Finance vests

The casual fleece shell replaces suits in the name of comfort. But it also draws criticism and ridicule.

Stroll through Midtown Manhattan in New York City at noon on any given weekday and it’s easy to spot which men work in finance. They’re not wearing black suits. Briefcases? Nary a one. Ties? Forget it.

Instead, scan for the "finance vest": fleece, sleeveless and zippable, these outer shells (known as body-warmers in the UK) are usually paired with Oxfords and khakis, and are aggressively casual. They’re all over town, they’ve spawned snarky Instagram accounts and they’re the modern-day sartorial signal that tells everyone exactly what industry you work in.

American finance hubs like New York and San Francisco are hotbeds for these vests, which makes sense – tech industry leaders like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs dismantled the male dress code with hoodies and turtlenecks galore. But some argue that the vests are nothing more than a tribalist manifestation of the “bro” culture in these industries or of problematic corporate values – in April, Patagonia announced it would stop making the vests for firms that were “ecologically damaging”.

Nevertheless, amid relaxed dress codes at places like Goldman Sachs, others welcomed the finance vest as the latest comfy step toward athleisure being acceptable dress. (Still, the number of analysts willing to wear one in a meeting with their managing director? Pretty small, we wager.)

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Image credit: Piero Zagami and Michela Nicchiotti.