A Better Finance-Bro Sweater

The stereotypical quarter-zip top is sad and drab. In clingy, mid-gray fabric, this corporate staple makes any guy look like a schmo. We’re pretty sure you can do better. Tips here!

- GRACE COOK

MATT NYONG, 34, a style-savvy portfolio manager in London, insists he's "not your regular finance bro." His caseclosed evidence? "I don't wear a quarter-zip gym top to work." Like Patagonia vests, stretch chinos and Colgate-white sneakers, the quarter- (or half-) zip top has cemented its status as a moneyman staple in recent years. Nyong says his colleagues pounce on tight, synthetic versions from activewear brands like Lululemon and Vuori as if they were catnip.

Many don't want to think about clothes, he explained, so they default to a comfy uniform. Alex Frusher, 30, who works in investor sales in Manhattan, calls these tops "mundane but practical." He estimates that over half his male colleagues pull one on daily.

The stereotypical quarter-zipcut from stretchy cloth, often in mid-gray-could hardly be more limp and drab. It's become a key part of a "boring menswear look," said Jian DeLeon, men's fashion director at Nordstrom. Albert Muzquiz, a Los Angeles menswear influencer who recently posted a quarter-zip "hate" video on TikTok, condemns the look as "basic." But here's the thing: The sartorial prognosis for this trite top is far from terminal. If you pick a choice quarter zip, it can exude an air of "office cool," said New York designer Todd Snyder. A polished zipper, he added, gives work outfits a zap of refined sportiness.