Finding the best hoodie (for me)

Adrian Sanabria
Nov 2 · 7 min read

Earlier this year, I sent out a tweet requesting some hoodie recommendations and received a lot of great suggestions. So many, in fact, I had a hard time deciding. Naturally, instead of making a hard choice and choosing one, I just bought all of them and promised to share my experiences as thanks for all the input.

They arrived right around when it started getting warm, so I’ve had to wait until late fall to properly try them out and report back.

To be honest, I didn’t actually buy everything that was recommended — two ended up being too expensive for what I could afford, especially considering how many I was buying. Hoodies from Baubax and Arcteryx looked very interesting, but $200 seems excessive for a hoodie, especially with so many of the other recommendations coming in under $100.

Why hoodies?

Historically, I haven’t really worn hoodies. I’ve had long hair for most of my life, which keeps my head warm and makes hats and hoods seem redundant and hard to wear. What got me into wearing hoodies was the fact that AWS gives out free hoodies to every attendee at their annual re:Invent conference.

After going to four re:Invent conferences in a row, I was suddenly flush with hoodies. I gave one to my wife and two to my kids (which have since been lost). I started wearing them regularly and they became such a constant convenience, I became prone to unconscious, behavior when not wearing them, awkwardly sliding my hands across a shirt where hoodie pockets would normally be.

My last remaining AWS hoodie is from my first year at re:Invent, in 2014. It is simple, comfortable and has worn well. It is made from a lighter weight fabric, which means I often wear it in both the summer. In the winter, I just throw a heavier jacket over it. A hole started to develop in one of the pockets and then I managed to snag an elbow on some barbed wire at the animal rescue where I volunteer. It’s far from dead but clearly wouldn’t last forever. I decided to start looking for a ‘back-up’ hoodie and ended up with five.

  1. Everlane — The 365 Fleece Zip Hoodie
  2. Flint and Tinder 10-Year Hoodie
  3. REI Active Pursuits Full-Zip Hoodie
  4. American Giant — Classic Full Zip
  5. SuperDry Orange Label Zip Hoodie

Requirements

Due to the aforementioned head of hair, I’m not a fan of pulling things on and off over my head, so I only considered full-zip hoodies. No pullovers, no half-zip. Also, everything I bought ranged between $60 and $110. I’m notoriously hard on clothes, so durability is something I’m especially expecting from the $100+ hoodies I purchased. Of course, the fact that I now have 6 to rotate between will help them last. Considering this 2015 AWS hoodie is a $30 item and is still going after 5 years, I may never have to buy another hoodie!

Notes on sizing

At 5 foot 10, broad-shouldered and well into heavyweight territory, I’m at the top end of men’s XL, which is what you’re seeing in most of these photos.

The Baseline: The 2014 AWS re:Invent Attendee Hoodie

Do a Google image search on me and more likely than not, you’ll find me wearing this hoodie. It’s on the thin side, but I saw this as a positive — I probably wore it more often because of this and would just layer a jacket over it in truly cold (at and below freezing) weather. Note to conferences and vendors: hoodies are great swag and good advertising! I’ve probably had dozens of people strike up a conversation because of this hoodie. I like that the branding is subtle also — I probably wouldn’t wear AWS-branded sweatpants that say “CLOUDY” across the ass.

https://wishbow.tumblr.com/post/44671119200/why-are-sweatpants-with-words-especially-brands

The cost of this hoodie is either $0 or $1299 (the price of a ticket to the conference) depending on your perspective. I attended as ‘media’, so I only had to pay for travel and lodging to obtain this excellent article of ad-wear.

Everlane — The 365 Fleece Zip Hoodie — $75

This recommendation came courtesy Kelly Shortridge.

I don’t really know how to selfie, please send tips.

Everlane is an interesting company and worth buying from on principle alone. It’s a nice bonus that they make great clothing at fair prices.

As for the hoodie, it’s clear they’re not trying to dazzle anyone. It’s a high-quality hoodie. It doesn’t come in flashy colors. It doesn’t have any quirks or flashy attributes. It’s just a solid hoodie for everyday wear.

As a bonus, I now have a few Thinkst Canary hoodies also, since I now work at Thinkst (squeeeeeee!). Was this a coincidence? Can Kelly see the future? No one knows for sure.

Canary hoodies are as warm and comfy as promised and a lovely shade of green as well.

Flint and Tinder 10 Year Hoodie — $107

Jacob supplied the “10 Year Hoodie” and it is an excellent one. It is my only black hoodie and I’d say it’s my second favorite. It feels every bit as thick and warm as my favorite pick here (read on…) and has an additional inside pocket. I can never have too many pockets.

My Flint and Tinder black hoodie, pictured here underneath my Thinkst Canary Uniqlo down jacket.
Super sturdy inside pocket. Can snugly fit a full-sized Samsung Note 8, not just the iPod pictured.

REI Active Pursuits Full-Zip Hoodie — $76

REI hoodies were recommended by Dennis Fisher. REI has, by far, the best in-store selection of awesome hoodies I could find, so if you don’t like buying clothing you can’t see, touch or try on, check out your nearest REI.

Dennis recommended the REI Co-Op, but it looked and felt very similar to the Flint and Tinder and American Giant hoodies I had already received in the mail. This is not a bad thing! However, I don’t need three hoodies of the same style, so I decided to go for something a bit different here.

The Active Pursuits hoodie is a different animal here. It’s thinner, features elastic (not ribbed) cuffs and has enormous, zippered pockets. I love zipper pockets, especially when riding bikes. No need to worry about stuff falling out!

How big is “enormous”? Well, if the pocket openings were larger, I could easily fit an iPad (even the 12 inch Pro). As iPads don’t bend well, I tested my theory with an bendy item of similar size, a copy of National Geographic, which fit with room to spare.

American Giant Classic Full Zip — $108

Mary Landesman recommended the American Giant, “greatest ever made” Classic hoodie, which I can’t deny, is excellent and is my favorite out of all my hoodies, new or old.

It’s not just the thick fabric that could probably double as bedding in a pinch, but the colors available that won me over. There’s nothing wrong with Everlane’s earthy tones or even a classic black hoodie for an easy +1 to hacking skills, but the bright blue of my American Giant hoodie just puts a smile on my face every time I pull it on.

I especially like the matte black accents and the zipper that feels like it couldn’t possibly last anything less than a lifetime.

Bonus Hoodies

Grant Sewell was kind enough to mail me his 2017 AWS re:Invent Attendee Hoodie (thanks Grant!). This one has a very cool zippered pocket in the front.

SuperDry Orange Label Zip Hoodie ($65)

The SuperDry hoodie I ordered was a dark hunter green with bright orange accents and the thickest hood cords I’ve ever seen. It’s probably the coolest looking and most stylish of all the hoodies here, but it was quickly claimed by my wife, so it won’t be reviewed here.

If I recall, when I briefly tried it on, it had a very similar fit and feel to the Flint and Tinder 10 Year Hoodie.

That’s it — happy hoodie shopping!

Adrian Sanabria

Written by

Information security veteran blogging primarily about how technology can hinder or help productivity and progress here. Co-founder of Savage Security.

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