This review and article is dedicated to my dear friend Patrick Craig, who is WAY cooler than me but has yet to surpass me in my love of clergy stoles. Patrick had a moment of weakness today and asked me about my favorite stole designers and shops. What I have assembled for him and for you is an exhaustive but incomplete list of vestment companies I admire and often look to when things get slow at the office.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of the vestment designers and shops I admire let me first use this resource to fill you in on why clergy wear stoles in the first place. Stole derives via the Latin stola, from the Greek τολή, which means garment.

The clergy stole has been found to be in wide use since the 7th century and could be traced to being akin to the Jewish prayer shawl or the identifier of the Roman Empire’s Imperial Officers (weird combo) and had the practical use in early days of being a liturgical napkin of sorts. (That sounds egregious now considering how much vestments can cost)

Today the stole symbolizes holy orders or ordination. There is a priest’s/pastor’s stole is worn around the neck while the deacon’s stole is worn around the shoulder. While the Episcopalian readers will be surprised at this fact, it is common for a variety of both high church and broad church settings. While some people can be super particular I personally love having a variety of stoles for a variety of settings and seasons.

Scripturally speaking vestments have shown since the days of Moses that God expects our best when we show up to talk about God. We do these things because of the tradition we inherited. I’m not opposed to innovation with vestment work as you’ll see below. I do hope in all of this stoles can be for God an offering for praise and to God’s people a sign that God shows beauty to us as God refuses to give up on God’s children.

Stole Directory

Big Box Companies

Cokesbury is having a huge sale on this style, which I linked in red but they have other colors, great for gifts for ordination and other seasons. It’s simple like I imagine the hipsters like..

CM Almy is my favorite of the industry leaders and might be worth looking at especially when they have sales going on like they do now. I personally love this style and this stole was used at my ordination.

Gaspard is the Cadillac and gold standard of the stole market and the most expensive, reserve for yourself and when you’re preaching at a Cathedral or want to have mimosas on the front lawn after Easter.

Handmade and Homemade

Rev. Sarah Locke is a friend from Jacksonville Florida who made the Pride stoles for me. She is AMAZING and the quality rivals the ones above. Plus you can’t beat her price. if you go with her, she has the etsy shop and does custom orders as well. She’s on Twitter too!

Janet Armstrong of Liturgical Art Stoles designed the stole I wear for baptisms and UNC weddings, she did an incredible job and I love her work.

Though I don’t own a stole from Trevor W. Floyd & Co. I will say that I really love what he did for a tippet seal I had custom made for my tippet.

Emmanuel Church Vestments is a new company to me that does beautiful english fabric stoles. The designer Jenny has an Etsy Page too that I love. One note: she’s in Australia so it takes at least 10-15 days to receive your sole unless you pay more. The benefit here is that the Australian dollar is less than US right now so you get more bang for your buck. Bottom line is that they have AMAZING customer service.

Other Shops I Want to Check Out

Of course J. Wippell & Co. makes Anglicans go crazy with glee but I don’t own any of their product.

Watts & Co. London is similar in making Anglicans happy. They have the coolest Instagram account  of any vestment maker and trust me when I say I have my wishlist for this store. I’m saving my pennies for a stole from them. They are by far my favorite out of the vestment makers I haven’t bought from yet.

With Watts & Co. in mind I also really have enjoyed looking at Ecclesiastical Sewing and though I just learned about them I will most certainly be exploring them more very soon.

Jeff Wunrow Designs out of St. Louis is really cool. I’d love to get one of their designs some day soon.

Desperation Kicking In?

Amazon has a contingent eBay can have some cool deals some times but most all of them are used or not the best quality.

Etsy has some cool things but also some really off the wall designs like this one… Be sure when you’re ordering custom stoles that you are certain of specifications. For instance, when ordering a custom stole I compare measurements to that of one of my favorite stoles from CM Almy that is 5” wide and 56” long. It’s helpful for comparison.

I hope this helps! I know this list is far from complete so I hope to add to it soon as I add more to my collection. I will say this: I will gladly accept review copies of your company’s stole… There is no question about that!

Peace y’all.

The Reverend Rob Lee is a pastor, author, activist, and stole enthusiast. He’s the author of two books and active on Twitter and Instagram in ways that consider how we can be best stewards of public theology in the digital space. Contact Rob here.