Luxury Briefing: Knit polos are taking over — and changing — menswear

July 5, 2024 Mary

This week, an in-depth look at the rise and rise of menswear’s hottest trend.

Several nipples are out, navels are barely covered, and guns are getting their day in the sun. Especially apparent this summer, knit polos are inspiring men across the style spectrum to flee their fashion comfort zones and try a new shirt for size.

“It’s the gateway drug to more adventurous dressing,” Trevor Hardy, CMO at the U.K.-based menswear brand Orlebar Brown, said of the trend, which is best described as a business-casual polo updated with an open-weave fabric and retro, often more body-con, cut.

Likewise, Barrett Dudley, co-host of Washed Media’s Retail Therapy podcast, called the style “a stepping stone to something more out there.” And Alejandro Rhett, chief product officer at Todd Snyder, said it’s an easy sell as more men warm up to “trying something more adventurous.”

“For many years, menswear was stale, old and stodgy,” said Nick Kemp, director of design at menswear retailer Huckberry. He cited the knit polo as a main source of a “new, young energy” inspiring “even older gentlemen to rethink social norms” when getting dressed.

With roots in the 1950s, the style was reintroduced by influential menswear brands in 2018 and caught fire during and immediately following the height of the pandemic. As described by Rhett, “Zoom tops” became a closet necessity, with “presentable” knit polos fitting the bill. Eventually, the athleisure era gave way to a desire to be more dressed up, but not too dressed up. And a European travel boom cued up shopping trips galore. Widespread marketing and mood boards made knit polos the unofficial uniform of the Italian Riviera.

“Since Covid, people are taking more care and consideration when choosing where we go, what we do and what we’re going to wear when we go,” said Hardy. For his part, Dudley plans to invest in a knit polo before a summer trip to Spain — as of Tuesday, a style by Tiger of Sweden was sitting in his Ssense cart.

As for the post-pandemic return to getting dressed, Jeremy Kirkland, founder and host of the fashion-focused Blamo! Podcast, said the style had appeal for its “purposeful, yet casual” feel.

The sentiment was echoed by fashion stylist Ilaria Urbinati, whose clients include Ryan Reynolds, Barry Keoghan and The Rock. “Suits went out for a bit, so the knit polo was a good alternative; it still felt like a complete look,” she said.

The style has since held strong for being “elevated,” compared to men’s typical go-to styles, yet also versatile, comfortable and easy to style, sources for this story unanimously agreed.

“It’s flattering on everyone, and makes any casual outfit look chic,” Urbinati said, adding, “It looks more put together than a T-shirt but still feels relaxed.”

Of the 10 fashion-insider sources contributing to this story, three of the five men interviewed on Zoom were wearing a knit polo. It’s also worth noting that, even during a holiday week, securing menswear authorities to discuss how the trend is driving their company’s sales or changing men’s style for the better was a breeze.

According to Glossy’s sources, pop culture can largely be credited with fueling the trend. Specifically, they referenced costuming in the 1999 movie “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” set in Italy in the 1950s, and season two of the HBO series “The White Lotus,” filmed in Sicily. Also noted were styles worn by Reynolds, The Rock and Jacob Elordi, a crochet shirt worn by Travis Kelce last month in Cannes, a red style spotted on Jeff Bezos last year, and a contrast-collar version just donned by Justin Bieber for a lunch date. Old Hollywood, Americana and nostalgia were also mentioned.

“Regardless of whether you know about menswear, men, especially in the U.S., look to celebrities for style inspiration,” said Chris Gove, founder and creative director of the 15-year-old menswear brand Percival. Dressing actors for press junkets has consistently translated to sales for his brand, he said, as has outfitting athletes and tech entrepreneurs. Currently, the U.S. makes up one-third of Percival’s U.K. business and counting — Gove is targeting growth in the market this year.

In February, Percival and Urbinati launched a knit polos-heavy product collaboration, which Urbinati incorporated into a look worn by Keoghan. Per Gove, the collaboration was among the brand’s most successful to date. This month, he and Urbinati will meet in L.A. to plan a second collaborative collection, set for a spring 2025 release.

Todd Snyder was among the first brands to go all in on the style, introducing knit polos in 2018. Following early traction, founder Todd Snyder “consciously evolved the business” to make the style a hero, with a focus on consistently offering unique takes on the trend as competition caught on, Rhett said. The company now does monthly drops of knit polos and merchandises the style in each room of its stores. Last weekend, Todd Snyder opened a store in San Francisco’s Marin Country Mart — knit polos were the best-selling category over the two days.

“It has been a multi-team effort to dominate in this business and it has paid off for us,” Rhett said, noting that knit polos now make up 50% of the brand’s sweater volume and 20% of sales. “If I told you how many meetings about sweater polos we have a week, you’d be surprised. … We’ve spent half a day dedicated to sweater polo strategy.”

Percival was also early to knit polos, which, Gove said, are now “intrinsic to the growth and success” of the brand. In early 2018, the brand introduced its first four knit polos, developed to build up the brand’s spring-summer sales. Prior, 80% of its sales were made in the fall-winter months, with summer sales largely driven by T-shirts. Gove took inspiration from what his grandfather wore while working as a spy, describing the resulting style as “London spy chic meets Italian Riviera.” Since 2020, the brand’s knit polo sales have tripled year-over-year, boosting spring-summer sales to 50% of the business.

It’s not all airy and muscle-hugging styles powering the knit polo wave. Todd Snyder, for example, is currently selling knit polos in cashmere, cashmere blends, linen, linen blends and crochet, among other fabrics and textures. The brand’s assortment includes cardigan sweater polos, styles with full plackets and shirts with Johnny collars, plus long-sleeve options.

“It’s sort of choose-your-own-adventure here,” Rhett said. “We‘re conscious of providing something for everyone, so we’ll always have more conservative, wear-to-work versions and fun, party [-ready] open-weave versions, and a good balance of pull-on and full-placket polos.” Todd Snyder’s customer base ranges in age from 25-75.

Of course, faster mass brands have also tackled the trend head-on. Corey Robinson, chief product officer at Abercrombie & Fitch Co., said the brand introduced the style with three choices five years ago when classic 1950s menswear began trending. “Based on the response, we’ve greatly expanded our options to be a key part of our menswear assortment,” he said. Abercrombie now sells knit polos in a variety of silhouettes, colors and patterns, and with unique stitching— in 2019, it introduced crocheted polos. Priced $60-$100, the brand’s knit polo shirts now outsell its traditional piqué polo styles.

According to fashion market insights company Edited, from January 2024 to June 2024, mass-market retailers as a whole increased their assortment of knit polos by 50% year-over-year. At Zara, quantities were up 37%, with the style’s average price increasing by $10 compared to last year. Mango, meanwhile, boosted its knit polo assortment by 83%, increasing their prices by $7, on average. Marketing of the style also caught on, with H&M increasing the frequency of “knit polo” mentions within its emails by 25%. Meanwhile, across mass retailers’ websites, polos described as “cotton” and “piqué” declined by 19% and 15%, respectively, showing a shift away from classic iterations, said Krista Corrigan, Edited retail analyst.

For Orlebar Brown, which considers knit polos “a huge growth area,” its Italy-based production is a differentiator, Hardy said. The brand recently relocated its manufacturing to Europe. And Todd Snyder is prioritizing styles with texture, which are less common. ”The more texture, the more expensive it is to make,” and Todd Snyder’s customer looks to the brand for “premium and unique” products, Rhett said.

However many men still lack familiarity with the style, leaving room for growth. According to Gove, three months ago, the top polo-related Google search inquiry was, “What is a polo?” And, fresh from the retailer’s East Hamptons-based pop-up, Aaron Alexander, head of PR and communications at Mytheresa North America, said a male shopper trying on a knit polo asked, “Is this how it’s supposed to fit?”

Everyone interviewed for this story agreed that the trend remains on the rise. “Menswear moves much slower than women’s,” said Gove, who guessed that his business is safe to heavily lean on the style for another 2-3 years. Edited’s Corrigan noted that knitted polos were “one of the most dominant silhouettes across tops on the spring-summer 2025 runways,” seen at Dolce & Gabbana and Amari, among others. And Huckberry is buying into the style in a bigger way for spring 2025, Kemp said. This year, Huckberry is also investing in knit polos for fall for the first time.

“It’s like a guy’s fashion top, his ‘going-out top,’” Rhett said, pointing to a womenswear trend. “It’s new that guys are shopping for a [specific occasion]. And we have such a broad offering that it keeps them coming back.”

Dudley also referenced the new world opened up by the knit polo, seeing as men have been limited to tees, basic polos and button-downs. In addition to style options, the style has introduced men to new silhouettes — the “tiny top, giant trouser, tiny shoe” look, which women have recently been sporting, is emerging for men, as well, he said.

Knit polo subtrends that have most recently surfaced include mesh, cropped and boxy styles, long-sleeve polos that read as dressier, styles with contrasting textures and colors, and versions in bold colors. Todd Snyder is currently leaning into fabric experimentation, fashioning styles in Merino, cotton silk and plant-based fabrics, for example. And it will soon roll out cropped versions of some existing styles — a cropped knit polo cardigan worn with a tank top and high-waist pants is “the ‘it’ look of the season,” Rhett said. Styles that feel fresh to Urbinati, meanwhile, are those in “unusual colors that feel not too obvious, like deep pink, mustard and mint green,” she said.

Color is a point of contention among knit polo fans. Kirkland called “very loud knit polos” the only versions he’s averse to. But Orlebar Brown and Percival have been working to ease their customers into higher-impact styles. Over the last two years, the former has seen the most growth in sales of styles featuring details in contrasting colors. And recent sell-through of a style with a tie-like pattern opened the door to sell more styles with prints, Hardy said. Percival, too, has introduced color in stages — it started with polos in next-to-neutral shades including cream and forest green. “When [our customers] wear some color, they get compliments, and then they have fewer reservations,” Gove said.

But even “fashion people” have second-guessed leaps into this new territory. Mytheresa’s Alexander said, until he started receiving positive feedback, he felt self-conscious last summer when he showed up to an event wearing a bright Bode polo with an open weave. “Ten years ago, if you had asked me if I’d ever wear a grandma-knit polo, I would have said no,” he said. Today, he wears 1-2 knit polos per week, with Celine and Cos among his go-to brands.

Along with coaxing men into dressing with new levels of intention, knit polos have challenged brands to test the limits of their DNA.

Orlebar Brown, which has so far focused on tailored, body-hugging polos that accentuate a man’s torso, is now exploring easier silhouettes, Hardy said. And Austin-based Howler Brothers, best known for outdoor men’s styles, is “trying to figure out how to bring knit polos into our world,” said Dudley, who also works in apparel production for the brand.

Perhaps the biggest jump has been by Huckberry, which aims to outfit adventurers, according to its marketing.

“Two years ago, I would have told you it’s probably not our vibe,” Kemp said. “Our customer is on the conservative side, and they don’t want to feel like the trendiest guy in the room. But they were on our website keying ‘knit polo’ into the search, and now we’re doing a little bit of every microtrend.” Several of the styles have sold out and been restocked. Huckberry plans to introduce new options in bold colors, “fun prints” and new knits for future seasons. Kemp, who was wearing a camo shirt and Bass Pro Shops cap while speaking with Glossy, said he, too, has bought into the style.

“It’s a zeitgeist moment,” he said.

To market the style amid this crowding, Todd Snyder has taken an omnichannel approach. That’s included working with stylists and costume houses — the brand’s knit polos have popped up in multiple Geico commercials, Rhett said. In addition, knit polos are featured “at least bi-weekly” in its customer emails and take up full “chapters” of its catalogs. Knit polos have been at the center of brand collaborations with golf apparel brand FootJoy and the Kentucky Derby. And the brand’s knit polos have become a hot topic among menswear influencers on TikTok.

Likewise, Percival’s marketing of knit polos has included dressing celebrities and amplifying the style via collaborations. Gifting, paid search and selling through 10 U.S. Nordstrom stores have also proven effective.

According to Hardy, “The increase of style options available for men, especially to dress in more interesting, characterful and self-expressive ways, will only continue.”

As such, it’s time for men to step up their style game, Gove said. “You can no longer just turn up looking like shit,” he said. “There’s now an onus on guys to think about what they’re wearing and dress well. A knit polo, a nice pair of trousers, … let’s start there.”