The 2026 GQ Sweater Report

Sweaters seem simple enough, until you start paying attention. There’s the difference between a sweater you throw on without thinking and one you end up building an entire outfit around. And once you start pulling at that thread, it’s hard to stop. Which might explain why the GQ Recommends team spends a frankly alarming amount of time thinking about them, occasionally to an unraveling degree.

All of which brings us to this loose collection of knitwear intel pulled from our desks, and, more importantly, our closets: outfits paying respect to a humble ’90s Abercrombie & Fitch relic, a nerdy breakdown of the fabrics that make sense across different temperatures, a vintage dealer’s ode to a grail-tier knit, and a handy matrix separating the freaky sweaters from the normie-coded staples. If you’re like us and always hunting for your next go-to knit, we’ve got a few leads.

3 small-batch sweater specialists we’re obsessed with

Some brands dabble in knitwear. Others treat it like a full-time occupation. These three fall firmly in the latter camp. —Reed Nelson

&Daughter

This might make other knitwear companies mad, but I’m not sure if anyone cares about their wool as much &Daughter does. It’s world-class stuff, spun entirely in either Scotland or Ireland from one of five factories. Every detail regarding production is on the marquee, aside from the name of specific sheep. And the results are fantastic, by the way: effortless cuts, ironclad construction and the kind of peace of mind that’s rare to find.

Howlin’

I don’t think there’s a brand that takes itself less seriously than Howlin’, which is a good thing. Sweaters can (and should) be fun. From the colors and silhouettes to the names (one season they were all David Bowie songs), the vibe is playful. The sweaters, though, are serious business: hand-knit in Scotland from top-tier wool and made to last a lifetime.