Die Wiederbelebung des Quarter-Zip Pullovers: Mode für alle
For years, the quarter-zip jumper functioned as a kind of uniform for a narrow slice of public life: politicians on the campaign trail, finance workers on casual Fridays, and, occasionally, Princes William and Harry. In fashion terms, it was a shorthand for safe, unadventurous dressing. What has changed is not just taste, but ownership. Over the past year, a garment once coded as corporate has been pulled into a much wider, younger culture — and the shift is now visible from TikTok to the biggest runways.
The speed of that transition is the story. Searches are now spiking at Rise & Fall, a label known for reasonably priced wool and cashmere that does not bobble or thin after a few wears, and the style has flooded the high street: M&S, & Other Stories, Cos and Arket all carry their own versions. Investment pieces sit alongside them, including a cashmere take from Poetry, ribbed iterations from Filippa K and borrowed-from-the-boys styles at Rise & Fall. The quarter-zip has moved from niche to near-ubiquity in a single fashion cycle.
One reason is cultural rebranding. Last year, a TikTok creator, Jason Gyamfi, posted a video of himself and a friend in quarter-zips, sipping matcha, and deliberately reclaiming an aesthetic more typically associated with rich white men. “We don’t do Nike Tech. We don’t do coffee. It’s straight quarter zips and matchas around here,” he says in the clip, adding, “We upgraded in life; we wear glasses now.” The video has been viewed more than 31 million times and helped give a name — the “Quarter Zip Movement” — to what had been a loose, online mood shift.
The fashion industry, which often waits for such signals before moving, quickly followed.
From social media to the runway
Runway validation arrived in quick succession. First, actor Jonathan Bailey appeared at Jonathan Anderson’s Dior womenswear debut in Paris wearing a quarter-zip unzipped over a blue shirt and striped tie, paired with straight-leg jeans — a look that reframed the piece from corporate filler to intentional styling choice.
Then came a more formal seal of approval at Chanel’s Métiers d’Art show in New York. Creative director Matthieu Blazy opened the show with a pale camel-toned quarter-zip and jeans worn by Bhavitha Mandava, who had been scouted on a subway — while wearing a quarter-zip, no less. When a second version appeared on the runway — black, layered over a T-shirt and paired with an embroidered skirt — the message was clear: this was no longer an accident or an ironic nod.
Designers and retailers are now openly treating the shape as a reference point rather than a compromise. “The funnel neck with quarter zip and blouson shape are a subtle nod to 1950s sportswear,” says Claire French, head of product at Rise & Fall. She says the brand likes it tucked into denim and worn as outerwear in the in-between months, an approach that underscores how far the item has moved from its old, purely practical role.
Wearing the new uniform
The styling rules reflect the garment’s double life. One route is to lean into its old associations: wear it over a shirt and tie, as Bailey did, and cut the formality with jeans. A less corporate version drops the tie and adds a roll-neck underneath, either neutral or statement, to use the piece as a layering tool.
Blazy’s Chanel looks suggest a dressier direction, too. A neutral quarter-zip with a midi skirt and slingback heels reframes it as part of an evening-leaning outfit, while heeled boots can elevate it when paired with more relaxed bottoms such as cargo trousers or a silky satin pair. The only widely agreed rule is practical: keep it unzipped unless it is genuinely freezing.
A year ago, the quarter-zip still sat firmly in the “nice for your dad” category, a marker of sartorial indifference. What has happened since is less a sudden change in the garment itself than a broader shift in who gets to define what counts as stylish. When a piece can move from a subway sighting to a Chanel runway, via a 31-million-view TikTok and a Dior front row, it is no longer just a jumper. It is a case study in how fashion gets rewritten in public.
