Two weekends ago, I was caught in the rack at the local sporting goods store by my assistant coach. “Are you buying that or interrogating it?” He asked, as I held up a quilted vest like it owed me money. Fair question. I’d been searching the seams for several minutes, trying to decide if I wanted it, or if the website had just brainwashed me into thinking I did through endless scroll traps and autoplay slideshows. So much “exposure”, I mistook it for desire.
The issue with the “are vests back” game isn’t actually vests. It’s ads. Whether or not you can trust yourself to buy clothing online after the fortieth ad tries to sell you your shirt off.
YOLO is marketing.
The vest itself isn’t
My gripe with talking about anything as “back in style” is everything just doesn’t actually go out of style. Take vests. I’ve rotated a fleece vest through my winter lineup since before I took my first head coaching job, because it’s great at one thing: Making my core warm during workouts at 6 a. m. in November without also cooking me alive. Which isn’t trendy, it’s functional. It’s a TOOL and that tool doesn’t care what’s “in”, because it cares about one thing: Whether or not it stays put while I’m doing sled pushes. If it rides up around my ribs, it’s no better than a tucked-in shirt.
So when people ask if vests are “in”, 99% of the time they’re really asking about a trendy look they’ve seen, like the puffer vest over a button up shirt. EVERY guy on your feed has suddenly gone out and bought that exact same combination, probably in army green. Sure, the OCBD + vest thing might be “in”, but don’t tell me vests themselves are a new invention. It’s a vest. It hasn’t changed one bit from when your grandpa wore one to Sunday dinner. Literally the same item you’ve seen for decades gets Photoshopped onto thirty influencers and suddenly menswear companies are selling that exact same product with a status label worth twice what your grandparents paid. Joggers, chore coats, DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON CREW SOCKS. We’ve all been here.
I myself bought into the buzz one year. Got talked into a gorgeous shearling collar vest that LOOKED good goddamn fantastic in the mirror of my bedroom, but put it on for the first time when I went to drive to work one cold morning and realized it was.. restrictive. Like, couldn’t lift my arms above my head without pulling across my shoulders and back restrictive. Looking great ON STANTIION I GET IT. But throw a person in who has to MOVE in that thing and it falls apart.
The fact is, THAT vest was designed to be seen. Styled. Photographed in flattering lighting. Not worn while working out. Or lifting heavy. Or even PUTTING on a shirt over it, because that was tight enough to notice. That’s not a tool, that’s a statement. It won’t last you through the season. Unless your winter uniform is going to retail stores, trying on clothes and taking selfies like Zoom TypeInfographics, it isn’t built for your needs.
The version that you should buy if it works for you
The vest I actually wear every winter, the real quilted version, is another story entirely. And this is where I will drop the bomb and say yes guys, yes you should wear a puffer vest. Just not because some dumb website told you to.
I put mine through the WRIST, which is honestly the only workout clothes test that matters to me. Outdoor practice, sideways wind, jogging the yard while teaching drills, standing around useless with a bunch of kids doing loud stretches while waiting for the next period to start. You want movement? Waited. You want standing still? You better believe that ten minute break was cold by minute five. And when your tops and bottoms have to be designed to handle both… that’s where most systems fail. Get too thick on the top and you cook yourself during active times. Wear not enough and you freeze when you stop. Jacket’s aren’t great at the former, nothing but shorts and tees are amazing at the latter. The vest hits both buckets. It kept my middle warm when we were standing dead, didn’t hinder my movement during active drills, AND was slim enough to shove in my gym bag and not think twice about it when practice ended.
The reason no one talks about that when discussing vests and their place in your wardrobe is simple. Nobody asks if vests are USEFUL. They try and police whether they look good with a certain jacket under it. I get it, we’re talking about style here, not some RATS Review. But I will argue that the reason vests aren’t just another cuff-linked pipe dream that fades in 18 months is because it actually fulfills a need we didn’t know we had. Standing outside working? Jackets cook you. Sitting on the sidelines? Get cold waiting for your work to pick up. Wool long sleeves aren’t cutting it outside anymore, but throw a vest over them and Bingo. It fills that gap of in-between that most people encounter. A parking lot? Sideline? Dog walk that always turns into your pupper sniffing some poor squirrel’s butt for four minutes?
It solves problems.
Granted, yes. As of right now, likely “is” in style based solely on what the models wearing at fall 2021 collections. But I’ll argue the reason it “looks good” to you this fall is the exact same reason it looked good to you last fall, pre-Trend Whisperer twitter. It fills a void that neither a jacket nor a sweater can fill alone. We didn’t need Pinterest to tell us that exists. It just told us it’s brand new.
So if you’re in that store like I was. Weighing your options. Arms raised like someone taking attendance while you contemplate trying something on that all of a sudden EVERY PERSON IN THE MENSWEAR TWITTERSONIVESphere has decided they love.
Try on the damn thing. Jump around in it. Put your arms up. If it works, get it. Trends come and go. A tool that actually works for your lifestyle? I’ll pay full price for that every damn time.
If it doesn’t work? Ain’t no “comeback”, it just never left the feed.
Connor coaches rugby in Bristol and has never quite stopped training. He writes about kit that copes with a proper session and still looks fine on a Saturday, and he won’t recommend anything he hasn’t sweated in first.
