Our New Grey Marl

Grey marl has established itself as timeless classic. Easily updated with ‘on trend’ colours season after season, it's a valuable addition to your sustainable wardrobe.

Grey marl was the original colour of sports wear and remains the traditional colour for sweat shirts and joggers – it’s hard-wearing and practical. But the real beauty of grey marl is that it suits a range of skintones and works with a host of other colours. It's the neutral with a bit of edge. For interiors, it is the perfect backdrop to many current trends and in fashion is the camellion of the runways.

The term comes from a sedimentary stone composed of clay and lime which give the stone its distinct strands of greys and whites. The term in fabric refers to strands of different, but close, colours spun together to give a soft ‘washed’ grey effect.

"Grey is a fascinating colour," says Tony Glenville, creative director of the school of media and communication at London College of Fashion. "Until the 20th century it was not a fashion colour at all." In the early 20th century, he says, "the French expression grisette referred to working girls, women who wore drab grey, perhaps because they were meant to be invisible and blend into the background". Grey was also associated with mourning, according to Oriole Cullen, acting senior curator of contemporary fashion at the V&A. "If a close family member died, you wore black. But if a member of the royal family died, for example, you were expected to wear grey."

Today grey marl is as much a wardrobe staple as white or black. There are so many ways to wear grey marl, all of which give that effortless 'trying-but-not-too-hard' look. This is why grey marl is the perfect addition to our sustainable wardrobe basics.

Our new styles in grey marl t-shirts will be available on-line by the end of March. We're happy to keep you updated if you'd like us to!