Clothing is associated with both public and private identity, just as it is a basic need and a tool for self-expression. Clothing communicates information about roles and positions in a system and signals belonging.

The titular red sweater is the main piece of clothing in the poem, and it is described in loving detail, beginning with color. Red is eye-catching and symbolically loaded, carrying associations with blood, life, sex, and courage. When the speaker says the sweater “slides down into my body” (Line 1), the associations between body, identity, and garment are strengthened.

The sweater is “soft / lambs wool” (Lines 1-2). It is a natural fabric—a marker of quality. It “fits like a lover, / sleeves snug, thin on the waist” (Lines 6-7). The knit invites touch. The speaker runs his fingers through it (Line 8) and examines “[e]very clean strand of weave” (Line 17). The red sweater is “what everybody / in school is wearing” (Lines 2-3). By wearing it, the speaker can declare he belongs without saying a word.

The luxurious red sweater stands in contrast to the mother’s polyester fast-food uniform, the only other piece of clothing in the poem. Her factory-made, utilitarian garment is engineered to scrub away individual personality.