More than a zipper: Young Black men embrace the ‘quarter-zip movement‘

Move over, tech bros: Swaths of younger Black men are reclaiming the preppy pullover sweater in a trend dubbed the “quarter-zip movement.” While some praise the young men for abandoning their Nike Tech sweatsuits for more professional attire, critics say the trend reeks of respectability politics and exposes racial biases in fashion, particularly for young men of color.

How did the movement start?

The trend kicked off after a TikTok video of two young Black men “bespectacled and sporting navy blue quarter-zip pullovers” with iced matcha in hand went viral. “We don’t do Nike Tech, we don’t do coffee,” said Jason Gyamfi, one of the men in the video, proclaiming it’s “straight quarter-zips and matchas around here.”

As Gen Z matures and begins to “lean into business casual,” the “often ribbed, always square quarter-zip sweater seems to be their garment of choice,” said The New York Times. The “shift from the Nike Tech fleece sweatsuit” to the classic quarter-zip “signifies an aesthetic pivot toward professional expectations.” More than just a fashion statement, the trend has become a “cultural moment” alongside the current revival of Black dandyism, said the Chicago Sun Times.

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The movement has inspired multiple large-scale meetups, where young men gather while wearing the versatile pullover. The movement is “bigger than just about what you’re wearing,” Corey Dooley Johnson, who helped organize the Chicago meetup, said to the Chicago Sun Times. It is about “how you’re living” and “community service and brotherhood.” What we want to do is “bring that holistic community feeling back.”

The movement also signals a cultural shift, particularly among young Black men who have popularized it. Many associated Nike Techs with Black culture and, unfortunately, with corresponding negative stereotypes. The movement is fueled by a younger generation trying to leave those associations behind, TikToker Tamu Atemie said to Newsweek. Despite their comfortable fit, Nike techs have earned a “bad reputation.” There have been instances when “individuals are caught doing crimes,” such as stealing and burglary. “What are they wearing? A Nike tech.”

Is it about conforming, or does it symbolize more?

All movements are to “some degree, political,” said GQ. This one, “dressed as a finance bro, arrives smack dab in the middle of the purported crisis of masculinity.” Loneliness, “directionlessness, perceived powerlessness, physical and mental health issues” and a “decline in college enrollment rates” are all “pieces of that puzzle.” However, due to the “current social climate,” it is tempting to “not to see this viral trend as anything other than cookie-cutter conservatism propped up as elegance.” Still, “outright dismissing it feels rather cynical.”

Online, critics have dismissed the trend as a “form of respectability politics,” claiming participants are “making themselves more acceptable for white, mainstream society,” said the Chicago Sun Times. But the “quarter-zip enthusiasts push back on that critique,” saying their intention is to “be fashionable, build self-confidence, foster community and show Black men doing positive things while having fun.” Respectability politics often “puts the burden on marginalized communities instead of addressing prejudices.”

“I think respectability politics is only half the story,” Chicago Fashion Coalition President Marquan Jones said to the Chicago Sun Times. How you are dressed is “how you are addressed,” but that should “never determine the dignity that you’re owed.” No outfit has “ever protected a Black man from racism.”

For all his “talk of personal reinvention,” Gyamfi said to the Times, it would be “unwise to read too much into any pivot.” To him, there is not necessarily a difference between “wearing a Nike Tech or a quarter-zip” because “clothes don’t make the man, the man makes the clothes.”