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The Best Cardigans for Cozying Up When It’s Cold Out

The style, renewed for the modern wearer, has made quite the comeback over the last decade.

collage of three cardigans Courtesy

By John Zientek and Evan Malachosky

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The time is right for a cardigan. It’s been on the return in recent years and is now here to stay for the foreseeable future. It’s been written in the fashion stars and the turning leaves are mother nature’s signal that it’s time to enrobe yourself in layers.

Products in the Guide

What Is a Cardigan?

The cardigan just might be the ultimate layer. It’s easier to don than a pullover hoodie, easier to doff when the weather gets warmer than you anticipated and its open front design makes it easy to see all the layers you’re sporting.

Spanning ivy and workwear, Scottish heritage and streetwear, the cardigan takes many forms. So whether you identify with hosting an acoustic set of your greatest hits, herding sheep, hosting a few neighbors or drinking a milkshake, there’s a cardigan for you.

It is essentially a knit sweater with a button or snap placket, which helps keep it all together when the wearer wants to, well, wear it that way. They’re a smarter pick than a standard sweater when you want the openness or plan to take the sweater off as soon as you arrive.

Want to know more about wool (and which to buy)? Read our dedicated guide to the 10 most popular types.

How to Wear a Cardigan

Texture — it’s what woolen knitwear offers that technical fabrics lack. Whether it’s the twist of a cable, the stippling of a seed stitch or the warble of ribbing, the tactile variation in knitted garments is unmatched in the sartorial world. A piece of light outerwear, like a chunky cardigan, can add pattern and shape to an otherwise uninspired ensemble; throw a cardigan over your button-down for a knitted take on business casual, or rock one unbuttoned with a tee and jeans for a casual-cool weekend look. Treat the options below like your favorite jacket, and they’ll keep you warm while adding variety to your assemblage of cold-weather wears.

The Best Cardigans for Men

This made-in-Scotland cardigan balances both new and old. It’s built upon Jamieson’s of Shetland’s long legacy of chunky knits but proves streamlined in comparison. There are retro-tinged football leather buttons to boot.

If you’re skittish about slipping into a cardigan, cop this. It’s nearly a bomber jacket, with its wool fleece body, its high buttons and lifted collar.

We say it time and time again, but you can’t go wrong with Uniqlo. This lambswool cardigan is no exception: it’s soft, the right shape, and super cheap.

Close your eyes. Picture a cardigan. This one from Buck Mason is probably pretty close. It has a shawl collar, four buttons and two front bucket pockets.

Like Buck Mason’s, L.L. Bean’s cardigan assumes a similar form. It has a shawl collar, too, but there are more buttons down the front — and the pockets are slightly smaller.

Faiz T.S. & Co. makes its cardigans in Canada from virgin Canadian wool. Theirs, though, come finished in a waffle knit with a prominent front zipper and horn buttons at the neck. While most cardigans come with buttons, this zipper makes undoing the garment easy, whether you’re hot or simply undressing at the day’s end.

From the upper echelons of the Ralph Lauren brand, this RRL Cardigan Sweater comes with a cable knit construction, a high, pronounced collar and small hip pockets. It isn’t 100 percent wool, though: wool, cotton and linen.

Want something more traditional, not in shape but in pattern? Schott’s The Motif Cardigan is exclusive to Huckberry, meaning you won’t see this particular version anywhere else.

More of a plush polo than a cardigan (although they’re essentially one and the same), Everlane’s anti-odor Merino-Blend Sweater Polo works as a solid layer beneath a bigger coat or on its own on top of a thermal, for example.

Complete with a zipper-front and no pockets, plus a smaller roll collar, OG outdoors outfitter Pendleton’s plush Westerly Sweater is a cardigan with a lower profile.

For its cardigan, instead of wool, Faherty opts for cotton. It’s equally soft, albeit not quite as luxe. The sweater looks nice, though — the marled fabric looks patterned even though it’s not.

Unlike Everlane’s, which also has a polo collar, Wax London’s has more weight. It’s bigger in the shoulders and through the body; it has two pockets; and the buttons are far more durable.

Made from 100 percent BCI cotton, the Crawford Sweater provides warmth without smothering. The collar, for example, isn’t bulky but it is raised, which protects the neck from cool breezes. The cuffs are tight, too, which helps keep heat in.

What’s the point of wearing a cardigan if you can’t have fun with it? Todd Snyder’s iteration is faded like your favorite sweatshirt, courtesy of garment dyeing done during its construction.

Check this one out. It’s made by Inverallan, a team of knitters established in Scotland in the ’70s. They sell a lot of their own stuff on their own site, but the best of the bunch, in my opinion, arrives at tons of different retailers. You can find an option like this 3A Lumber Cardigan at an incredible price.

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