From Quarter-Zip to Sport Coat: The Next Step in the Men’s Style Revival
How Gen Z’s new uniform became a doorway back to tailoring.
If you’d told me five years ago that one of the most hopeful developments in men’s style would be… the quarter-zip sweater, I’d have laughed.
And yet here we are.
Scroll TikTok or Instagram and you’ll find “before and after” clips: Nike Tech tracksuit in the first frame, quarter-zip, chinos, and maybe a loafer in the second. The captions talk about “leveling up,” “looking like I have a 401(k),” and “dressing like the man I want to become.”
This isn’t just in finance or tech anymore. Black and Latino men are trading in hoodies and sneakers for quarter-zips, tailored trousers, and even fedoras—a “neo-sophisticated” look that’s showing up in barbershops, brunch spots, and boardrooms. People are calling it a “quiet rebellion” and a “movement,” not just a micro-trend.
As someone who loves menswear and cares a lot about formation—how habits and rituals shape us—I’m thrilled. The quarter-zip moment is a real sign that young men are hungry for dignity, structure, and adulthood.
But I also hope they don’t stop at knitwear.
The quarter-zip is a great first step. I want to make the case for the next one: adding a sport coat—or even a full suit—to that same young man’s wardrobe.
Not because “real men wear suits,” but because tailoring can carry the same energy that drew him to the quarter-zip in the first place, and then deepen it.
A real movement, not just a meme
It’s worth pausing and naming how quickly this has become a thing.
A generation that grew up in hoodies is suddenly reaching for a garment associated with offices, golf courses, and suburban dads. Something is shifting.
Add in the broader “corp-core” or “corporate cosplay” trend—Gen Z experimenting with ties, oxfords, and business-inspired outfits for nightlife and streetwear—and you start to see a pattern: younger men are curious about adulthood. They want some of its weight, not just its freedoms.
Sales figures back this up; ties and suits are actually growing again after years of “the suit is dead” headlines. The market is quietly telling us that structure and ceremony aren’t gone. They were just on pause.
So yes, the quarter-zip is funny and memeable. But it also says, in a small way: “I want to look like I’m going somewhere.”
That’s a beautiful instinct.
Why the quarter-zip hits so hard
Let’s give the quarter-zip its due for a minute.
Compared to the hoodie, it says:
I got up ten minutes earlier.
I probably have a meeting today.
I care, at least a little, about how I show up.
Practical reasons it resonates:
It’s easy. You don’t need to understand proportion, lapels, or trouser breaks. You pull it on over a tee or an OCBD and you’re instantly “more dressed.”
It’s workplace-safe. In a world of relaxed dress codes, a quarter-zip feels right at home in the modern office—especially in tech, finance, or corporate environments that quietly standardized the “midtown uniform” of chinos, quarter-zip, and loafers years ago.
It feels like progress without feeling like a costume. For a guy who has never worn a blazer outside a wedding, a full suit can feel like cosplaying as your dad. A quarter-zip feels like an upgrade, not a personality transplant.
And beneath all that practicality, there’s something deeper: a desire to be taken seriously in a brutal economy.
You may not control the market, but you can control whether you look like you’re trying.
That desire—to embody responsibility even before you feel fully ready—deserves to be honored, not mocked.
What a jacket can do that a sweater can’t
So if the quarter-zip is progress, why do I care so much about adding a sport coat or suit into the mix?
Because there are things a tailored jacket does to your presence—and even to your behavior—that knitwear simply can’t match.
Structure
A good sport coat has architecture: shoulders that frame your posture, a lapel that draws the eye up toward your face, clean lines that separate your torso from your waist. Even a soft, unpadded jacket quietly says, “Something intentional is happening here.”Versatility of formality
The quarter-zip has a narrow band: more polished than a hoodie, less dressed than a shirt and tie. A jacket can slide across a much wider spectrum.Over a knit polo and jeans: smart casual.
Over a shirt and knit tie: business ready.
With matching trousers: you’re suddenly the best-dressed man in most rooms.
Symbolism
Fair or not, a jacket still reads as “leadership,” “occasion,” and “responsibility” in a way a sweater rarely does. That symbolism is exactly what many of these quarter-zip guys are reaching for. Why not give them access to the full vocabulary?Ritual
Zip up a quarter-zip, and you’ve made a nice micro-decision. Fasten a tailored jacket, and your brain registers: this matters a little more. It’s a small embodied ritual that can actually change how you carry yourself.
Younger men already seem open to this. The men’s suit market is growing, not dying, and more of that demand is coming from Millennials and Gen Z who want garments that fit them properly and feel like an extension of their identity.
In other words, the door is cracked open. The quarter-zip guys are already on the porch of tailoring. We just need to invite them inside.
The quarter-zip as a gateway to real tailoring
So how do you actually make that jump without feeling like you’ve suddenly become “Suit Guy”?
Here are a few simple, realistic next steps.
1. Keep your quarter-zip—and put a jacket over it
If you’re already comfortable in a quarter-zip, don’t throw it out. Use it.
On a cool day, try this:
Quarter-zip in a solid, neutral color (navy, charcoal, oatmeal).
White or light blue button-down underneath.
Softly structured sport coat in navy, brown, or a subtle check.
Dark denim or wool trousers.
Clean sneakers or loafers.
Congratulations: you’re still you, but now you’ve got layers of intention. The jacket doesn’t erase the casual vibe; it frames it.
2. Buy one “forever” sport coat
Not a fashion experiment. Not a flimsy fast-fashion jacket. One piece you could imagine wearing for the next decade.
Look for:
Navy, dark brown, or a muted pattern (like a small glen check).
A fabric with texture—hopsack, flannel, tweed—so it plays nicely with jeans and dress trousers.
A fit that skims your frame: no painted-on tightness, no boxy excess. Get the sleeves shortened if needed.
That one jacket will instantly expand every quarter-zip, every OCBD, every tee you already own.
3. Try a proper fitting—once
Many young men assume tailoring is for weddings and hedge funds only. But the first time you put on a jacket that actually fits your shoulders, your chest, and your posture, everything changes.
You don’t have to start with a $3,000 bespoke commission. Start with:
A made-to-measure program at a local shop.
Or a solid off-the-rack suit altered well: waist suppressed, sleeves and trousers hemmed, shoulders left alone.
Once a man experiences clothing that truly fits, it changes his baseline for what “good enough” feels like.
4. Reframe the suit as gear, not costume
Most guys only know suits as uniforms for events they don’t control: job interviews, funerals, weddings. No wonder they feel alien in them.
What if you chose a suit on your terms?
Think about:
A mid-gray or navy suit that you break up constantly—jacket with jeans, trousers with a knit polo—so it earns its keep.
Wearing a suit to celebrate a milestone you want to remember: signing a lease, closing a deal, taking your mom to dinner.
Swapping the dress shirt for a fine-gauge knit or a t-shirt when the occasion is casual.
This is how younger guys are already approaching tailoring: mixing it with sneakers, jewelry, and their existing streetwear instincts instead of pretending it’s 1987 again.
The quarter-zip can be the bridge into that world, not the endpoint before you retreat back to sweats.
Clothes as formation, not just aesthetics
Here’s what excites me most about all of this:
Underneath the jokes and trend videos, men are asking serious questions:
What does it look like to grow up without becoming boring?
How do I carry myself with dignity when the world feels unstable?
How do I show respect—to myself, to others—without pretending to be someone I’m not?
In that sense, the quarter-zip movement is less about preppy knitwear and more about formation.
A hoodie says, “I’m not trying.” A quarter-zip says, “I’m trying a little.” A good jacket says, “This matters.”
I don’t think every man needs to live in suits. But I do think more men would benefit from at least one or two garments in their closet that demand they stand up straight, that remind them they’re capable of more than drifting.
And right now, for the first time in a while, the cultural winds are actually blowing in that direction—toward suits, toward tailoring, toward a more intentional masculinity.
That’s why I’m cheering on the quarter-zip guys.
Wear your half-zip with pride. Post your “before and after” videos. Drink your iced matcha and joke about your imaginary 401(k). You’re doing more than you think.
Just don’t stop there.
Let the quarter-zip be your first draft. Then add a jacket. Try a suit. See how it feels to inhabit a little more structure, a little more ceremony.
You might discover that the man you’re trying to dress like—the future you who is steady, dependable, and fully grown—is closer than you think.
What’s one small upgrade—quarter-zip, jacket, or suit—that would remind you of that man this week?
And if you happen to be in Atlanta and you’re ready to take that next step, I’d love to help. I’m building a made-to-measure shop here called SPO 33, where we focus on sport coats and suits that feel as comfortable and easy as your favorite quarter-zip—just with a bit more structure, intention, and joy built in.
If that sounds like what you’re looking for, come by the showroom sometime and we’ll talk through what that “next step” might look like for you.