Pringle of Scotland

Pringle of Scotland was founded in 1815 by Robert Pringle in Hawick, in the Scottish Borders, initially producing knitted stockings and undergarments before moving into premium woolen sweaters after 1870. The brand's defining design moment came in 1934, when it appointed the Austrian-born designer Otto Weisz as its first full-time in-house designer. Weisz developed the modern twinset — a fitted sweater paired with a matching cardigan — and introduced the geometric Argyle pattern into knitwear, both of which became closely associated with the Pringle name through the twentieth century. The Argyle motif itself derives from older Scottish tartan and clan patterns rather than being a Pringle invention, but the brand is widely credited with popularizing it as a knitwear print. In 1956 Pringle received a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II, a recognition it held continuously until her death in 2022. With a documented history stretching back more than two centuries, Pringle is counted among the oldest continuously operating luxury fashion houses still trading today, and its knitwear — twinsets and Argyle pieces especially — remains the reference point most associated with the brand's identity.