Kartik Research

Rugby Knit

Slot: Mid layer
Formality: 3 / 5
Warmth: 3 / 5
Retail: $740

The Rugby Knit is a knit from Kartik Research, $740 at retail. Hand-knit Himalayan merino, natural dye.

Mid-winter with something under it; on its own it runs out somewhere around freezing. It lands in the middle — dressed enough for an office that has stopped caring, casual enough for a Saturday.

Tagged craft, and down for everyday, weekends and going out — those are the occasions the builder will actually put it in front of you for.

Look 01 · Raag

A raag is a framework, not a song — a set of notes you are handed and expected to improvise inside. This outfit is built the same way. One extraordinary object and four ordinary ones, chosen to make it survive a Tuesday. The Chintz Chore Coat is matka silk with Zardozi embroidery and rates 2 out of 5 for warmth — not a winter coat, a winter garment. Everything under it does the work: the merino carries the heat, the 13.8 oz Livid Keri grounds the silk before it tips into costume, and the Konseal keeps it real. Formality runs 4 at the shoulders and 2 at the ground, and that drop is the point. Kartik Kumra answered 2025's 50% tariff on Indian goods by putting Ahmedabad hand-embroidery on the Paris runway rather than moving production offshore. The tariff has since gone; the hand-work has not.

SkipThe Rabari Leather Blazer at $1,700. If you buy one Kartik piece it is the chore coat — the leather is beautiful and carries none of the story you are actually paying for.

The rest of the fit

One garment per remaining slot, chosen the way the builder chooses: occasion overlap, formality that holds across the fit, warmth that agrees with itself, and the layering rules that stop a collar ending up under a hood. Head to toe with the Rugby Knit: $4,489 at retail.