A hoodie is one of the pieces we reach for most often, which makes it a good place to ask what lasting actually depends on. It depends on several things. Weight, fibre, the small details of construction and the way it is washed all add up, and most of them can be read from the label or the care notes if you know what to look for. Here we go through them one at a time, with our own hoodies as the example.
In short · 6 min read
- gsm tells you how much fabric sits in a square metre. Our hoodies are 280gsm, and the Oversized is 450gsm.
- Fibre decides softness and shape. Cotton with a share of recycled polyester is a common way to keep a hoodie in form.
- A hoodie wears first at the edge of the hood, the cuffs and the hem.
- Washing cold, inside out, and drying gently is the simplest care there is.
- WRAP reported in 2015 that nine more months of wear can lower a garment’s footprints by roughly 20 to 30 per cent.
Weight · Fibre · The details · Care · Wearing it often
Weight
gsm stands for grams per square metre: the weight of one square metre of the finished fabric. A higher number means more material in the same area, which usually gives more warmth and a firmer fall. Our Recycled Blend Unisex Hoodie and Organic Unisex Hoodie are both 280gsm fleece, a weight that suits early autumn through the winter. The Recycled Blend Unisex Oversized Hoodie is 450gsm, our heaviest and warmest.
Weight is a clue rather than a verdict. A heavy fabric that is loosely knitted can still lose its shape, and a medium one that is closely knitted can stay in form for a long time. It is still the easiest number to compare, and it says what kind of day the hoodie is made for.
Weight tells you what kind of day a hoodie is made for.
Fibre
Cotton gives fleece its softness and its feel against the skin. A small share of recycled polyester, as in our hoodies, is commonly added to knitted fabrics to help them keep their shape between washes. The Organic Unisex Hoodie is 80% organic cotton with 20% recycled polyester, in a fabric made for low shrinkage. The Recycled Blend Unisex Hoodie is 80% cotton with 20% recycled polyester, brushed on the inside for extra softness and warmth.
Where the cotton comes from is a story of its own, and we followed it in The Three Years Before Cotton Counts as Organic.
At a glance
- Recycled Blend Unisex Hoodie: 280gsm brushed fleece, 80% cotton with 20% recycled polyester, XS to 5XL, €79.
- Organic Unisex Hoodie: 280gsm fleece, 80% organic cotton with 20% recycled polyester, XS to 3XL, €89.
- Recycled Blend Unisex Oversized Hoodie: 450gsm, our heaviest and warmest, in Black, XS to 3XL, €99.
The details
Clothes tend to wear first where they are handled most: the edge of the hood, the cuffs, the hem and the line where the drawstring runs. It is worth looking at those places before anything else. On our Recycled Blend Unisex Hoodie the hood is lined, with a tone-on-tone drawstring and metal eyelets, small finishes made for everyday handling.
Care
Care is the part that is entirely yours, and it is simple. Our care notes for the hoodies ask for four things: wash cold with similar colours, wash the hoodie inside out, keep to 30 degrees or below where possible, and let it dry on a hanger or in a low tumble. Inside out spares the photograph from rubbing against the rest of the load, and lower heat keeps both the fibre and the colour closer to the day it arrived.
A simple routine
- Wash cold, with similar colours.
- Turn it inside out first.
- 30 degrees or below where possible.
- Dry on a hanger, or tumble on low.
- Store folded in a cool, dry place.
Small habits at the washing machine add up over many years of wear.
Wearing it often
WRAP, the UK charity for waste and resources, reported in 2015 that keeping clothes in use for nine months longer could cut their carbon, water and waste footprints by roughly 20 to 30 per cent each. It is an estimate and it varies by garment, but the direction is clear: the most useful hoodie is the one that stays in rotation. That is a gentle argument for choosing a piece you will want to put on three winters from now, in a colour, with a photograph and a Word you still like.
If you would like to look at how a photograph sits on a hoodie before choosing, Wearing a Photograph goes through it, and Writing on the Inside explains why the Word sits where it does.
In the end, lasting seems to be shared between the garment and the person who wears it: weight and fibre give it a good start, and washing and wearing carry it on.
Sources
- WRAP (UK): clothing durability guidance, reported December 2015. Estimate for nine extra months of use.
- Intention care notes and material descriptions for each hoodie, read from the product pages in October 2026.
A quiet extension of this idea
Our pieces are built around this principle. A single word, placed so it naturally comes back into your attention during the day. Not something you have to focus on the whole day, just something that stays with you.
