A letter from Harper · Co-founder of Harper & Allen
Victoria, British Columbia · September 2026
A letter from the founderThirty-Five Years of Keeping Canadian Women Warm. This Is the Cardigan I Would Hand You First.
Forty patterns on our shelves, every one knit to the same standard. If you add just one warm thing to your wardrobe this autumn, let it be a cardigan, and let me tell you exactly why.
Thirty-five years ago, Harper & Allen opened its doors in Victoria, British Columbia: a little knitwear shop where women could find something warm, comfortable and made to carry them through the colder months. We had one belief then, and we have held on to it ever since. Warm should never mean shapeless.
It is September, and the mornings have already turned. Here on the Island, and in Calgary, Ottawa, Halifax and every town in between. The first properly cold morning always arrives a few weeks before any of us are ready for it.
And here is the thing about a Canadian autumn. It never quite settles. It is frosty at breakfast, mild by lunch and raw again by the time you walk the dog after supper. A pullover is a decision you make once at seven in the morning and then live with all day. A cardigan is one you can change your mind about as often as the weather does.
That is why, of everything on our shelves, the cardigan is the one I would put in your hands first. There are six things I would want you to know about ours, in the order I would point them out.
A cardigan adapts. A pullover does not.
Open over your morning coffee, buttoned up on the porch, over the back of a chair by two o'clock and back on again at dusk. You are never locked into one temperature for the whole day. It is the reason a good cardigan ends up on the hook by the back door and stays there all season, while the pullover waits in the drawer.
NM★★★★★“I keep reaching for this one on cold mornings. It is cosy enough for outside, but comfortable enough that I forget I am still wearing it indoors.”
Nancy M., Ottawa, Ontario
Cuffs that are properly finished
Our cuffs are knit in with firm ribbing, not cut and hemmed, so there is no raw edge to fray and nothing to unravel at the wrist. It matters more on a cardigan than on anything else you own, because a cardigan gets pushed up your forearms twenty times a day: to wash up, to garden, to get on with things.
JM★★★★★“I have washed mine several times now and the shape has held beautifully. Even the cuffs still sit exactly as they should.”
Janet M., Calgary, Alberta
Real wool that holds the warmth
Real wool, knit densely enough to stand out on a windy porch in October. Acrylic feels warm in a heated shop and turns clammy on the walk back to the car, because it has nowhere to put the moisture. Wool breathes. It keeps you warm outdoors without leaving you overheated the moment you step inside.
CS★★★★★“The knit feels substantial without feeling heavy. I can wear it over a blouse and still move around comfortably all day.”
Catherine S., Victoria, British Columbia
Wooden buttons that stay put
The first thing to fail on a cheap cardigan is rarely the knit. It is a button, usually somewhere around the second week of December. Ours are solid wood and sewn on to stay, so the cardigan closes just as neatly in March as it did the day it arrived.
It keeps its shape on the hook
A cardigan spends its life hanging, not folded, and cheap ones start to sag at the shoulders and droop at the hem within weeks. Firm ribbing at the cuffs and hem and a construction built to hold its shape are what stop that. Ours hangs by the door all season and still closes the way it did in October.
DR★★★★★“This is one of those sweaters that somehow looks better the more you wear it. Nothing has sagged or stretched, and the knit still feels lovely.”
Diane R., Halifax, Nova Scotia
Forty patterns, S through 5XL, one price
Not one cardigan in seven colours. Forty patterns, each one knit into the fabric rather than printed on top, and every size shaped to give the same intended fit. Our 4XL is cut like our Small, just bigger, not simply made wider. And nothing costs more at 3XL than it does at Small.
BC★★★★★“I was nervous about ordering my usual size online, but the fit was spot on. Roomy enough for layering without looking oversized.”
Brenda C., Kelowna, British Columbia
Our cardigans, against the ones you have been buying
You can find a cardigan for sixty dollars almost anywhere, and most women I know have a couple of them folded in a drawer. Over the years I have bought plenty myself, just to see what we were up against. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
- Acrylic, sold to you as 'wool-feel'
- Plastic buttons that crack or pull loose by December
- Sagging shoulders within a month
- Cuffs that stretch and never come back
- Patterns printed on top that fade and crack
- Stops at XL, or the bigger sizes are simply made wider
- Real wool that holds the warmth in
- Solid wooden buttons, sewn on to stay
- Keeps its shape hanging by the door
- Firm ribbed cuffs that still grip next winter
- Patterns knit into the fabric, not printed on
- Forty patterns, S through 5XL, the same fit in every size
On a Canadian autumn day, you will change your mind about the weather four times before supper. A cardigan is the only warm thing that lets you change your mind right along with it.
Why our cardigans are up to 70% off this month
This year, Harper & Allen turns thirty-five. Same city, the same love for beautiful knitwear, and the same care in every parcel that leaves our shop.
To mark it, we have done something we have never done before. We have put the whole cardigan collection, all forty patterns, on one anniversary run at close to what it costs us to make them. One run. Not a season, not a rolling sale.
When a pattern sells out in your size, that is the end of that one. Once the anniversary is over, our cardigans go back to $280.00, and the thirty-fifth does not come round again.
Discounts are applied automatically at checkout and items can be combined across collections. At four cardigans, that works out to $67.96 each. We make very little at that price, and that is on purpose.
CF★★★★★“The parcel felt unusually personal. Everything was carefully packed, and the little handwritten note was such a thoughtful touch.”
Carolyn F., Kingston, Ontario
I have always believed the best knitwear should become part of your everyday life. The piece you reach for without thinking, year after year. That is what we have always tried to make here.
Harper · Co-founder, Harper & AllenOur customers tell us the same things I have told you, again and again. Warm without the weight. A shape that holds. A fit that is right the first time. If you are going to add one warm thing to your wardrobe before the clocks change, this is where I would start, while your size is still on the shelf.
— Harper
The Harper & Allen Knit Cardigans
- Real wool that holds the warmth in, without the bulk
- Solid wooden buttons, sewn on to stay
- Free shipping across Canada & 30-day money-back guarantee
Stack and save: buy 2 and save 10%, buy more and save up to 20% extra.