Jaeger: an early wool craze

Though it seems that Jaeger somersaulted into the fashion world in only recent years, the brand was in fact founded in 1884 under the name (a considerable mouthful) Dr Jaeger’s Sanitary Woollen System Ltd. Unlikely though it may seem, this British fashion heavyweight was born of the theory of German professor of Zoology and Physiology, Dr Gustav Jaeger. He asserted that wearing pure animal fibres next to the skin - meaning everything from bed sheets to underwear - would promote better hygiene and health. Perhaps akin to the way 21st century society jumps on the latest superfood bandwagon, the woollen craze did take off for a time, with explorers such as Ernest Shackleton and Robert Scott wearing Jaeger wool on Antarctic expeditions. It was British accountant Lewis Tomalin who celebrated Dr Jaeger’s philosophy and launched the company that was eventually given the shorter, and rather more catchy, name Jaeger.




©  Jaeger