If you go to Italy, you’ll notice something Italian men young and old wear when they’re dressed casually: a navy crew neck sweater. Last time we were there, while at a beachside resort, an extended family was having a nice meal in honor of some occasion or other, and I couldn’t help notice the patriarch of the family. He had that mature, self-assured style that comes so naturally to older Italian men. He was wearing a faded pair of jeans, a red striped button-up shirt and a navy crew neck sweater. His wife was also elegantly dressed, but I have to admit the details of her outfit have faded in my memory.
You can get a crewneck in merino wool, or lambswool, or even a cotton-blend one, but what I want is cashmere. And why not? It’s not like I’m going to buy 3 navy crewnecks in merino for the price of that one cashmere one. Yet it’s hard to put a price on the satisfaction you’ll have every time you put it on.
For your benefit, dear reader, I decided to order a few from some of my normal shops to compare. That ended up being four retailers, whose sweaters ranged in retail price from $128 to $328. No Cucinelli for me, I’m not ready for that level just yet.
Cashmere’s Decline
From my understanding, based on people who’ve been around for a long time, cashmere is worse today than it was 30+ years ago. Today, it’s not like you can’t get really good cashmere—like from Cucinelli, for instance—but due to a combination of factors including environmental degradation, overproduction, changes in consumer preferences and a change in how it’s processed, even the best today does not quite measure up to the cashmere of yesteryear.
The overproduction aspect is important to mention, because the grasslands that the goats feed on have been disappearing from an explosion in herds grazing in the same areas to meet demand. That’s resulting in desertification, causing dust storms much like the Dustbowl conditions of the 1930s in America. So there is an urgent push for better sustainability practices, including labels indicating sustainably sourced cashmere on clothing. This is something worth knowing about as a consumer when you’re considering buying cashmere (more on those labels and standards at the Robb Report article here).
Meanwhile the quality of yarns being used in the creation of final cashmere products vary wildly, and can explain the differences in prices. The cheapest sweater I tried is $128. What’s the difference between that and a $1,200 one from Brunello Cucinelli? Besides cost of labor, the cashmere fibers are what make the difference. Longer, finer fibers are the best, pilling less and aging better. Garments made from cashmere with shorter fibers will still wear warm and feel soft, but will simply feel junky in a year or two of wear from pilling.
2-Ply or 3-Ply (or more?)
In this price range, and even above, you’re much more likely to find 2-ply than 3- or 4-ply. Ply describes the number of threads twisted together to make the yarn that’s then knit together to form the garment. Neither is inherently superior to the other, but a higher ply will feel sturdier and wear a little warmer. Of the four I tried, Brooks Brothers was the only 3-ply sweater, and it feels it; more substantial in the hand, but not significantly thicker such that it wouldn’t layer easily.
7-Gauge or 12-Gauge?
How tightly knit the yarns are woven is another consideration. Most companies knit using a lower gauge, meaning there are fewer yarns woven together per inch, so less cashmere is used overall, thus making the garment even lighter (and cheaper to produce). Derek Guy has written he prefers the more tightly woven sweaters like from William Lockie (which also makes some 4-ply versions), and based on my research I’m guessing they knit 12-ply (12 rows per inch).
In this price range, 7-gauge is pretty standard, and while I don’t have official word from each of these companies on what gauge their sweaters are, just comparing them they all seem the same.
The Four Contenders
So here are the four sweaters I ordered to look at.
- J.Crew—$128. Pictured, size Medium.
- Spier & Mackay—$158. Pictured, size Large.
- Polo Ralph Lauren—$298. Pictured, size Medium.
- Brooks Brothers —$328. Pictured, size Medium.
My Brief Conclusions
The Good
Brooks Brothers feels like the best quality yarn, with the most dense feeling on account of being 3-ply.
Polo has the best fit. Not too slim. Not too long. Not too full.
J.Crew has my favorite color navy. More of an indigo undertone as opposed to magenta (Polo) or grayish (Brooks).
Spier & Mackay is the best value. Feels every bit as good as Polo for a retail price $100+ less.
The Bad
J.Crew has the cheapest feeling cashmere. Super lofty and light, it has the telltale signs of short fibers that will age poorly.
Polo is second worse in how cheap it feels. I am also dubious of the fact they market it as washable. Wool fibers—including cashmere—have natural oils on the wool called lanolin, and treating it to be washable seems like a fool’s errand. Wool and cashmere are washable, just using special detergents that preserve the natural oils. So I’d say don’t buy this for the washability factor, only get it if you love the fit.
Spier & Mackay’s is too long. I wish it were like an inch shorter.
The Neutral
Brooks Brothers’ fit has changed, about a size smaller than their sweaters have fit in years past. I would clearly wear a size Large.
Brooks Brothers has raglan sleeves while the rest have set-in sleeves. That wouldn’t necessarily be a deal-breaker for me, but I do think I prefer set-in sleeves.
Also speaking of Brooks Brothers, theirs is the shortest. This is a good thing. Even with a size too small, it was long enough worn with the low-rise Billy Reid five-pockets I was wearing in these photos. If you were to wear these sweaters with dress trousers that have a higher rise, the Brooks is the only option, really.
All of these sweaters are navy, and they all look great with a white button-up underneath. But the Polo shade of navy is more magenta; the Brooks shade of navy is more gray; the J.Crew shade of navy is a bit more indigo; and the Spier shade of navy is the darkest. You can decide which is your favorite, but I personally liked the J.Crew color best.
The Pricing
Retail prices are one thing, but of course we all know sales happen frequently. What’s the real price of these sweaters? Here’s my advice on that:
J.Crew’s is priced aggressively, and is one of those items I don’t foresee them including on many sales before the very end of the season. Don’t expect to get it on sale on Black Friday. $128 is what you will pay.
Spier & Mackay’s is priced very fairly at $158 in my opinion. I expect they’ll discount it by 20-25% on Black Friday or at another sale soon after that, however.
Polo Ralph Lauren will put these on sale, but I wouldn’t expect to pay less than $200. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Brooks Brothers is the wildcard; historically they’ve almost never done sales, and now post-bankruptcy it’s all-da-time-sale-time. Case in point: when I ordered this sweater, I randomly got 25% off for a promotion I had no idea was happening. So while this is the most expensive sweater at $328, I’d anticipate at least a 40% discount will be achievable at some point in the next month or two. That would bring it down under $200.
My Personal Recommendation
My top choice is Brooks Brothers’ for the more substantial, higher-quality feeling yarn. Wait for it to go down to 40% off or so and buy with confidence. If you can get it for under $200, do it.
My second choice is Spier & Mackay. It feels every bit as good of quality as the Polo one, but is more than $100 less at retail price. The dark navy color will pair with everything and look great.
Skip the J.Crew. And I’d say skip Polo Ralph Lauren’s too for the price.
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Mitch – just two thoughts. As you say, the environmental impact of cashmere cannot be underestimated. In my experience for a staple like this it’s well worth paying up for William Lockie, the quality is a substantial advance on ‘mall brand’ cashmere. The other, which sidesteps the environmental impacts, is that there is a deep market in vintage cashmere. With just a little time it should be possible to find a golden-era vintage piece on somewhere like eBay or Etsy, from a quality Scottish maker like Macgregor, Ballantyne or even Lockie, for less than any of the four jumpers you reviewed cost.
Thanks Simon. Once I saw how much William Lockie costs at some retailers, I wished I’d ordered one of those to compare as well. Via, say, Mr. Porter it’s $500, but if I were to import just one from a seller overseas it might be closer in price to $350.
My issue with shopping vintage is fit. More power to everybody who goes that route; I’ve just never been a vintage shopper. I even had a girl I was interested in get annoyed that I didn’t like vintage shopping and thinking back I think that might’ve been one reason she broke things off 😂
If I do try a Lockie sweater at some point I’ll be sure and update this page with my findings.
Great write up! Very informative. What are your measurements? Trying to decide what size to get in the Spier & Mackay.
Thanks! I’m a size 42R in tailoring. Chest measures just about right at 42 inches.
The Spier in size Large measures 22 inches across the chest, and so does the Polo (in size Medium).
So I’d say Spier fits true to size. But my advice is to always measure your favorite fitting sweater and compare to the measurements charts on Spier’s website.
A really excellent article. Just the sort of thing the average buyer (of some taste) needs.
Great in-depth article. What are your measurements? Trying to decide what size to get in the Spier & Mackay sweater.
Nice article, though I’d have to say that all of these options are just too underpriced for cashmere (the Brooks may come the closest to being an item that will actually have any longevity). At this price point, you’re really better off with merino if you want something more refined or lambswool if you want something more rugged. For the former, I’d actually recommend Brooks’ merino options, while Rubato is probably the best contender for lambswool, IMO.
Fair point! I don’t know what the cashmere quality of Brooks is now as compared to before, but they used to use Scottish cashmere which I know has long been the standard bearer for quality.
Thanks for your input.
Did you return them all after the review?
The spier and mackay quality is good but I found the neck opening to be too big. It didn’t look good over a collared shirt and was difficult to find an undershirt that had a large enough neck so you wouldn’t see the undershirt.
Oh good to know. I didn’t feel it was too big for my purposes but I know exactly how you feel. I sometimes feel Brooks Brothers is too tight. Comes down to preference I suppose
Hi, Mitch! I remember reading this last year. It was an incredibly helpful post. Very well laid out and informative. I also appreciated that you gave an actual opinion instead of trying to all-sides it. A year later, it looks like J. Crew might have upgraded their cashmere (or at least are claiming to have). Have you had a chance to check out this year’s sweaters?
Hey Drew, I have not. I’m not sure if they upgraded their cashmere, or simply changed pricing to account for continuous sales.
In the year since, one of the shops I work with gifted me a navy crewneck sweater made by Italian firm Ezzelino, and it’s so, so good. It’s 50% cashmere, 35% merino and 15% silk. Since it’s not 100% cashmere I wouldn’t have included it in a run-down like this article, but I would have missed out big-time. I absolutely love it. And I know how shill-y this sounds but use code MITCHELL15 to get 15% off (if the sizing will work for you). https://sartoriadilusso.shop/ezzelino-sweater-navy-blue-cashmere-blend
They sent me an XL, which is bigger than I’d have thought for me, and it fits perfectly (I posted about it on my Instagram when I first got it), so it runs slim.
Thanks so much! I’ll check it out!