We are Lily and Grace, and we started "Lily & Grace" 27 years ago, in a small boutique in Covent Garden, London. In all that time we have made a great many summer tops. The Zamma is the one we are proudest of.

It is the one we reach for ourselves on the hottest days. It is the one women stop each other about in the street. And of everything we are clearing as we close Lily & Grace, it is the piece we most wanted to write to you about.

We should tell you why we made it in the first place. For years we watched the same thing happen to women our age. The summer tops made for us fell into two piles. The first looked lovely on the hanger and felt like a sauna the moment the heat found you. The second felt comfortable and made you look like you had given up.

We never accepted that a woman had to choose between the two. The Zamma is our answer, and we argued for six things when we made it, usually with a supplier who wanted us to do the cheaper thing instead.

Not a blend, and not the polyester they sell you as linen look. The real thing, woven to breathe, so it stays cool when the heat sits heavy and softens like a good cotton sheet the more you wash it.

We wanted a neckline that flatters without fuss. A soft open collar that sits right on a real neck, and a single large wooden button, the small detail that turns a plain top into something women ask you about.

Without adding a single degree of warmth, and made to roll softly to the elbow on the days you want them shorter. It is the thing women our age thank us for most.

Loose where you want it loose, so the air moves underneath, instead of grabbing the one part of you that you would rather it left alone.

We have been caught out by that before, and we were not going to let it happen to you, least of all in the white.

Beige, white, navy, soft sage, and two more, each chosen to sit with the trousers and jeans already in your wardrobe, so the Zamma earns its place from the first day.

The Zamma, against the tops you have been buying

You can find a summer top for around £60 almost anywhere. We know, because before we made the Zamma we bought a great many of them, trying to find the one that did not let us down by lunchtime. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.

Why the Zamma is clearing now

We are closing Lily & Grace, so the whole summer collection is clearing, the Zamma with it.

It is now £44.95, from £129.95, and when you take more than one item the discount stacks further, up to 30 percent on top.

We will be plain about it. At this price we are barely breaking even on it. We are telling you because it is true, and because once we close the boutique, this price goes with it. There is no plan to bring it back.

If 27 years of running this boutique has taught us anything, it is that a woman who tries the Zamma once usually comes back for another colour.

That is the quiet bet we are placing in writing you this letter at £44.95.

Folded and ready to go out. Wrapped by hand, the way every order has left our boutique for 27 years.

It is the top we are proudest of in 27 years. We would rather it go to women who will wear it than sit folded in a box.

The reviews say the same things we have, over and over. 4.8 stars across 847 women.

If you have ever wanted a summer top that keeps you cool without clinging, this is the one we would put in your hands ourselves, while the colours are still in stock.

— Lily & Grace