I know a lot about hoodies. I may, in fact, have a problem. But let’s turn that into your gain, as I’m here to discuss some of the top hoodies I know – what makes them great, and their short comings.
Do be aware a bunch of these are pricier than anyone, me included, wants to pay for a hoodie. I wait and look for sales. Patience is rewarded here. You can generally find a lot of the hoodies listed here for between 30 and 50% off if you wait and keep an eye open.
Enough prattle, off we go!
Gildan Adult Fleece Zip Hooded Sweatshirt, Style G18600
Right after I talk about prices I end up starting with the cheapest of the bunch. The Gildan full-zip hoodie is the best, simple, hoodie you can buy for the money (running about 20-odd bucks on Amazon). You can’t buy directly from the company except as wholesale, sadly. But they are super common and a ton of bands and other merch-makers use them as a solid base for a designed hoodie.
I find them to be a good fit, with staying true to size working out well, unless you want them to be comfortably baggy, then a size up does the trick. They’re mid-range for warmth which is lovely, not getting too hot or cold for most temperatures.
They hold up well, too, nice and sturdy stuff these.
Also they come in an insane selection of colors, which is fantastic. Grab some here.
Champion Middleweight Overdye T-Shirt Hoodie, Waves C Logo
Champion is gonna come up a few times on this list but I wanted to start with the lightest of these. This is basically a long sleeve t-shirt with a hood. That isn’t bad. In fact it is perfect for when you want just a tiny bit more layer. These are really solid for their specific use, but the use is, I admit, narrow.
An all-around general use hoodie this is not.
On the other hand, when the weather is right for it, this becomes an incredible hoodie to have in your arsenal. And yes, my hoodies are large enough in number to count as an arsenal. What of it? Ahem. Anyway, grab them here.
Champion Colorblock Classic Fleece Cargo Hoodie
Staying with Champion a moment we have one of my fave recent purchases, this fun colorblock hoodie. I like the pink/black/blue version but there is a white/red/black one as well.
A bunch of colorblock hoodies are kind, honestly, boring. Like one color body and a different color for the sleeves maybe. We can do better, and here we have it done much better. The contrasting sleeves, pocket, chest, and hood just make for something that’s fun, to me.
Also one sleeve has a pocket. Why? Who can say. It’s just there. Don’t question the extra pocket. Instead, I think, wonder why all hoodies do not have a random pocket on a sleeve.
I will say, my biggest problem with this hoodie, which is on the slightly heavier side for weight, and so sometimes warmer than you might want, is that the elastic on the sleeves is almost too tight, making it close to impossible to pull the sleeves up more than a ¼ of the way up my forearm. As someone who frequently pushes sleeves up to their elbow, this is frustrating. But that’s me.
These are expensive, running 70 bucks retail, but again sales do happen and I’ve seen it at around 50% off in the past. So go find them here, and keep an eye open for sales.
Gap Vintage Soft Full-Zip Hoodie
The Gap Vintage Soft hoodie line is great, but there are differences between the full zip and … not zip? (I dunno full zip are called that and non-zip are called just hoodies so…yeah) The full zip hoodies are on the lighter side of the weight scale.
They also come in fewer colors (I got some really nice pastels that they don’t seem to offer anymore, so maybe they roll them out seasonally?) none of which are really great. They’re not bad, they’re just what I think of as generic standard hoodie colors – a bright blue, a navy, black, grey, green, maroon – you know the drill.
Also they tend to run a bit large. I get an XL so they’re roomy but these feel like an XXL compared to other XL hoodies, even ones from the same company.
They run around 60 bucks, but Gap always had stackable on-site coupons so realistically expect to pay half that. Even then I would say – while the “soft” part of the name is true, you may be better off getting a Gildan hoodie in a more fun color. Maybe. But if you like these you can grab them here.
Gap Vintage Soft Hoodie
The pullover, non-zip version of the above not only comes in more colors it is also a tiny bit thicker. Oh, also it is softer. And sized better.
How Gap messed this up when they just added a zipper I could not tell you. And keep in mind until recently I was someone who shunned hoodies without a full zipper.
This is one of the hoodies that has no zipper at all that helped change my mind. It really is just comfy as hell to wear. And the colors are good. The mustard/gold is a go-to favorite of mine.
They run the same price as the full zip do, and the same sale caveats apply, so you can grab these way cheaper than you might think. If you want to, you’d grab them here.
Sportique Heywood Zip Up Hoodie
They don’t come in exciting colors. They’re pricey (70 bucks) and don’t go on any decent sale often (but it does happen so keep an eye out). They have these strange, super-wide, hood drawstrings.
Here’s the thing though. These things are my daily go-to hoodie. No, really. See, when it is at all chilly, I wear a hoodie around the house. Now, it may be any hoodie I feel like grabbing, but then I’ll get warm and take it off, and get chilly and put it back on and somehow, by the end of the day, I end up wearing one of these, or start by wearing one.
Either way, I am around 85%certain to wear one of these every day it isn’t summer.
They really are, for me, that comfortable. And it annoys me, because I want them in better, brighter, colors, or colorblocks, or anything other than navy and grey and dark olive, you know what I mean? But here I am, reaching for it every single day.
Weight-wise these sit somewhere perfectly in the line between mid and heavy. They keep me warm in fairly actually color weather for a while, but also don’t overheat me when it is a bit warmer.
The fabric is soft and has the right amount of give and stretch.
I dunno. This is my daily house default hoodie and I am almost annoyed by that. But I would also fight someone for them. Grab them here.
I have a ton more hoodies, but really these are the biggest winners in the lot. Keep in mind, I like hoodies with either no, or very little, logo on them. Which knocks out a lot of choices. Nike makes a good hoodie as well, with some fun colors, but most of them have big logos on them or are really pricey. You can find a deal, and lord knows I have (The Nike Sportswear Color Clash was a ton of fun, went on super deep discount and then was removed from the store once they were gone, which is why it didn’t make this list at all) but, lord Nike loves a giant logo on stuff, and I don’t.
There is also a hoodie I consider kind of a specialty hoodie I didn’t list above. Carhartt makes a hoodie called the Rain Defender Midweight Thermal-Lined Full-Zip Sweatshirt (found here) that is amazing but far from every day. It’s thermal lined, and I’ve worn it over a t-shirt in literal freezing weather before and been fine. The thing is also fairly water resistant which is great. They come in around 80 bucks, but I haven’t seen a sale on one. This being Carhatt they have sales, I just don’t know what range.
Still, if you need a hoodie for cold weather, that is a great one, though it doesn’t do amazingly perfect with wind, to be honest.
So there you go. Some good hoodies, should you need them. And if you don’t, I can not begin to work out why you would have read all of this. Seriously. Why? No. I don’t want to know, don’t tell me.
