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At this point, there's no escaping the polo revival—and you wouldn't want to anyway, because the best polo shirts for men make looking good look easy. That's what happens when you're working with the perfect hybrid shirt: a top that's comfy as a T-shirt but made respectable by that (never to be popped) collar.
We could spend hundreds of words cataloging the polo shirt's versatility, but suffice to say that it'll work atop shorts (think deep '70s energy), chinos, or denim; under a blazer; on a casual business lunch, a coffee date, or a yacht. It can—and should—do it all.
While we’ve got love for the classics (see: Lacoste), there are plenty of places in Poloville that promise to bring a little more fun and funkiness to your shirt rotation. From the longstanding genre-definers to the swaggering upstarts, there’s a polo below for every taste and comfort level.
Take Me To: What to Look for in a Polo Shirt | How We Tested
Material: 100% cotton | Fit: Slim | Sizes: XS-4XL | Colors: Varies
Might as well start at the beginning, right? Around a century ago, French tennis player René Lacoste—famously nicknamed “the crocodile”—invented the polo as a way to blend hard-wearing performance with easy-going style. Almost 100 years later, the brand that bears his name still makes one of the best versions of the product category it invented—and its remit extends well beyond the court.
Lacoste’s signature design still features its telltale short button placket, elegant collar, and ribbed sleeves, done up in a now-legendary cotton pique fabric that’s endeared it to prepsters and punks in equal measure. It’s sturdy and soft, beefy but breathable, and a testament to the brand’s sovereignty decades into its reign.
Tested by GQ's Avidan Grossman and Gerald Ortiz
“When I think of the polo shirt,” says GQ senior commerce editor Avidan Grossman, “I think of Lacoste. It’s as simple as that.” These days, Lacoste, the man, might not be remembered for his vicious backhand, but his contributions to the menswear canon remain undisputed. “Don’t sleep on the OG,” Grossman implores. He’s been wearing Lacoste’s genre-defining pique polo on and off for decades, and touts its crisp feel, timeless look, and universally flattering cut. If you need further convincing, Grossman submits one Jeremy Allen White as evidence.
Material: 100% cotton | Fit: Straight | Sizes: S-XXL | Colors: Varies
Rugby shirts and polos are kinda like cauliflower and broccoli: They’re different even though they look similar and belong to the same family. The main difference between the two comes down to fabric and weight. Rugby shirts are noticeably beefier than polos, and thus a little more durable. (We’d be remiss not to mention the contrasting white collar, the former’s most defining feature.) There are plenty of real-deal, meant-for-sports rugby shirts on the market, but if you’re jonesing for an everyday option that’s just a hair softer and a lot better tailored, Ralph Lauren’s should be the beginning and end of your search.
Tested by GQ's Avidan Grossman and Gerald Ortiz
Yes, we understand that it’s confusing for the best rugby shirt to come from a brand called…Polo. Even more confusing? Polo also makes a damn good polo shirt nearly as iconic as Lacoste’s. But Ralph’s rugby secured the crown this time around for its true-to-form design and rugged, modern-day fit. GQ commerce writer Gerald Ortiz swears by the silhouette, which he says is a little less roomy than more authentic fare but still plenty relaxed. “The silhouette is comfortable and roomy, but not in a way that feels like I should be able to bench 300 pounds,” Ortiz notes. “Plus, it’s not too long and pairs perfectly with my baggy pants.”
Material: Varies | Fit: Boxy | Sizes: XS-XXL | Colors: Varies
By The Editors of GQ
Call it the Ripley effect or chalk it up to camp shirt fatigue, but knit polos—especially retro-leaning, stripe-y styles—are everywhere right now. A lot of our favorite versions cost a pretty penny, but riding the new wave of La Dolce Vita-drenched style doesn't have to mean dropping big money. Luckily, Abercrombie, riding a revival wave of its own, dove headfirst into the trend this season, offering up a version of what they dub "sweater polos" for around 60 bucks. “In the past I’ve spent a little too much on Beams Plus’ retro polos,” GQ associate commerce editor Tyler Chin confesses, “but Abercrombie’s ticks all the right boxes—impeccable fit, drool-worthy design, cleavage-bearing collar—for a price that feels right for the 20th century.”
Tested by GQ's Avidan Grossman and Tyler Chin
If variety is the spice of life, Abercrombie clearly likes its spice. The mall brand juggernaut offers its Johnny collar polos in a Crayola’s box-worth of colors and patterns, from airy open knits to textured jacquards to pleated riffs that look eerily similar—and eerily expensive. A&F introduces new variations throughout the season so, in a historic break with tradition, we’re giving its entire catalog of affordable polos the trophy.
Material: Varies | Fit: Relaxed | Sizes: XS-XXL | Colors: Varies
Full-placket polo shirts take up a significant chunk of space in the collective GQ closet. It’s easy to see why: Those extra buttons give the silhouette a retro ‘50s feel—wear one and you might as well be strutting around the pool of a swanky mid-century hotel to the dulcet rhythm of bossa nova. Crucially, the placket also gives you more styling options than a normal pullover would. (Layers!) And we’re not sure any brand owns the category more authoritatively than Todd Snyder.
By The Editors of GQ
Tested by GQ's Avidan Grossman and Gerald Ortiz
Like the Abercrombie polos above, Todd Snyder’s full-placket joints come in a rainbow of colors and—if you’ll indulge the mixed metaphor—a sea of different fabrics, each one with its own distinct vibe. The through-line across them is simple: fit and quality. “Todd’s polos are undeniably good,” Ortiz says. “They’re soft, luxurious, and fit impeccably.” Ortiz especially digs the breadth of Snyder’s assortment: “The only downside is that it’s difficult to choose just one.”
Material: 55% Silk, 45% Cotton | Fit: Slim | Sizes: XS-XXL | Colors: Varies
Every category of clothing has its platonic no-budget version. Said version usually comes from a brand with serious pedigree in the space, like, say, a multigenerational factory that’s honed and mastered its craft over decades. Its materials should be finer, its construction more sound, it should be immediately obvious that it’s a better product in every way. For polos, that version comes straight from John Smedley.
Tested by GQ's Avidan Grossman and Tyler Chin
By The Editors of GQ
Smedley’s cotton-silk knit polo is a house specialty, largely thanks to its just-right fit and luxe handfeel. “There’s something inherently sexy about wearing a shirt with a bit of silk in it,” Chin says, noting that the ratio of silk to cotton makes the polo soft but not overly precious—and consistently flattering. The last time he wore it, Chin quips, “a friend of mine said I looked like The Rock.” As you might expect, price is the main prohibitor here. So until all of us can arm our dressers with a fleet of Smedley polos, it’ll remain a grail worth aspiring to—and lusting over—every time the paycheck hits.
Material: 100% Extra fine merino wool | Fit: Oversized | Sizes: XS-XXL | Colors: Black/brown
Polo shirts, as we’ve noted before, have evolved. So if you’re trying to expand your polo palate, start with a taste of Connor McKnight’s Tile Rugby, which answers the question “what would my hardiest polo feel like if it was cut from a weighted blanket?” It’s chunky, enveloping, and oh-so soft—the only thing we want to wear when we’re having a rough day. Coupled with thick-gauge yarns that give it a ton of texture and an oversized fit that imbues it with capital-F Fashion energy, it’s one of the more head-turning riffs on the market, proof that the humble polo has come a long way from its preppy origins—and looks all the better for it.
Tested by GQ's Avidan Grossman
Connor McKnight is a Bode alum, Grossman points out, and he understands the importance of identifying—and subsequently perfecting—a hero product uniquely his own. In a few short years, the Brooklyn-based designer’s rugby shirt has become exactly that, a calling card of sorts among dialed-in menswear buffs. Every season, McKnight releases a few different versions of his signature knit, each slightly boxy, expertly cropped, and rendered in blanket-soft merino wool. The result is an “elegant, easy-going riff on an American classic”, Grossman says—and a shoe-in for “our inaugural All-Stars class.”
There’s a lot to love about Our Legacy’s cardigan-like polo: the warm colorway and argyle pattern, the contrasting collar and sleeves, the button-front placket. But the coolest part—quite literally—is that it’s made entirely of hemp, a nubby, breathable, superhero of a fabric that means you can wear this all the way through summer.
Buck Mason’s Avalon polo skillfully merges the softness and breathability of a cotton tee with the elegance and drape of a cashmere sweater, thanks to its light gauge knit. The result is a polo shirt that feels as light as an everyday T-shirt but as dressy as a fancified knit, and just at home with a suit or baggy jeans.
Big-box polo shirts tend to have a sort of flat look, but Banana Republic’s Point Sur version boasts more depth than a Meryl Streep performance. That’s largely thanks to its nubby, mesh-like knit fabric, which imbues it with a welcome dose of textural intrigue without resorting to wild colors or patterns.
Think of Beams Plus as Japan’s answer to J.Crew—with way sicker polo shirts. (Sorry, J.Crew, we love you, too.) Beams specializes in the type of retro polos befitting style legends like Miles Davis; the patterns and colorways are as vibrant as his funkier records, the silhouettes are as elegant and classic as A Kind of Blue. This version comes pre-loaded with plenty of swagger, but the half-zip detail gives it an edge over the competition.
Look, we’re not saying that Challengers single-handedly made tennis cool again, but it certainly made it sexy. And what better way to channel some of that sex appeal than with a polo from Jonathan Anderson, the wunderkind designer who outfitted the cast? You don’t have to drop a few hundred bucks on his namesake label to secure your fix: snag one of his collaborative Uniqlo joints and you can channel your inner racquet-swinging heartthrob for just thirty bucks.
Rugby shirts have the unfortunate tendency of making you look like a first-year at Hogwarts. So if you dig the beefier fabric and overall silhouette, but not the brash stripes and collegiate colorways, J.Crew’s version is a phenomenal option. It retains the defining characteristics of the genre—hefty jersey, contrast collar—but plays down the schoolboy vibe just a tad.
The polo’s origins might be rooted in tennis, but over the decades, its purview has expanded to any number of athletes and sideline shot-callers, court, arena, or stadium be damned. That being said: Golf is definitely the shirt’s second favorite sport. And thanks to riffs like this one—a collaborative effort between the next-gen golf nerds at Malbon and New Balance—the sport has never looked cooler (and maybe even a little gorp-y).
You think you know a polo shirt, but then Wales Bonner shows up to remind you that it can get even cooler. Her rendition blends football (the Kylian Mbappé kind), ‘70s swagger, and the designer’s Caribbean heritage for something that’s somehow immediately classic and magnetically fresh.
For a brand that’s got well-dressed normals in a chokehold, Corridor actually infuses a fair amount of lowkey freaky pieces in every collection. Case in point, this short-sleeve full-placket polo. It’s knit in such a way that gives the body a two-toned moire sort of effect. It’s the perfect way to subvert the classic polo while Trojan-horsing some head-turning details into it.
Washed out, but not washed up! Alex Mill's pitch perfect polo has a ton of slubby texture and a vintage garment wash that gives it that been-around-the-block feel.
In the decades since Monsieur Lacoste birthed the category, the polo shirt has evolved far beyond the croc’s wildest imagination. These days, the market is teeming with your requisite mesh golf polos and pique tennis polos, but it also includes scuzzy polo cardigans, slinky zip-up polos, and airy linen polos well-suited to an Amalfi getaway. Which, exactly, are worth your time?
By The Editors of GQ
To answer that question, we assessed the category holistically, with an eye on design, quality, and of course, dashing good looks. If polos used to be the sole preserve of casual Fridays, they’re now a mainstay of everyday life—in offices, fairways, and tragically cool art galleries alike. So we scoured the market for polos that could hang in each of those venues and situations (or all of ‘em, when possible), to ID the shirts that would meet the most people’s needs.
Each winning pick was carefully selected for its excellence in its respective category. We looked to the genre-defining options and the versions that truly broke new ground—but we also assessed the polos that may not have invented a new category, but found a way to do it better than their predecessors.
To start, we thought long and hard about the many polo shirts we’ve known and loved across our decades of polo-wearing experience. We took stock of the personal favorites that will always be in our closets and the countless options we’ve encountered in stores and showrooms—the ones we wished we had in our closets. We narrowed down the list to a lucky handful to be summoned to our high-tech testing facilities in the GQ office.
Then we got to work. We called on our best, brightest, and most stylish colleagues to actually wear the damn things. Our testers ranged from hardcore vintage nerds and self-proclaimed denimheads to tailoring hounds and monastic quiet luxury fiends. Some of them had never owned a polo shirt before; others owned handfuls. Over several weeks, our intrepid testers evaluated their polos across style, fit, quality, and overall value, offering their notes to the GQ Recommends braintrust to be recorded for posterity.
Based on those evaluations, we ran the numbers, collated the anecdotal evidence, and emerged with a list of what we believe to be the absolute best polo shirts right now, from the tried-and-true stalwarts to the modern disruptors, the affordable go-tos to the wildly expensive (but wildly worth-it) designer riffs. Whatever your preferences, whatever your style, there's bound to be a superlative version on this list for you. (Read more about GQ's testing process here.)
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By Gerald Ortiz and Michella Ore
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