The ribbed vest has had a strange few years. It went from gym drawer staple to something men are actually thinking about, and that attention has produced some genuinely good options alongside a lot of thin, shapeless nonsense that loses its form after two washes. The difference is in the yarn weight and the rib construction. A vest that holds its structure and sits close without clinging is a completely different garment to one that bags out and turns translucent. We’ve been looking specifically at options that work layered under an open overshirt as much as they do worn on their own in warmer weather. Cream, white, and washed grey are the colours doing the most work here. The best ones have a tactile quality that reads as considered rather than casual, which is a harder thing to achieve than it sounds. These are the ribbed vests worth actually spending money on.