The Best Cashmere Sweaters for Men Are Literally Goated

Best Cashmere Turtleneck Sweater: Inis Meáin Merino Wool and Cashmere-Blend Rollneck Sweater

Todd Snyder

Inis Meáin Cashmere-Merino Aran Turtle Neck

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Pros

• High quality
• Thick, plush yarns

Cons

• Costs as much as a flight to Ireland

Working on an Irish isle, Inis Meáin has woven traditional Aran craftsmanship with modern techniques for decades. But, crucially, it still only produces its knits in small batches—in this case, producing a snug but not constricting turtleneck from an Italian-milled merino wool and cashmere blend.

The trick to pulling off a turtleneck in the year of our lord 2025? Easy, says our colleague, GQ senior commerce editor Avidan Grossman: Make sure it’s hardier than a bowl of stew, and cut a little boxier than you’d expect. “There’s a reason guys like McQueen swore by heavy-duty fisherman sweaters exactly like this one,” he notes. “The high neck frames your face like a blue-chip masterpiece, and when the temperature hovers right around 60 degrees, it’s the only layer you need.”

Best Cashmere Polo Sweater: The Elder Statesman Striped Cashmere Polo Shirt

The Elder Statesman

Striped Cashmere Polo Shirt

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Pros

• Head-turning design
• Simply the best cashmere quality

Cons

• There’s a comma in the price tag

We’ve said it time and time again: long-sleeve polos make you hot. In winter, the best polos are made from luscious cashmere, and while there are some excellent more affordable versions below, our favorite comes from The Elder Statesman.

Most cashmere stuff feels very East Coast prep—all straight-laced and solid-colored—which makes sense, because the East Coast is where it’s cold. Back in 2007, though, LA designer Greg Chait flipped that on its head: under the moniker The Elder Statesman, he started making cashmere blankets, then sweaters and ponchos and socks and stuffed animals, with a distinctly Californian vibe. The stuff is all tie-dyed and dip-dyed, sometimes emblazoned with palm trees or magic mushrooms or the checkerboard pattern on your trusty Vans. And while cashmere is fairly precious by nature, the fabric wizards at The Elder Statesman flip that proposition on its head. Instead of the usual subdued hues and ho-hum silhouettes, Chait and co. render their cult-favorite sweaters in every shade of the acid rainbow, imbuing the cozy-boy staple with a jolt of Justin-Bieber-exiting-Sushi-Park swagger.

More Cashmere Sweaters We Love

What Is Cashmere?

Cashmere is a kind of wool that’s made from the undercoats of goats. While goat’s outercoats are thick and coarse to protect them from the harsher elements, the undercoat remains ultra soft and fine. The fibers are actually hollow which makes them great for insulation which is why cashmere is known for its super smooth hand and high warmth to weight ratio. What separates cashmere from other types of wool is its superior silky hand and fine fibers which can vary between 14 to 19 microns in thickness—thinner than even the finest sheep’s wool. For reference, human hairs are only as fine as about 50 microns.

What to Look for in a Great Cashmere Sweater

Here’s the catch: high-quality cashmere will usually cost you a pretty penny. For the price, you should be getting a form of cashmere made from long staple fibers spun into multi-ply yarns and knit into a tightly-tensioned fabric. Those factors all contribute to cashmere’s pedigreed reputation as a material that’s much less prone to pilling and stretching than its woolier counterparts. (That reputation, rightful or not, also informs its notoriously high price tag.) Cashmere is graded by its thickness and staple length with Grade A being the highest quality, followed by grades B and C. The higher the grade, the softer the yarns, the warmer the fabric, the better the durability.