I tried a $385 sweater from Gigi Hadid’s luxury cashmere brand — it’s beautifully soft, even if it’s overpriced

Gigi Hadid, the cashmere blond supermodel, has both an inherent sense of style and business connections within the luxury fashion conglomerate. The easy thing would have been skincare or candles. Instead, she created Guest In Residence with the help of stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson and Sijeo Kim, formerly of Theory and The Row. Its luxury cashmere sweaters are what the brand calls “future heirlooms.”

This fall’s collection includes mostly genderless, boxy designs made from vibrantly colored, finely knit cashmere. The styling reminds me of what a Nickelodeon character might wear to a skatepark (in a good way! Very Y2K.). I chose an oversized crewneck in a shade called “Matcha” (now sold out), which is the exact shade of Brat green I hoped it would be.

The cashmere itself is extremely soft and smooth. Running my hand over it, there’s zero coarseness or itchiness — it’s just a fluffy, inviting fabric. The knit is 14 gauge, while most cashmere sweaters are 7 to 12 gauge. A lower gauge is easier to make, but a higher gauge is silkier, finer, closer-knit, and slower to pill.

The Oversized Crewneck costs $385, which is definitely steep for any single article of clothing. I’d expect the stitching on its interior seams to be immaculate for this price, but it isn’t. There’s some frayed yarn that’s liable to become more frayed the more I wear it.

That said, it has withstood my first wash-and-dry test. It’s still the same shape and feels smooth and relatively pill-free. The rolled hems on the sleeves and neckline are intact because I made sure they weren’t laying flat as the sweater air-dried.

I’m 5-foot-9 and wear a size Small top, but I went up to a Medium because I wanted a more oversized fit. The extremely dropped shoulders give it a more masculine edge, but I think a size Small would’ve been just as slouchy.

According to a company spokesperson, the brand sources its Grade-A cashmere from a farm in Inner Mongolia. Otherwise, the site doesn’t provide information on its origin. I’ve found Good On You’s rating system to be a consistent way to monitor brands with a lack of transparency on the subject, Guest In Residence is not one of its high-ranking brands.

The bottom line

I have to dock points for construction because this sweater has less-than-perfect stitching on the inner seams, and at $385, it ought to be flawless. Still, I love the super soft handfeel of this slouchy sweater, and from my experience with testing this luxury knit, I’m willing to bet that Guest In Residence bid high on premium-grade cashmere to create it. It barely pills, even after a lot of regular wear, and it’s both lightweight and cozy. I’ll be wearing this chartreuse sweater well into “brautumn.”