The quarter zip has had a strange journey through menswear. For a long time it belonged entirely to the golf club car park and the corporate away day, and that association stuck. The problem was never the garment itself. It was the execution. Thin polyester, logo-heavy branding, colours that seemed specifically chosen to clash with everything else you owned. Done properly though, a quarter zip fleece is one of the most useful things in a cold weather wardrobe. It layers cleanly under a wax jacket or a heavier coat. It works over a shirt collar in a way that a crewneck simply does not. We’ve been looking specifically at options in better materials, with cleaner lines and more considered colourways. Merino blends, mid pile fleeces, cuts that don’t swallow you whole. These are the ones that look like a choice rather than an afterthought, which at this point is exactly what the quarter zip deserves.