Polo Shirts: A Fit and Pairing Guide to Piqué, Fine Knit and Long Sleeve

The polo shirt has a worse reputation than it deserves, for a fairly specific reason. Most men own exactly one. It's thin jersey, the collar has been lying flat on the collarbone since its third wash, and it looks like it.

That's not a verdict on the garment. It's a verdict on one badly chosen example. The polo isn't a type of clothing so much as a family, and the differences within that family are wider than the difference between a T-shirt and a shirt.

Three fabrics, three quite different garments

Piqué is the classic polo cloth. The weave produces a honeycomb texture that does three things at once: it holds the collar up, because the cloth has body of its own; it disguises sweat, because an uneven surface breaks up the light; and it keeps the fabric off the skin, because the structure traps air. The quarter-button short-sleeve polo is that basic form.

Jersey is smooth and thin. It sits closer to the skin, shows every contour, and loses its collar shape faster. Pleasant in real heat, the weaker choice anywhere you want to look tidy.

Fine knit is the smartest version and the one most men never consider. A knitted polo drapes more softly, has a collar that stands on its own, and reads far closer to a shirt than to a T-shirt. The long-sleeve polo sweater works under a light blazer the way a shirt does, and is considerably more bearable at 28°C. The washed oversized polo sweatshirt is the relaxed end of the same idea.

Four rules for the fit

One: the collar has to stand. Lay the polo down and push the collar up. If it collapses immediately, the cloth is too soft or the collar too lightly constructed, and nothing will change that. A standing collar is the only thing separating a polo from a T-shirt with buttons.

Two: the sleeve ends mid-bicep. Not at the elbow, where it becomes a T-shirt, and not just below the shoulder, where it becomes sportswear. It should sit close to the arm without gripping, since a flapping sleeve makes any arm look thinner than it is.

Three: the hem ends around the middle of the fly. A polo is built to be worn out. If it's long enough that it would have to be tucked in to avoid looking silly, it's the wrong polo.

Four: the shoulder seam sits on the shoulder bone. This is the rule that tells you most about the fit overall and the one almost nobody checks. If the seam has slid down onto the upper arm, the polo is too big, whatever the label says.

The long-sleeve polo is underrated

There's an assumption that a polo is by definition a short-sleeved summer garment. That isn't historically true, and it isn't practically true either.

The plain long-sleeve polo solves a problem that comes up daily in late August: 24°C in the afternoon and 13°C by ten at night. A long-sleeve polo is warmer than a short-sleeve one and cooler than a shirt with a jumper over it, and it's the only garment that covers both without a change of layers. The regular-fit long-sleeve polo is the more generously cut version.

And the sleeve is a tool in itself. Turned back twice to just below the elbow, it becomes a three-quarter sleeve, which looks considerably tidier than anything short-sleeved.

The quarter-zip

Strictly speaking a quarter-zip isn't a polo any more, but it belongs to the same family and solves the same problem one step warmer. The long-sleeve quarter-zip polo is the transitional piece. The knitted half-zip jumper and the collared polo jumper are the heavier versions that take over from September.

One detail on the zip: it belongs either half open or fully closed. A quarter open reads as indecision.

What to wear it with

With chinos. The obvious pairing and the best one. Stretch chinos with a fine-knit polo and tassel loafers is a complete outfit for practically anything between lunch and dinner.

With linen trousers. Loose-fit pleated linen needs something with structure above it, or the outfit has no edges at all. A piqué polo supplies exactly that. A jersey one doesn't.

With shorts. One rule applies: if the legs are bare, there should be a collar above. A polo with cargo trousers or with shorts reads as grown-up. A T-shirt with the same shorts reads as leisurewear.

With trainers or loafers. White trainers hold the outfit at daytime level; loafers lift the identical outfit half a step for the evening.

Tucked or not?

The most frequently asked question, and the answer depends on the hem rather than the occasion. A polo with a straight hem stays out. A polo with side vents and a slightly longer back is built to be tucked, and may be.

If in doubt, leave it out. An untucked polo of the correct length never looks wrong. A tucked one of the wrong length does.