Hoodies are very popular at Walt Disney World, especially during the evening hours during the colder months. So which hoodie should you wear and where did hoodies come from in the first place?

The History of the Hoodie: Who Invented the Hoodie?

 

 

 

Today’s popular hoodie has a long history that goes all the way back to the 1930s, when the Knickerbocker Knitting Company designed the first hoodie sweatshirt (they basically sewed a hood onto a sweatshirt to add extra warmth). Today, that pioneering hoodie company is known as Champion.

 

After its launch, the hoodie gained popularity with the military, who found the design to be great for training purposes. Colleges and universities gave the hoodie enhanced popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, when the hoodie became synonymous with sportswear and branded logo hoodies emerged.

In the 1970s, skaters, surfers and the emerging rap and hip hop scene gave the hoodie a more “cool” and urban street vibe. With the release of the first Rocky film in 1976, the hoodie gained even more exposure as apparel for gritty athletics, as Rocky trained hard in his hoodie. 

 

Nowadays, the hoodie remains very popular with even more variations: from sports, to street style, college athletics and functional casual wear. The hoodie is now firmly cemented as an iconic staple of casual wear apparel. 

 

There are many variations of the classic hoodie, but the five main hoodie styles we tend to see include: 

Within each of these five hoodie categories there are various types and styles, primarily based on weight and fabric. There are branded and non-branded hoodies and various color options and all-over-prints.

 

Hoodies are both a fashion statement and functional piece of apparel. Unlike the original plain grey hoodie (the kind of hoodie that Rocky wore in the ‘70s), it’s rare nowadays that you’ll see a plain blank hoodie with no graphic at all. The hoodie has gone fully commercial, a trend that took off in the 1990s.

 

 

At Walt Disney World, hoodies tend to appear in full force when the weather gets a little chilly and Cast Members roll out the hoodie racks for eager buyers.

 

So which hoodie is best? The most common and most popular hoodies are pullovers and zip ups. Pullover hoodies tend to be more popular, but if you prefer the convenience of a front zipper (the hoodie jacket), then the zip up hoodie can add more flexibility. Aesthetically, the pullover hoodie tends to have cleaner lines and a more traditional look – especially if a graphic is featured on the front (where it won’t be broken up by a zipper).

Ultimately, the choice of which hoodie is best comes down to personal preference: the perfect combination of comfort, fit and style.

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Mike Belobradic and Amelia Belobradic

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