Sweater vests are a tricky little item. Everyone seems to wear them differently, but I love them for work. I am one of those guys who looks for the highest quality product, then relies on one brand to supply my needs. So, I was psyched when I got the blue Jos A. Bank for Christmas last year. It seemed like the perfect sweater vest. After a few weeks of trying it out, I purchased several other colors of this same vest. Here are my findings.
The fit is true to size. I imagine there would be a difference in fit depending on what you are wearing under the sweater vest. A thick turtleneck, for example, might demand a larger sized sweater vest than a lightweight button up shirt. I wear button up shirts to work every day, so for me, the medium was just right, and I wear medium sized everything.
What I loved the most about these sweater vests was that they truly are pill resistant, as advertised. I admit, I am extremely bothered by pills. I have a pill trimmer, which some of my old sweater vests gave quite a workout. I have yet to use my pill trimmer on any of these sweater vests. This is a huge victory and shows a high quality product.
Don’t bother with the white one, though. I guess I should have expected that it would not be up to par. I have yet to find a white sweater vest that is lightweight enough to be worn in any weather, yet heavy enough to not be basically transparent. This cotton sweater vest is the latter. If you wear it with a tie or a patterned shirt, you can see exactly what is under it. The yellow, which is fairly light as well, does not have this problem. It’s not a problem, though. I gave it to my wife and she wears it with her plaid skirts and a short sleeved white blouse.