A jersey is an item of knitted clothing, traditionally in wool or cotton, with sleeves, worn as a pulley, as it does not open at the front, unlike a cardigan. It is usually close-fitting and machine knitted in contrast to a Guernsey that is more often hand knit with a thicker yarn. The word is usually used interchangeably with sweater.The shirts now commonly worn by sports teams as part of the team uniform are also referred to as jerseys, although they bear little resemblance to the original hand-kitted woolen garments.