Before we dive into the best hoodies for men, let’s get one thing straight: There’s no such thing as a bad hoodie. If it’s got all the essential ingredients—cozy fabric, roomy hood, long sleeves (sorry, Bill Belichick)—it’s worth your time, in at least some capacity. Even the sloppiest, bleach-stained-iest hoodie around has the ability to take your enjoyment of a Sunday afternoon on the couch from an 8 to a full-on 10. It’s a warm hug you can wear. But some hoodies are better than others, in terms of looks or quality or both. If you’re looking for a new public-facing addition to your hoodie rotation—the kind of sweatshirt that looks as great under a topcoat in winter as it will with shorts in the springtime—we’ve tracked down all the finest options available to you right now. All hoodies are good hoodies, but these 10 are the absolute best hoodies for men.
The Best All-Around Hoodie
If you haven’t had the chance—or, more accurately, the patience to line up for a chance—to wear a Supreme hoodie, you’ve been missing out. And we aren’t (only) referring to the illusory clout you gain after slipping on a high-caliber grail. We’re talking about the hoodie itself: the fleece is dense and weighty, the industrial-strength ribbed panels at the sides and hems deliver a healthy amount of give, the hood is perfectly proportioned. But in the event you just aren’t the box logo type, or don’t have an extra grand or two to blow on the resale market, there’s another, more accessible way to understand how the hyper half lives. Just over a decade ago, Vancouver’s CYC Design Corp—the longtime manufacturer behind Supreme’s superior sweats—launched Reigning Champ, which churns out the same heavy-duty athleticwear minus the thirst-inducing branding and highly limited supply. All the game-raising coziness, zero risk of inciting an actual riot.
The Best Hoodie You Already Own
OK, come on: we don’t really need to sell you on this one, do we? Champion sweatshirts, like 501s and Chucks, have probably been a fixture in your wardrobe since before you could spell “wardrobe.” Instead, let’s use this space to reaffirm why they’ve been worthy of your loyalty all these years. Mainly, it’s the construction: way back in the ’30s, Champion introduced their patented reverse weave technique, a process that jacks ups the fleece’s durability and makes it impervious to shrinking. That one innovation instantly made Champion’s sweats the go-to outfitter for every college sports program in the country, and a favorite of Japanese vintage hunters many decades later. They still make ’em the same way, and their hoodies still last damn near forever—and deserve a spot on this list—because of it.
The Best Low-Key Luxe Hoodie
Trying to make something as basic as a hoodie fancy can go wrong in a lot of different ways. Do too much, and you’re stuck with this sparkly, over-designed thing that’s impossible to actually wear; too little, and it’s hard to justify dropping a mortgage payment on something you could just as easily find at Costco. This concotion from Stone Island Shadow Label—the Italian techwear label’s long-running collaboration with Acronym’s Errolson Hugh—reaches an ideal middle ground. The pairing of a smooth wool front with a ribbed knit back is beautiful and elevated without being in your face about it, and the partially-hidden logo patch serves as a clever finishing touch. You might not guess this hoodie costs several hundred dollars at first glance, but you wouldn’t be shocked to find out that it does upon further inspection.
The Best Dressy-ish Hoodie
Calibrating your wardrobe for the WFH era is all about finding those Swiss Army garms that look and feel right in the widest possible range of situations. Everlane’s newest hoodie fits that mold perfectly: the felted merino knit is woolly and refined like your best business casual sweaters, but it’s still, you know, a hoodie. Which means you can wear it on an important Zoom call with a client, out to the dog park for a little fresh air, and then cinch it up on the couch for a long night of The Queen’s Gambit without anyone ever blinking an eye. Rock it with the matching sweatpants, and you’ll be tempted not to change again till spring.
The Best Slightly Oversized Hoodie
John Elliott built his mini-empire—opening enormous flagships in West Hollywood and designing kicks for LeBron—all on the back of an era-defining hoodie. Seven years on, Elliott hasn’t lost a step. His latest model feels bang-on for 2020: baggier and boxier in all the right ways, cut from a lighter weight cotton that’s perfect for sunny spring days or layering up for fall.
The Best Advanced Flex Hoodie
If you’re looking to go loud with your leisurewear, there are no shortage of options. You could go heavy on the graphics, try some highlighter neons on for size, maybe throw it back to the late aughts with some Jesse Pinkman-style all-over prints. But none of those can quite hold a candle to Needles’ wildly trippy patchwork tie-dye hoodies. Pieced together from five chopped-up sweatshirts, no two are exactly alike—which makes each of these already-rare grails even more worth coveting.
