Best Designer Rugby Shirt: Guest in Residence Striped Cashmere Polo Shirt
Gigi Hadid’s Guest in Residence bills its pieces as “future heirlooms”—a nod to the old cashmere sweaters her family passed down to her. Must be nice! For the rest of us without a family stash of fine knitwear, there’s the brand’s cashmere polo: a prep staple recast in ridiculously soft, super fine cashmere, polished enough for dinner but cozy enough for the cool fall days ahead. Lock in hard enough this fall, and maybe you’ll be passing it down in twenty years—not because it’s worn out, but because it still looks just that good.
Best Preppy Rugby Shirt: The Polo Ralph Lauren Iconic Rugby Shirt
Polo Ralph Lauren
Iconic Rugby Shirt
Pros
- Classic, timeless rugby aesthetic with iconic (yet subtle) Polo branding
- Durable cotton jersey built for both style and utility
Cons
- Classic fit may feel long or boxy on some body types
When Ralph Lauren calls its rugby shirt “iconic”, they’re not playing. Yes, J.Press and other Ivy League shops brought the look off the pitch, and J.Crew brought it to the mall, but it could be argued that Ralph Lauren brought it to the world. The Rugby is a piece the brand has had in its collections since the start. (In fact “Rugby” went on to be the name of Mr. Lauren’s dog.) And while there’s been plenty of experimentation at HQ over the years, this traditional take has rightly won out. Traditional stripes, a white point collar, rubber buttons, soft cotton… Siri, play “Oxford Comma.”
Best Rugby Shirt for Minimalists: Reigning Champ Midweight Terry Rugby
Reigning Champ
Midweight Terry Rugby
Pros
- A modern update to the classic polo shirt somewhere between a rugby and a polo
- Hefty French terry fabric that offers both structure and softness.
- High-end construction with flatlock seams, side-slit hems and metal snaps.
Cons
- If you want that classic rugby look this isn’t the pullover for you
This collared sweatshirt is halfway between the rugby and its shirting cousin, the polo. The pointed collar is there, as are the raglan sleeves and slide slit hem, but Reigning Champ has evolved it into an almost upscale street-level look, swapping rubber buttons for metal snaps and a soft, midweight terry fabric that’s a little more luxe than your typical thick cotton twill. Still, this is all backed by Reigning Champ’s usual top-notch construction, which remains so sturdy you might just wish somebody would tackle you.
More Rugby Shirts We Love
How to Style a Rugby Shirt
Rugby shirts are Swiss-army-knife versatile: you can wear one on its own with jeans or chinos, or sub it into just about any situation you’d typically wear a V-neck sweater with (over a tee or under a blazer) to give your look a little extra laid-back ruggedness. In the right setting, the rugby shirt gives off some serious back-roads, rope-towing, van-driving dirtbag energy, too: It wasn’t that long ago that pioneering outdoor apparel designers like Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard were rocking cotton rugby shirts as they climbed El Capitan.
How We Test and Review Products
Style is subjective, we know—that’s the fun of it. But we’re serious about helping our audience get dressed. Whether it’s the best white sneakers, the flyest affordable suits, or the need-to-know menswear drops of the week, GQ Recommends’ perspective is built on years of hands-on experience, an insider awareness of what’s in and what’s next, and a mission to find the best version of everything out there, at every price point.
Our staffers aren’t able to try on every single piece of clothing you read about on GQ.com (fashion moves fast these days), but we have an intimate knowledge of each brand’s strengths and know the hallmarks of quality clothing—from materials and sourcing, to craftsmanship, to sustainability efforts that aren’t just greenwashing. GQ Recommends heavily emphasizes our own editorial experience with those brands, how they make their clothes, and how those clothes have been reviewed by customers. Bottom line: GQ wouldn’t tell you to wear it if we wouldn’t.
How We Make These Picks
We make every effort to cast as wide of a net as possible, with an eye on identifying the best options across three key categories: quality, fit, and price.
To kick off the process, we enlist the GQ Recommends braintrust to vote on our contenders. Some of the folks involved have worked in retail, slinging clothes to the masses; others have toiled for small-batch menswear labels; all spend way too much time thinking about what hangs in their closets.