberry scarves, Fort Belvedere uses finest Mongolian and Chinese
cashmere. The cashmere runs from anywhere from 15 to 16 and a half microns thick
which is just as thin as what Begg uses. We also use long cashmere fibers that
are between 35-50 millimeters long. The cashmere yarn is made in Germany, woven
into scarves in Germany, as well, so it's another
high-cost country and not made in Asia. Now, the weight of a Fort Belvedere
scarft is about 120 grams which is just about four and a quarter ounce so it's
about 30 grams or an ounce less. It's also finished with natural teasels to
create that soft nap. In terms of dimensions, it's also 30
centimeters wide or about 12 inches but it's a full 6 inches longer, measuring in
at a hundred and eighty centimeters. For men, I find that length to be perfect
and we tested many sizes and we finally settled on this length simply because it is
fine if you wear it like I'm doing here right now but also, if you try to go with
a sling. So how do those two scarves feel? Frankly,
I think the Burberry scarf is woven a little more densely. At the same time, the
Fort Belvedere scarf feels a lot softer to the touch. You can also see it has a more
extended nap and I like the feeling of the Fort Belvedere scarf on my skin more.
Now, a Fort Belvedere scarf is obviously 20% lighter but the retail price is also 59%
lower. If you compare weight to weight, the Fort Belvedere scarves costs about half of
whatever great scarfves cost. So with that being said, is it worth it
buying a Burberry cashmere scarf? First of all, I think scarves are fantastic
products for cashmere because that's where you need the warmth, that's where you
enjoy the softness and unlike a cashmere sweater, you don't really have to worry
about friction and pilling because you just don't get that when you wear it
around your neck. Now, for$470, you get a high-quality
cashmere product made in Scotland at a high level with lots of hand labor
involved. It will likely last for years to come and if you consider the cost per
wear, it's not that big of a deal. If, for some reason, you don't like it anymore,
chances are you can resell your Burberry cashmere scarf for a much higher value
than regular cashmere scarves in the market. That being said, there are lots of
fakes out there and people might think you're selling them a fake unless you
have the original purchase receipt and all the tags still on there but when you
wear it, I don't like having these big tags on my scarf. So if you want to take
them off, maybe take a video of them, in case you ever want to sell the scarf.
Even though the quality of the cashmere is extremely high, I really dislike the
dimensions; 160 centimeters or just 66.1 inches are simply too
short in my book. I still find this classic vintage pattern attractive even
though it has been so heavily utilized by Burberry. If you don't like this colorway,
Burberry has eight different ones and you can even get your initials embroidered
onto your scarf. Personally, I think a classic herringbone pattern is better
suited for a classic man's wardrobe than this Burberry check because it's almost
like a brand name like a big H from Hermes or a Gucci belt tjat just screams
"look at me" I can afford this expensive product. However, if you're watching this
video, chances are you like the pattern of a Burberry scarf and if
that's the case, I think the scarf can be worth it. You're getting, after all, a
high quality product and it's not more of a ripoff in vinyl like, for example,
that Louis Vuitton and you can learn more about it here. Also, if you don't
mind paying twice as much to comparable cashmere scarves and you really want
that Burberry feeling, then it can be worth it for you. These days, you can find
many other cashmere scarf brands that imitated a pattern without the Burberry
logo. In my personal opinion, the shortness of the scarf is a deal-breaker for me
and therefore, not worth it for me. If you don't care about that, you can live with
that, I think it can be a viable option if you're prepared to pay four hundred
seventy dollars for it. in today's video I'm obviously wearing a
Burberry cashmere scarf in the classic vintage check the colorway is called
antique yellow which is very similar to the archive beige the overcoat is a
custom piece that is military-inspired with angled hacking pockets gold buttons
epaulettes and a half belt in the back it even features nice turnups on the
sleeves I'm combining it with a black pair of corduroy from Polo Ralph Lauren a
pair of dark brown bison boots and matching gloves that are a touch screen
sensitive in lamb nappa from Fort Belvedere that have an interesting look
because they have red leather in between the fingers which is quite unique
looking and they pick up the tones of the red in the scarf if you're
interested in Fort Belvedere cashmere scarves you can find them in the
Gentleman's Gazette shop