What Makes a High-Quality Sweatshirt?
There are levels to sweatshirts, as humble as they are. What we look for in high-quality sweatshirts comes down to fabric, construction, and fit. Sweatshirt fabrics should be soft, certainly, but many high-quality options are quite burly and stiffer than you’d think. Most of the time, that means the more material goes into the sweatshirt the longer it’ll last. And if you’re willing to commit to them, they’ll get softer and more comfortable the more you wear and launder them.
Most garments are made by overlapping fabrics and sewing them together. That may be fine for a dress shirt, but sweatshirts are made of a thicker, knit fabric which can bulky and irritating when it’s sewn like this. We like sweatshirts that are made with flatlock seams which are made by butting two fabrics next to each other rather than overlapping; the result is a smoother, flatter seam. On rarer occasions, some sweatshirts are made the old-school way on either tubular knitting machines or very rare loopwheel knitting machines which produces a sweatshirt without any side seams on the body. Garment nerds go gaga over this kind of detail, but it’s by no means a requirement for a good sweatshirt.
What Fabrics Should I Look For?
Sweatshirt fabrics are typically made from terry cloth, French terry, or brushed terry. (If that sounds familiar, it’s because terry cloth is the same stuff that’s used to make bath towels.) Terry cloth features loops of yarns which are absorbent and insulating. But the main difference between your bath towel and your sweatshirt is that sweatshirts only have the loops on the inside of the garment. Often, those loops are either brushed or shorn to give the material a luxuriously fluffy hand.
How Should a Crewneck Sweatshirt Fit?
Fit is always subjective, but classic-fitting sweatshirts will fit somewhat relaxed all-around and fall at the hips. Slimmer sweatshirts will fit better if you want to layer them under a jacket and look cleaner with slim-fitting pants. For a fit that’s more of-the-moment, opt for a sweatshirt that’s boxier and cropped to go with some high-waisted, baggy trousers.
How To Style a Crewneck Sweatshirt
The humble crewneck helped Steve McQueen evade capture in The Great Escape, cemented John Travolta’s heartthrob status in Grease, and made Eddie Murphy a badass in Beverly Hills Cop. Paul Newman, the patron saint of laid-back menswear, wore one religiously. And today, a roster of famous—and famously stylish—dudes still put their trust in it. The only difference now is that it comes in a rainbow of different colors and silhouettes, not to mention fabrics far beyond the staid French terry.
Like many menswear staples, crewneck sweatshirts were born from athletics and have transcended into everyday leisure. You could style a crewneck with baggy jeans and sick sneakers for a streetwear-leaning aesthetic, dive headfirst into a preppy look with a pair of chinos and loafers, or turn up the lounge-factor and double it up with some sweatpants and classic sneakers.
How We Tested
Like The Bachelor, we had a flock of hopefuls vying for our love. But instead of hot singles, we had to dole out roses to a gaggle of cozy sweatshirts. One by one, we got to know each sweatshirt, taking them out on dates (literally), and looking intently for rock-solid characteristics, flaws, and dealbreakers. We wore every sweatshirt like any other piece of clothing in our closets, styled them with our favorite pants, scrutinized their fits, put them through harsh laundry cycles, and repeated the whole process over again. What we ended up with is this A-team of great crewnecks, from budget options to luxurious upgrades, and everything between.
Production Credits
Photographs by Bowen Fernie and Natalie Piserchio
Styled by Tyler Austin
Grooming by Yuko Kawashima and Akane Awaji
