Dershaw&Co.Intelligence for the business of desire
The White Space  ·  by Dershaw & Co. Edition 06  ·  Ready-to-wear  ·  Tuesday, November 10, 2026

The Sweater Season

Four weeks ago she was buying the party dress. This week one $168 Polo sweater sold 1,875 in ten days at Bloomingdale's. Here's what she's buying in ready-to-wear, store by store, and the sweater luxury is missing.

1,875$168 Polo V-necks bought in 10 days
33 of 63top women's styles at Bloomingdale's are sweaters or cashmere
0of Bloomingdale's top 63 sweaters cost $500 or more
Bloomingdale's, with units Saks Fifth Avenue Neiman Marcus
Play first: five rounds, ten seconds

Which sold more?

Bloomingdale's shows how many of each piece sold in the last 10 days. Pick the one you think sold more. The coats are the hard part.

Round 1 of 5
From my merchant's eye

She's buying the sweater.

Andrew Dershaw · Founder, Dershaw & Co. · 25 years in luxury retail and wholesale

What's sellingAt Bloomingdale's, 33 of the top 63 women's styles are sweaters or cashmere. Two $168 Polo cable sweaters lead the whole store: 3,366 sold in ten days, about $565,000 of sweaters. (#8 is a $165 sweater for her dog.)
What changed since Edition 02On October 11, 10 of my top 15 were dresses. Today Bloomingdale's top 63 holds one dress, a $795 Theia gown at #33. The party isn't over (Saks's top 68 has 33 dresses and gowns), but the volume has moved to the knit table.
The store's own labelAQUA and C by Bloomingdale's cashmere hold 41 of the store's top 63 sweaters. Last Tuesday, seven of those styles were 30–40% off and showed 1,871 sold in ten days. This week they're back at full price, $178–218, and the same seven show 3,200.
What's missingThe sweater she trades up to. Not one sweater in Bloomingdale's top 63 costs $500 or more. At Saks and Neiman Marcus, the knits on the lists jump from $448 or less straight to $2,550.
The List

12 pieces moving now

Every piece holds a best-seller slot this week. Units are the stores' own counts.

Product links are ShopMy affiliate links: if you buy through one, I may earn a commission, at no cost to you. It never changes the ranking. Prices as listed on November 10; some are on sale.

The sweater ladder

A ladder with no top rungs

Bloomingdale's top 63 sweaters by price. Each bar is a number of best-seller slots.

The nine at $300–499: four Polo Bear sweaters at $398, a $348 Polo cardigan, Vince, Maje, rag & bone and THE GREAT. None shows a sales count. Two house styles without a listed price aren't charted.

This week's white space

The sweater at $495–795

She's proved she'll buy the sweater: 8,955 sold in ten days from the 22 styles on Bloomingdale's sweater list that show a count. She's proved a name matters: Polo's two cable knits outsell every house style. What she can't find is the next step up. When she does pay more for a knit, it's built like a jacket: Polo's $498 cashmere zip vest sold 62 in ten days, and a $1,230 Moncler down-front cardigan sold 23.

For brandsA cable or a cardigan in real cashmere at $495–795, with a reason for the price she can see: a heavier gauge, a signature stitch, or a knit built like outerwear. Polo's vest proves the price can move.
For buyersBuild the step between $268 and $2,550. Today the knit lists jump from Polo's $268 cardigan to a $2,550 sweater at Saks, with nothing between but two pieces sold as outerwear.
For retailersYour own cashmere is the volume. Put a designer step on the same table, so the $188 customer can see where to go next.
Where she shops

Three stores, three customers

Bloomingdale's$198medianThe sweater store. 33 sweaters and cashmere pieces in the top 63, and 10 pajama sets. Its own cashmere and Polo sell by the thousand.
Saks Fifth Avenue$1,250medianThe puffer and the party. Ranked by sales dollars, a $2,040 Moncler is #1, and Moncler holds 7 of the top 68. Beside them, 17 gowns.
Neiman Marcus31of 60 on saleStill clearing spring. Linen pants, florals and halter dresses fill its top 60, with an extra 15% off sale styles this week.
Grading Edition 02

Four weeks later: my report card

On October 14, I made four ready-to-wear calls. Here's how they held.

✓
Buy party gowns at $500–1,000Held. Saks's top 68 has 17 gowns. Chiara Boni's $995 Gudrum, our #1 style in October, is still #7. Theia's $795 Teresa is #17.
✓
Buy quilted outerwear under $1,000Held. Barbour's $330 Kilnwick and $295 Polarquilt each sold 68 in ten days. Burberry's $1,095 Fernleigh, October's #2, is still #10 at Saks. The answer came at $300, not $595.
✓
Watch Polo knitsHeld, and then some. Three slots in October. Now #1 and #2 at Bloomingdale's, with 3,366 sold in ten days.
✗
Ease off full-price store-label cashmereLooks like a miss. I said it only sold on markdown. It's back at full price, and the ten-day count for seven styles rose from 1,871 to 3,200. The window still includes a few sale days, so the final grade comes next week.
The trade calls

Buy, watch, ease off

Draft calls for the next four weeks, Black Friday included.

Buy into
  • Named knits at $150–300: she's buying them by the thousand
  • A designer knit tier at $495–795, on the same table
  • Jackets under $600 that she can wear daily: Barbour, SAM.'s $495 sherpa, Polo's $598 puffer
Watch
  • House cashmere at full price: does it hold through Black Friday?
  • Moncler at Saks: 7 of the top 68 by sales dollars
  • Neiman Marcus's markdowns: a spring clean-out, or a soft fall?
Ease off
  • Spring pieces still on the floor: 36 of Neiman Marcus's top 120 are linen, floral, halter or other summer styles
  • Day dresses at Bloomingdale's: every dress with a count, combined, sold 1,052 in ten days. One sweater sold 1,875.

For brands: she's buying the $168 sweater by the thousand. Give her a reason to buy the $595 one.

Send it on

Know a buyer planning knits?

Forward this to the merchant, designer or buyer who should see the gap. The White Space is free, and every edition reads what's actually selling.

Over to you

Would your clients pay $595 for a sweater from a name they love? Or has the $188 cashmere changed what a sweater is worth? Tell me in the comments, or reply to the email. And tell me your score on the game.

Andrew

How this edition is built

  • Bloomingdale's Women's Clothing, Sweaters, and Coats & Jackets, each sorted by Best Sellers, read November 10, 2026 (US site): 62–63 slots each. Its Dresses page wouldn't hold the Best Sellers sort, so from it we use only the unit counts, not the order.
  • Units are Bloomingdale's own "bought in the last 10 days" badges. Only some slots show one, so they're floors, not totals. Revenue figures multiply those units by the listed price.
  • Saks Fifth Avenue Women's Clothing, sorted by Best Sellers (by sales dollars): the first 68 slots. Saks then showed a security check, and we stopped reading. Neiman Marcus Women's Clothing, sorted by Best Seller: the first 120 slots.
  • Last week's comparison uses Edition 05's November 3 read of the same Bloomingdale's styles. The two ten-day windows overlap.
  • We publish ranks, store badges and our own analysis only.

Sources

Edition 02: ready-to-wear, October →   Edition 05: the Gift List →