Review: Acne Canada scarf

The immensely popular Acne Canada scarf is hands down one of my favourite winter essentials. I bought mine a little over four years ago on sale at Matches Fashion and I haven’t worn another scarf since. What’s not to love: the colour goes with everything, it’s incredibly warm and it can easily double as a shawl because of its size (190 cm x 75 cm) as I do tend to get cold in the office sometimes.

By the way, in case you’re wondering why the logo on my scarf looks different from the one they use now; they changed the name from Acne (Ambition to Create Novel Expressions) to Acne Studios in 2013. Jonny Johansson, one of the founders and now global creative director, initially said he liked the idea of “appropriating a difficult word” and making it cool, but over the years he changed his mind: “I wish we hadn’t called it that. People said it was a weird name, and I agree with them.”

Material: 100% virgin lambswool. The material feels luxurious, soft and quite substantial. The term virgin wool is used to identify the wool one gets from shearing a lamb for the first time. This wool is known to be very soft and fine. It also provides exceptional protection from the elements and is water resistant. Wool is naturally absorbent and is able to absorb almost 20 percent of its weight in liquid.

Care instructions: dry-clean only. I’m usually not that strict when it comes to care instructions. Most of the dry-clean only items that I own, can be washed by hand. That said, I haven’t tried it with this scarf yet. So for now, I would suggest getting it professionally cleaned, just to be safe. Also be careful when it gets really wet and make sure you let it dry on a flat surface so it won’t lose its shape. Never dry it close to a heat source!

Price: €150. This scarf originally retailed for about €110 but currently sells for €150. Only a couple of weeks ago it sold for €130, so that’s a price increase of 15%. To me, that hardly comes as a surprise as it has been extremely popular for several years now and I’m sure a lot of consumers won’t mind paying its current price. But if you’re contemplating buying this scarf, make sure you don’t take too long to make up your mind. Who knows, another price increase could just be around the corner.

Worth the price: I absolutely love it and I have never regretted my purchase for one second. After all these years it still looks brand new; the quality is outstanding. It has truly proven itself to be a worthwhile investment. But, I did get it on sale and to be honest, I find its current price to be quite steep. If you can afford it and you don’t mind paying extra for the brand name, go for it! For those of you who can’t or won’t spend that amount on a simple (yet timeless) scarf, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that there’s a similar, cheaper 100% wool scarf out there that will last you just as long.

Other (cheaper) alternatives: A.P.C. (€145), & Other Stories (€55), H&M (€30), Hallhuber (€70), ICHY (€50), Filippa K (€100)