A Christmas jumper (also Christmas sweater) is a sweater themed with a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

or winter-style design, often worn during the

festive season The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late November ...

. They are often knitted. A more traditional approach is a

roll neck A polo neck, roll-neck (United Kingdom, South Africa), turtleneck (United States, Canada), or skivvy (Australia, New Zealand, United States) is a garment—usually a sweater—with a close-fitting collar that folds over and covers the n ...

(or "turtleneck") top-pulled garment. It can generally be said that embellishments such as tinsel, reindeer, or sparkles make a sweater "ugly," in terms of ugly sweaters.

History

In the United Kingdom, Christmas jumpers became popular during the 1980s after a variety of television presenters such as

Gyles Brandreth Gyles Daubeney Brandreth (born 8 March 1948) is an English broadcaster, writer and former politician. He has worked as a television presenter, theatre producer, journalist, author and publisher. He was a presenter for TV-am's '' Good Morning ...

and

Timmy Mallett Timothy Luke Mallett (born 18 October 1955) is an English TV presenter, broadcaster, and artist. He is known for his striking visual style, colourful glasses, loud shirts, and giant pink foam mallet, known as "Mallett's Mallet", as well as his ...

began wearing them during the Christmas holidays. In particular, their popularity may be attributed to the influence of singers such as

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

and Val Doonican, who appeared in these type of jumpers in their television Christmas specials. In Ireland, '' The Late Late Shows host wears an extravagant jumper for the Christmas ''

Late Late Toy Show ''The Late Late Toy Show'' is an annual, special edition of the Irish chat show '' The Late Late Show''. Airing annually on RTÉ One near the end of November or early December to coincide with the holiday shopping season, the ''Toy Show'' showca ...

''. They are often seen as a hand-made present knitted by an elderly relative that are given as a Christmas present. During the 1990s and 2000s they were seen as

gag gift A practical joke device is a prop or toy intended to confuse, frighten, or amuse individuals as a prank. Often, these objects are harmless facsimiles of disgusting or terrifying objects, such as vomit or spilled nail polish. In other instances, t ...

s and fell out of favour and featured as something to be embarrassed by as in the 2001 film ''

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''. They gained

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appeal during the 2010s, with online retailer

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reporting an increase in sales of 600% in 2011, and the trend has been followed by a number of celebrities. Ugly Christmas Sweater Contests are held annually in the United States. Christmas jumpers, Sainsbury's 2016

In 2012, the British newspaper ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' described them as "this season's must have", with retailer

Topman Topman is a UK-based multinational men's fashion retail brand founded by Burton Group (later renamed Arcadia Group) in 1978. Along with its women's clothing counterpart Topshop and the rest of Arcadia Group, Topman went into administration i ...

selling 34 different designs alone and reporting sales had increased 54% compared to 2011. Higher end fashion labels have also produced Christmas jumpers, including Burberry and Jil Sander, and even

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

band

Slayer Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style ...

released one as part of their merchandise range. The charity

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

runs an annual

Christmas Jumper Day Christmas Jumper Day is an annual fundraising campaign in the UK and Ireland organised by charity Save the Children in the UK. On a specific day in December, people are encouraged to ''make the world better with a sweater'' and raise funds for S ...

each year in December using the slogan "Make the world better with a sweater". It encourages people to raise money for the charity by wearing their Christmas jumpers on a specific day. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported in 2012 that a major venue for sweater sales are independent company websites, with ugly-sweater themed names. Environmental charity Hubbub reported in 2019 that up to 95% of Christmas jumpers are made using plastic, and that two-fifths of them are worn only once. A spokeswoman for Hubbub described the Christmas jumper as "one of the worst examples of

fast fashion Fast fashion is a term used to describe the clothing industry's business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and High fashion, high-fashion designs, mass production, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail stores qui ...

" and urged people to "swap, buy second-hand or re-wear" rather than buy new.

References

External links

* {{Christmas Sweaters 1990s fashion 1990s fads and trends 2010s fads and trends 2010s fashion

Jumper Jumper or Jumpers may refer to: Clothing *Jumper (sweater), a long-sleeve article of clothing; also called a top, pullover, or sweater **A waist-length top garment of dense wool, part of the Royal Navy uniform and the uniform of the United State ...

Christmas