Men's Piqué Polo

Piqué, pronounced pee-KAY, is a knit with a raised waffle or birdseye texture instead of a flat face. That texture separates this polo from a plain jersey one, and you can read it from arm's length as a fine grid of dots.

Raising the surface into ridges does two useful things. Air moves through the channels between them, so the shirt breathes better than a smooth knit of the same weight, and the broken surface scatters light, which hides sweat marks and creases. Piqué also runs heavier, often 180 to 220 grams per square meter. That weight is what lets the collar and the placket, the buttoned strip at the throat, hold their shape after fifty washes.

A performance polo in polyester dries faster and stretches further, but it clings when wet and keeps odor because synthetic fiber traps body oils. A smooth jersey polo drapes softer and looks dressier, at the cost of showing every wrinkle. Next to a crew neck tee, the collar and the two or three button placket lift this a full step in formality. This is the gap between a shirt you wear to the office and one you wear to mow the lawn.

Golf, tennis, warm-weather offices and summer events that ask for smart casual all suit it. Broad shoulders and thicker necks read better here than in a tee, because the collar breaks up the expanse of fabric. Sit it out if you sweat heavily in humid heat, since cotton piqué soaks up water and stays heavy and dark for hours.

Look at how the collar is made. A knitted collar leaves the machine as a finished piece with a ribbed edge and stays flat for years. A collar cut from body fabric and hemmed curls at the points within a few washes. Side vents, the short slits at each side of the hem, let the shirt hang straight untucked. Store it folded rather than hung, because a hanger slowly pulls the shoulders of a heavy knit out of shape.