Massimo Alba Liam Sweater

The half zip is the only sweater neck that adjusts. A crewneck is one temperature and a rollneck is another, and both of them are fixed the moment you put them on. A half zip is three garments: closed to the throat it is a high neck, opened halfway it is a soft stand collar, opened fully it is an open collar with a shirt showing through. That is a genuinely useful range for a climate that swings twenty degrees between four in the afternoon and eight in the evening, which is most of the year here.

It is also the neck most often executed badly, because a zip is a rigid element set into an elastic fabric and the two do not naturally agree. Done poorly the knit ripples along the tape, or the zip pulls the placket out of line, or the hardware sits against the throat. Done properly the placket lies flat whether the zip is open or closed, which is a matter of how the knit is finished around the tape rather than of the zip itself.

In pure cashmere it becomes a serious garment you can stay comfortable in all day, which is a narrower category than it ought to be. Cashmere is warm at a weight that does not feel like weight, and blue is the version that reads as clothing rather than as a piece of technical kit.

The half zip is the easiest kind of sweater to live in, and most of the good ones are made in merino because cashmere plus a zip is an awkward combination to build. This is the one that gets it right, and that is the entire reason it is in the shop.

Massimo Alba's knitwear is where the house's origins are most directly visible, and the Liam is the piece of it where the fibre is doing the most and the design is doing the least.

One hundred percent cashmere, made in Italy. Half-zip closure, regular fit. Colour: Blue.

Regular fit, meaning it skims rather than clings, which is what cashmere wants; a tight cashmere sweater pills at the friction points and loses its shape. It layers under a jacket comfortably at this gauge and over a shirt without crowding the collar. Cashmere relaxes across a day of wear and recovers when it rests, so a sweater that feels precise in the morning and generous by evening is behaving normally.

Under the Bali jacket in Caffe or the Florida in navy. Over the Genova in Laguna with the collar out. With the Ionio2 in Caffe for the most complete version of what this house does.

Fold it, never hang it, and air it between wearings. Hand wash cool with a wool detergent when it genuinely needs it, dry flat, and reshape while damp. Close the zip before washing, because an open zip will catch the knit. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

The Sport Crew Neck Sweater is the cashmere jacquard, the Larry Crewneck Sweater is the extrafine virgin wool, and the Persico Cardigan is wool, alpaca, mohair, and silk. The Bali Jacket is cashmere cut as outerwear, and the Florida Jacket is the shirt jacket. Everything we carry from Massimo Alba is listed together.