It not only packs personality-available in every conceivable color, fabric, size, and print-it also has gone mainstream. Today, the humble hooded sweatshirt ain't all that, well, humble. The hoodie accrued a rep, becoming an integral part of their MO. By the ’70s and ’80s, the style was adopted by counterculture groups, from hip-hop artists to punk rockers to skaters. It gained steam with the kids, and the hoodie took on some personality. At the same time, the brand started reaching out to high schools across America, offering merch for sports teams. In the 1930s, Champion, then known as Knickerbocker Knitting Company, began producing sweatshirts in a thicker material with hoods to protect athletes and men in the workforce who had to cope with chilly environments.
Speaking of colors, it comes in a whopping 27 (some of which sell for as low as $9).Before it took over the runways of the world, the modern iteration of the hoodie came from relatively humble beginnings. The Gildan hoodie was also a hit with my friend Ana’s high-school-age son (and his friends) after I told him that one of the neon colors, in a size or two up, would help him look a little more like Justin Bieber. (Needless to say, he didn’t disregard it after that.) My DIY friend isn’t the only person I’ve recommended it to. students who asked him where he got it while he was having lunch near the campus. It’s one of those basic pieces that can often be mistaken for higher fashion, as evidenced by my friend’s experience: His hoodie, worn-in and paint-splattered post barn restoration, got the attention of no less than three F.I.T. While this was a difficult balance to strike for him, it was basically a layup for me I pointed him in the direction of Gildan’s heavy hoodie, a tried-and-trusted workwear favorite. One winter past, a friend of a friend asked me for thoughts on a hoodie warm enough to wear while fixing a decrepit farmhouse he had bought (we’re talking snakes-inside-the-walls-and-no-utilities decrepit) but cheap enough to disregard when the work was done. The hoodie I recommend for country-club casual
And the best ones, like my ten favorite hoodies below, are not only stylish, subtle, and comfortable but are wearable most any time of year. Regardless of the state of the world, a great hoodie is always essential. Middle-aged friends holed up in escape-plan Airbnbs have asked for the comfiest one they won’t mind spilling coffee on the kids of those middle-aged friends have asked for styles that look like something Justin Bieber or Jacob Keller would wear friends of friends have slid into my DMs to ask for hoodies that can go from a day of Zoom calls to a night of bingeing Netflix. This year spent largely at home has in fact led to more requests for certain items, like hoodies. Even today, with most people still cooped up in their homes, the requests for long-sleeved button-downs or reasonably priced loafers or gothninja basics have not let up. So when friends began turning to me for advice on what clothes to buy, it didn’t really surprise me. You know that person you see in a store (remember stores?) buried beneath an unruly pile of jackets, shirts, and pants as they zigzag to a fitting room? The person running the hem of a linen-silk button-down against the inside of their wrist over and over again? The person whose browser is cluttered with tabs to various retailers’ websites so he can constantly refresh them to ensure he gets the last medium at 30 percent off? I’m that person. As an adult, I get - or, until recently, got - my measurements taken monthly so I can find off-the-rack clothes with a perfect fit. As a tween mall rat in the early aughts, for instance, I obsessively searched for ski pants with the perfect boot cut (Old Navy, in Cheetos orange, of course).