How Young Black men are making the quarter-zip cool

The quarter-zip sweater, long the unofficial uniform of suburban dads, middle managers and golf-course bros, has found an unlikely new champion: young Black men.

Thanks to TikTok, what started as a playful video that mocked knits zipped to the chin with a fresh matcha latte in hand, has quickly taken on the shape of a cultural movement.

It began innocently enough about three weeks ago, when 21-year-old Jason Gyamfi, wearing a navy-blue sweater, boldly announced that he had abandoned his trusty Nike Tech sweatsuits in favor of the quarter-zip.

“I don’t do that Nike Tech stuff that y’all little boys do,” he said on the viral post. “I’m elegant, I’m classy, feel me? You can take me somewhere. I look presentable.”

As with the unpredictability and volatility of social media, the post exploded. It has garnered more than 3.5 million views and spawned a legion of imitators.

From college campuses to playgrounds to shopping malls, young Black (and Hispanic) men across the country have posted videos declaring their switch to the quarter-zip.

T-Pain, looking like a high school music teacher in a dark blue sweater, even got involved in the fun, posting on Instagram: “401(k) and a quarter zip.”

To many, the quarter-zip has long been seen as a harmless sweater that can be casual or dressy.

It is a collared pullover that zips partway down the chest. Most men wear it over a button-down, sometimes with a tie. Khakis or a nice pair of jeans are the go-to pants, along with loafers.

They are viewed as clean and preppy, representing a phase of maturity most often associated with older white men as a symbol of middle-class conformity and adulthood.

On the flip side, Nike Techs — the flowing and bold athletic fleece sets — are closely tied to street culture, basketball, youth fashion and Blackness.

Financially, the “upgrade” from the $100 Nike Techs to a $25 quarter-zip also makes practical sense.

Which is why Gyamfi told The New York Times, “I really got tired of wearing the Nike Tech. After a certain point, when that frontal lobe starts developing, you’re like, ‘Why am I still wearing it?’”

For some, the appeal of the quarter-zip isn’t new at all.

Khalfani A. Lawson, the assistant director of international student and scholar services at Georgia State University, remembers picking them up in 2011 when he scored a internship doing an archival project at the King Center.

“I was looking to make a great first impression,” Lawson said, adding that he purchased two sweaters from J. Crew. “They allowed me to exude confidence, make a great first impression, and were two staples of my wardrobe at the time that I’ll always remember.”

He laughed about the fact that he wishes he still had those originals, even though he has replaced them twice over.

“I’m in absolute love with this trend,” Lawson said, adding that few groups wear it better than Black male college administrators, who he said have the quarter-zip “game on lock.”

Khalfani A. Lawson, the assistant director of international student and scholar services at Georgia State University, said Black male college administrators have long embraced the quarter zip look. (Courtesy of Khalfani A. Lawson)

“If trends are what these babies need to change how they present themselves and the things they engage in then more of this please,” said Ashlee Muhammad, a style consultant and founder of BeEyeConic frames. “I love what the quarter zip trend represents and how it makes our beautiful boys look!”

Celebrity stylist Bryan Joel called the trend “fun,” but said it might just be history repeating itself.

He recalled past Atlanta trends where Black men dressed preppy while rocking Ralph Lauren and boat shoes.

He has also noticed, while shopping, that stores are suddenly displaying quarter-zips more prominently.

“This is probably a quick era of the preppy look,” Joel said. “You can’t forecast something like this. It gets trendy and it kind of pops.”

But what started out as a sly inside joke about a declaration of manhood has also evolved into a cultural discussion about how Black men should present themselves, especially in today’s political, cultural and financial climate.

Call it the “politics of respectability,” a term coined by Harvard University scholar Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham in her 1993 book “Righteous Discontent: The Women’s Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880—1920.”

According to Higginbotham, respectability “emphasizes reform of individual behavior and attitudes both as a goal in itself and as a strategy for the reform of the entire structural system of American race relations.”

That is why civil rights activists, protesters and Freedom Riders wore suits and ties to marches, even when they knew they faced physical danger, to present themselves as respectable.

A wall of police mug shots of students arrested during a Freedom Ride (including future Congressman John Lewis, D-Ga.) show that most the men were wearing suits and ties. The Freedom Rider exhibit is part of the civil rights gallery at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. (David Tulis for the AJC)

Respectability politics is also the process by which privileged members of marginalized groups align themselves with the social norms of dominant groups to advance their own position.