Harud

The Met Office averages for 1991 to 2020 put Birmingham’s September at 18 degrees by day and 10 at night, October at 14 and 7, and November at 10 and 4. London runs about two degrees warmer. Rain falls on ten, twelve and thirteen days of those months respectively. So a British autumn is not cold so much as cool and wet, with a twenty-degree swing between a September lunchtime and a November evening.

That makes the clothing problem one of layering rather than insulation. The right piece adds warmth without weight, comes off in a warm room, folds into a bag, and does not mind a shower. A coat solves November and ruins September; a scarf or a shawl covers both.

Wool absorbs up to a third of its own weight in moisture before it feels wet, and gives off a little heat as it does so. The figure comes from the Woolmark Company, the wool industry’s own body, but the effect is familiar to anyone who has stood on a wet platform in a wool scarf and a cotton shirt: the scarf stays comfortable and the shirt goes cold. Cotton takes up water too, then dries slowly and pulls warmth from the skin while it does.

Cashmere is wool’s finer cousin. To be sold as cashmere in the United States a fibre must average 19 microns or less, and pashmina from the Changthangi goat of Ladakh measures around 13, which is why a pashmina shawl is warm without bulk. Our Heritage Pashmina® scarves are handwoven cashmere; the pashmina shawls are hand spun and handwoven in the Kashmir valley. For the difference in plain terms, read pashmina versus cashmere.

The lighter option is merino wool and silk. Our merino silk scarves are 85 per cent merino and 15 per cent silk, cut at 200 by 70 cm and weighing about 100 grams, and they are the September piece: enough for a cool morning, gone by lunchtime. Acro wool, the wool and acrylic blend in most of our pherans and kurtis, is light and warm but takes up little moisture and pills sooner, so it suits a dry cold day more than a wet one. Velvet is back this season in burgundy and forest, and dislikes rain, so save it for the evening.

Harud has three colours of its own: the copper of the chinar, the saffron picked at Pampore, and walnut, the tree whose green husks split open in the same weeks. They are the colours this collection is named for, and they sit naturally against the grey of a British October because nothing else in the street is wearing them.

The trade reports lean the same way this year. Pantone’s report from the New York autumn and winter 2026 shows lists red mahogany, burnt olive, muted clay and a toffee brown; the forecasters add a deep burgundy and a forest green, with a winter cream to lift them. Our stock answers all of those. The one gap is teal, which the same reports favour and which we carry little of this season.

The month decides the weight. Start light and add, rather than buying for November in September and carrying it around for eight weeks.

Cashmere and wool need little. After a wet day, hang the scarf over a chair overnight rather than washing it; wool sheds the moisture on its own. When it does need washing, hand wash in cool water with a wool detergent or dry clean, press the water out in a towel rather than wringing, and dry flat away from the radiator. Fold rather than hang, and put the summer’s cedar back in the drawer with it. Our guide to stopping a scarf shedding covers the first few wears.

The Autumn ’26 collection holds 82 pieces, 76 of them in stock today, from £20 to £165. Free UK delivery starts at £60, so everything from the cashmere tier up ships free and arrives in three to five working days. Unworn pieces with their tags can be returned within fourteen days.

• £20 to £30Plain-colour and merino silk scarves. The September layer, and the one to buy in two colours.
• £70 to £100A velvet pheran set, wool pherans with aari embroidery, and the Desert Haze pashmina shawl at £100.
• £120 to £165Heritage Pashmina® cashmere scarves, the wool shawls, and the embroidered wool jackets.