Journal ·
The best cashmere sweater under $160 right now
Half off a pure Mongolian cashmere turtleneck, plus three cheaper ways in and one small one.
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Buy the GOBI Cashmere men's turtleneck in charcoal. It's $159.50, down from $319, it's 100% Mongolian cashmere, and every size from S to XXL is still in stock. GOBI is a Mongolian label working with Mongolian fiber, and at half price this is the best pure cashmere sweater we can find under $160 this week.
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Why this one
Cashmere quality comes down to the fiber. The good stuff is long and fine, combed from goats that live through hard winters, and the Mongolian steppe is about as hard as winters get. Long fibers pill less and soften with wear instead of thinning out. Short fibers are how a cheap cashmere sweater looks tired by February.
The details on this one are plain and right. Full rib at the hem and the cuffs, so it grips at the wrist and doesn't balloon at the waist when you tuck a hand in a pocket. Charcoal is the easy color: it goes under a navy blazer, with grey flannels, with dark denim, and with brown shoes or black.
A turtleneck under a jacket also does the job of a shirt and tie on nights you don't want either. It should sit close at the fold of the neck. If yours slumps there, it's too big. GOBI publishes a size chart; lay a sweater you already like flat, measure across the chest, and compare before you order.
One thing to expect: new cashmere sheds and pills a little in the first weeks, mostly under the arms and where a bag strap rubs. That's loose fiber working its way out, not a defect. A cashmere comb takes it off in a minute.
Same sweater, undyed
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GOBI also makes the turtleneck in natural taupe, the color the goat grew, at the same $159.50, down from $319. Undyed fiber skips the dye bath, which is easier on it, and the warm grey-brown looks good with denim, olive and brown suede in a way charcoal doesn't. The catch: medium is gone. S, L, XL and XXL are left. If you're a medium, don't size around it; buy the charcoal.
If $159.50 is too much
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The Todd Snyder cotton-cashmere crewneck is $94, down from $228. Read the label before you get excited: 95% cotton, 5% cashmere. This is a cotton sweater with a softer hand, not a cashmere sweater at a cotton price, and it won't keep you as warm. What it does well is breathe. In a heated office, or in October when it's 60 degrees at lunch, it's the more comfortable sweater. Navy over a white button-down with the collar out is about as easy as getting dressed gets. Sizes run XS through XXL, except XL.
The cheapest way in
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Naadam's textured quarter zip is $68.88, down from $168, in a cotton, silk and cashmere blend knit from deadstock yarn, meaning yarn left over at the mill and put to use instead of thrown out. Silk in a knit adds a little sheen and drape. Black, textured, a zip at the neck: it's a weekend sweater over a T-shirt, and I'd keep it out of meetings. It's also only in XS, S and M. Large and up, skip ahead.
The small buy, and why I'd pass
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GOBI's CashmeReborn snood is $111.30, down from $159, knit from recycled cashmere offcuts. A snood is a closed loop you pull over your head; no ends to knot, nothing flapping in the wind. It's a good idea and a fair thing to do with offcuts. Recycled cashmere is usually shredded and respun, which shortens the fiber, so expect a slightly drier feel than new cashmere.
Here's the problem. At 30% off it's the smallest cut on this page, and it costs about 70% of what the turtleneck does. A turtleneck already covers your neck. If you're buying one thing, buy the sweater.
How to make it last
Fold cashmere. Never hang it; the weight pulls the shoulders out of shape. Give it a day off between wears so the fibers recover. Wash it less than you think, by hand in cool water with a wool wash, or on the gentlest cycle the label allows, then press the water out in a towel and dry it flat. Put it away clean. Moth larvae eat wool and go first for sweaters carrying sweat and food traces, so a clean sweater in a drawer with cedar is a much harder target.
Do that and a good cashmere sweater gets better for years. Skip it and you'll be shopping this sale again next fall.
The call
Charcoal GOBI turtleneck at $159.50 if you want real cashmere and the warmth that comes with it. Todd Snyder's navy crew at $94 if you run warm or want something you can wear to the office twice a week without thinking about it. Taupe if you're anything but a medium and like brown more than grey.
Want the crewneck inside a full outfit? It's one of five pieces in our work wardrobe for under $500. And a turtleneck isn't the only way to skip a dress shirt and tie: see Italian silk ties under $135, and how to wear one for the knit tie that works under a sweater. Everything else on markdown is in this week's steals, biggest cuts first.