The Dude Cardigan Abides.
There are plenty of Right Then, Right Now garments in Pendleton’s history, but by far, our most famous sweater was immortalized in the cult classic, “The Big Lebowski.”
This Coen brothers film was released to low to middling success in 1998, but quietly grew into a cult favorite. No one can quite pinpoint why. Was it Donny’s clueless questions? The dream sequence scored by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition? (click here to see a young Kenny Rogers perform the song on a giant psychadelic bed, click here for a nice homage version with movie stills) Was it Walter’s chin-strap beard? Or perhaps the German nihilists?
Well, it was all of these, but most of all, we think it was The Sweater.
Jeff Bridges wore his own clothes for this role, and though there were several sweaters hand-knitted as back-ups, he preferred wearing his original Pendleton. As the Dude, he staggers in and out of trouble, wearing alternately sweats, shorts, pajama pants, a bathrobe, t-shirts and…
…his sweater.
The original Pendleton cardigan debuted in 1974 as the Westerley.
We took inspiration from the beautiful hand-knitted Cowichan sweaters of the Pacific Northwest tribes, but ours were machine-knitted by Winona Knitting Mills of Minnesota. Here’s a little U.S.A. manufacturing history for you…Winona Mills was a two-facility company, owned by the Woodworth family. They were one of the very few knitters in the US who could do a 2gg knit. A 2gg knit is basically outerwear. You could wear it in a monsoon, and you’d stay warm and cozy.
The vintage Westerley is a 3gg knit, and it is WARM. We offered the Westerley in the western, outdoor and casual lines over the years. If your tag has a white background, it was part of the Western line. The blue labels are in the outdoor and casual lines. While down in the archives researching, I counted at least eight colorations, but that was just when I stopped counting. There are probably more.
The colors went all over the place, but the zip front, ring pull and shawl color stayed the same.
We have a few versions of this sweater in our archives, but when Kyle Anderson contacted us to see if we wanted his, we were delighted to accept it. Here it is, not quite mint but then again, neither is the Dude’s.
According to Kyle, the original owner, it was worn once. It’s in beautiful shape, it’s a great coloration, and best of all, it’s an XL so it will actually fit our modern size-large forms. Eventually, we hope this garment this will go on permanent display, but until then we’ve put this sweater to work in photo shoots and fashion shows beacuse 2011 marks the year we released a tribute version of the cardigan.
We don’t call it the Westerly anymore. We call it the Dude. This is a heavyweight sweater, designed to keep you warm no matter where you’re doing your Achieving. It’s available at our stores and our website. We didn’t exactly replicate the original. We wanted to preserve the value of the vintage sweaters that sell on eBay to Achievers everywhere.
The phenomenon that is “The Big Lebowski” continues. There are books devoted to the lore of Lebowski. All over the country, Lebowskifests draw crowds of Achievers, troupes of dancing bowling pins, and character look-alikes. You can buy stuffed animals, action figures and, of course, sweaters new or sweaters old.
The Dude abides. And so does his sweater.
Dude: This cardigan is righteous. I have been searching for something just like this and must have it. Colors, collar, zipper, weight – check, check, check, and check.
Yes Please! This is my favorite movie. It was forever stamped into my head at age 17 that there are movies that most people just “don’t get”, when my girlfriend at the time wanted to walk out of the film due to her boredom watching it. This movie is not boring and is smart…like Pendleton. Smart clothes for smart people that abide, indeed.
The Dude Abides! And so do Pendleton sweaters….
Useful information. Fortunate me I discovered your web site accidentally, and I am stunned why this accident didn’t came about earlier! I bookmarked it.
We just unveiled this blog, and it is still getting its feet under it. Thanks for stopping by. We will have a post this week you might enjoy involving the Dude cardigan.
Is the sweater no longer available? It doesn’t appear to be listed on your website at this point.
It is sold out at the website. Please call 800.760.4844 (our Consumer Services line) for help locating one at a store, though we are getting very low and certain sizes are completely gone.
It’s sold out already? So, there will be second run of the original design, right?
Ah, we posted this some months ago, and the sweater is sold out.
is it still sold out? will there be more available?
Sorry, all sold out!
Make more
Here is the sweater on sale at Nordstrom and they have free shipping both ways in case you need to return it. There’s only size Large left though:
http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/pendleton-shawl-collar-wool-cardigan/3212674?cm_cat=datafeed&cm_ite=pendleton_shawl_collar_wool_cardigan:384240&cm_pla=tops:men:sweater&cm_ven=Froogle,Google_Product_Ads&mr:adType=pla&mr:referralID=NA&mr:trackingCode=0AF8EBFF-CF63-E111-8435-001517B1882A&origin=pla
Awesome, LJ, thank you!
It’s Woodworth not Woodward, but thanks for the shout out.
Fixed and thank you!
Will the sweater be making a comeback for the fall of 2012. Unfortunately this is the first I’m hearing of it and missed out. Would love to own one. Thanks Chris
Fall 2013! So, next year.
Is it true, the sweater is coming back in 2013? Same color and design, just like the Dudes? I was joyed when I found out the Dudes sweater was Pendleton. My family has been wearing Pendleton wool since the 70′s here in Portland Or. We love the stuff, having one of these sweaters will make me so happy! I just wish we could pre-order now. Thanks for bringing it back.
is there any way I can pre-order? I’ve been looking for this forever … any advice is greatly appreciated!
This was last fall, so sorry.
NOOOOOOOO! any chance you could possibly run them again? Or am I outta luck? :’(
Keep your eyes and ears peeled.
any chance for christmas 2012?
Is there a way to get notified if it comes up again or to get on a waiting list?
If it comes up again, we will post it at the http://www.pendleton-usa.com website. You will be able to pre-order there.
so it IS being re-released this year in the fall?
Ah I’m so excited for a re-release! This is my boyfriend’s FAVORITE FAVORITE movie. I will have to keep an eye open for a pre-order date so I can snag one up for birthday or Christmas or something.
Have the same problem , my husband will turn 40 this year and we’ve set out to get a real Dudde for e real dude…. Help need one delivered to the Netherlands…