Blank hoodie buying guide: fleece weight, construction and fit

Hoodies are where buyers most often carry a t-shirt instinct into a fleece order. The same letter size sits differently, the same weight number means something else, and the parts that get judged in the shop — the hood, the cuffs, the pocket — are the parts nobody specifies.

This guide is the specification conversation, in the order that avoids reorders.

Hoodie weights do not compare to t-shirt weights

A t-shirt is measured in GSM of single jersey. A hoodie is usually measured in ounces of fleece, and the two scales do not translate.

Ounces	Approximate GSM	Class	What it feels like
7–8 oz	240–270gsm	Light	Closer to a heavy long sleeve than a hoodie
8–9.5 oz	270–320gsm	Midweight	The year-round wholesale standard
10–12 oz	340–400gsm	Heavyweight	Structured, streetwear, holds its shape on the hanger
13 oz+	440gsm+	Ultra-heavy	A statement garment; expensive to ship, warm to wear

Two things follow from the table.

A 350gsm hoodie and a 350gsm t-shirt are not the same product. Fleece is a knitted base with a brushed inside; the brushing raises fibre and traps air, so 350gsm fleece feels softer and lighter in the hand than 350gsm jersey. The numbers are not comparable across fabric families, and a buyer who compares them will misjudge both.

Above roughly 400gsm the value curve flattens. A 440gsm hoodie costs more to make, more to ship and more to wear; the extra weight reads as “heavy” rather than “premium” past a point. The 340–400gsm band is where most streetwear programs settle.

Brushed fleece versus loopback

The second decision, and the one that changes the garment most after weight.

Brushed fleece. After knitting, the inside surface is brushed to raise a pile. The result is warmer, softer against the skin, more substantial in the hand — and it pills. The brushed surface also sheds fibre for the first several washes, which is normal and worth telling the customer before they complain about a lint ball.

Loopback (French terry). The inside loops are left intact. The garment is smoother, cooler, less bulky, and it holds its shape better over time because there is no raised pile to flatten. It is the better choice for a three-season hoodie and for anyone who finds brushed fleece too warm indoors.

The practical difference: brushed reads as a winter product, loopback reads as a year-round product. Neither is better, but choosing the wrong one for the market is the mistake — a 400gsm brushed hoodie sold in a warm climate is a warehouse problem.

Cotton and polyester ratios

Most wholesale hoodies are blends, and the ratio is a real specification, not a cost detail.

100% cotton. Best for printing, dyeing and perceived quality. Shrinks more than a blend unless it is pre-shrunk, and it is the most expensive option at the same weight.

80/20 cotton-poly. The wholesale workhorse. Drier hand, less shrinkage, lower cost, and it holds colour well. The polyester reduces the softness slightly and makes the fleece feel a little less “natural” in the hand.

50/50. Common in promotional and team fleece. Durable, cheap, and it takes heat transfer and DTF well. It also pills less than a high-cotton brushed fleece, which matters in a garment that will be washed hard.

Poly-dominant (e.g. 65/35 poly-cotton). Used where colour fastness and durability dominate, common in uniform and workwear.

One caution on the marketing side: “cotton-rich” and “cotton blend” are not specifications. Ask for the percentage — and if the answer is “about 80/20”, ask whether that is the pile or the whole fabric.

Fit: regular, oversized, boxy

Hoodie fits fall into three practical shapes, and they are pattern decisions rather than fabric ones.

Regular. Straight body, set-in sleeve, ribbed hem sitting at the hip. The standard wholesale shape and the easiest to sell across ages.

Oversized. Dropped shoulder, wider body, longer body length. The hoodie version of the oversized tee, and the shape most streetwear brands want.

Boxy. Wide and short, with a straight hem that sits higher. It reads as a fashion silhouette rather than a casual one, and it is less forgiving on tall customers.

Two fit details matter more on a hoodie than on a tee.

Shoulder placement. On an oversized hoodie the shoulder seam sits below the shoulder bone; if it sits on the bone, the garment reads as a regular fit that happens to be wide.

Body length relative to the rib. A long body with a short rib makes the garment look stretched; a short body with a deep rib makes it look cropped. Ask for both numbers, not just the body length.

The three failure points

Hoodies fail in specific places, and all three are visible from the outside within a month.

The hood

A hood that collapses into a shapeless triangle is the most common quality complaint. What decides it:

• Two-panel or three-panel construction. Three-panel hoods hold a shape; a single-piece hood does not.
• Lining or no lining. A lined hood stands up; an unlined one folds flat.
• Interfacing at the front edge. The cheapest hoods omit it, and the edge ripples after the first wash.

The drawcord channel

The channel is a separate piece of construction, and it is where cheap hoodies cut corners. Ask whether the eyelets are metal or sewn, whether the channel is a folded tape or an overlocked edge, and whether the cord ends are tipped or knotted. A channel that frays in the wash drops the whole garment a tier.

The ribbing

Cuffs and hem ribbing recover their shape or they do not. A 2×2 rib with elastane recovers; a 1×1 rib on a light yarn stretches out and stays stretched. Ask the rib height and whether elastane is included — that single question separates a hoodie that lasts three seasons from one that lasts one.

Styles beyond the pullover

The pullover is the default, but a program usually needs more than one shape.

Zip hoodie. A full-zip front adds a zip, a placket and a sewing step, and the zip quality matters: a cheap zip is the first thing to fail. YKK is the name buyers ask for; a generic zip at the same weight is where the cost saving goes.

Quarter zip. Common in corporate and team programs, and it needs a stand collar rather than a hood, which changes the pattern.

Crewneck sweatshirt. The same fleece body without a hood — cheaper, easier to decorate, and often the better seller in a corporate program because it looks less casual.

Sweatpant sets. Matching sets sell at a higher basket value, and they need the same lot of fleece to match colour — which is a production sequencing question, not a design one.

Decoration on fleece

Printing on fleece is a heavier job than printing on jersey, and the differences matter at the quote stage.

Screen printing needs a heavier ink deposit and often a higher mesh count to sit on the textured surface. A one-colour chest hit is straightforward; a large full-front design on brushed fleece can look cracked where the pile compresses.

DTG on fleece works but is fussier: the pre-treatment has to penetrate the pile, and the white underbase tends to look slightly dusty on a dark hoodie. It is acceptable for short runs and simple artwork, less so for a hero product.

DTF on fleece is often the better digital option, because a film sits on the surface rather than needing to bond into the pile.

Embroidery on fleece is the natural fit — a chest logo or a sleeve hit, with cut-away backing to stabilise the knit. Fleece hides the backing better than jersey, which is why embroidery is so common on hoodies.

Placement constraints come from the garment, not the fabric: a kangaroo pocket limits a front print to the chest area, and a zip splits the front panel into two.

Ordering, lead times and the season problem

Hoodies are seasonal, which changes the risk profile compared with a tee.

Minimum. 100 pieces per colour and style, sizes mixed inside a colour. Two colours means two minimums.

Lead time. Samples 7–10 days; bulk 4–6 weeks after approval, plus transit. Fleece is slower to knit, slower to wash and slower to dry than jersey, so a hoodie program that starts in September is already late for winter.

The season trap. Ordering a winter hoodie in November means the customer receives it in January, when the season is over. The program has to be placed 4–5 months before the selling season, which for northern-hemisphere winter means ordering in July–August.

Colour risk. A hoodie is a bigger visual commitment than a tee. Two colours is a sensible first run; five colours is a warehouse bet.

Where a hoodie’s cost actually sits

A hoodie has more parts than a t-shirt, and the parts are where the price difference between two quotes comes from.

Fleece. The biggest line, and the one driven by weight and cotton content. Moving from 280gsm to 380gsm, or from 50/50 to 80/20, moves the cost more than any other single decision.

Trims. Zip, drawcord, eyelets, cord tips, ribbing with elastane, pocket construction. A branded zip alone can add more to the unit price than 30gsm of fleece.

Sewing time. A hoodie has roughly twice the operations of a t-shirt: hood assembly, channel, pocket, cuffs, hem, and the zip if there is one. Sewing time is labour, and labour is where a factory’s hourly rate shows up.

Pressing and finishing. Fleece needs a heavier press and, in practice, more handling to look right in a polybag. This is invisible in a quote and visible in the quality.

The practical implication: comparing two hoodie quotes without a trim sheet is comparing nothing. The cheaper one is usually a lighter fleece, a generic zip, or a 1×1 rib without elastane.

Comparing two hoodie quotes properly

Put both quotes on one page, with these fields filled in for each:

Field	Why it matters
Fleece weight, oz and gsm, finished	The most common hidden difference
Brushed or loopback	Changes the product, not just the cost
Cotton/poly ratio	Drives hand, shrinkage and price
Fit and shoulder placement	A “regular” from one factory is an “oversized” from another
Hood panels and lining	The most visible quality signal
Rib type and elastane	Decides whether cuffs survive
Zip brand (if any)	The first part to fail
MOQ and size mix	Changes your working capital
Incoterm and port	A $1 difference in FOB can vanish in freight terms
Carton configuration	Pieces per carton drives freight per unit

A quote that answers eight of those ten is a professional quote. One that answers three is a price.

What to check on a fleece sample

The sample matters more on a hoodie than on a tee, because fleece has more ways to be wrong.

Wash it hot, once. Measure the body length and chest before and after. Fleece commonly moves 3–5% if it was not pre-shrunk, and the customer will experience that as “it shrank two sizes”.

Look at the hood after the wash. Does it still stand, or has the front edge rippled? A rippled edge usually means no interfacing. Does it hold a shape or flop into a triangle? That is panel construction.

Check the cuffs. Stretch them and let go. They should recover close to their original size. If they stay stretched, the rib lacks elastane and will look tired within a month.

Feel the inside after washing. Brushed fleece will shed some fibre in the first washes — normal. What is not normal is a pilled surface across the whole inside, which suggests a low-quality brushing or a high-poly blend pretending to be cotton-rich.

Check the pocket. Is it a single piece sewn onto the front, or part of the body panel? A sewn-on pocket can pull the front out of shape; an integrated one holds. Look at the inside of the pocket corners, where cheap construction shows.

Check the seam allowance. Turn the garment inside out and look at the overlock. A narrow, uneven allowance means a fast line; a consistent one means a controlled one.

Warmth, weight and the climate question

Buyers often assume heavier equals warmer, and specify 400gsm for a market that does not need it.

Warmth comes from trapped air and fibre type, not only mass. A 320gsm loopback hoodie with a high cotton content is comfortable indoors in winter; a 400gsm brushed fleece is often too warm to wear inside, which reduces how often it is worn and therefore how visible the logo is.

Three practical combinations:

• Warm climate, year-round product: 280–300gsm loopback, 80/20 or 100% cotton.
• Temperate, three-season: 320–360gsm, loopback or light brush, 80/20.
• Cold climate, winter statement: 380–400gsm brushed, high cotton or 80/20, lined hood.

A heavier garment than the climate needs is not a premium signal; it is a garment that stays in the wardrobe.

Care, shrinkage and what to tell the customer

Most hoodie complaints are care complaints, and most of them can be prevented with one line on the care label and one line on the product page.

Wash cold, inside out, and dry flat or on low. Heat is what shrinks fleece and what sets pilling.

Expect light shedding from brushed fleece in the first few washes. Telling the customer in advance converts a complaint into an expected behaviour.

Do not tumble dry on high. It is the single fastest way to turn a 380gsm hoodie into a 340gsm one with a pilled surface.

If you are selling to a market where tumble drying is normal (the US, in particular), specify a higher polyester content or a pre-shrunk fleece, and test it. The cheapest place to discover a shrinkage problem is a sample you washed yourself.

A hoodie specification checklist

1. Fleece weight in oz and gsm, finished
2. Brushed or loopback
3. Cotton/poly ratio
4. Fit: regular, oversized, boxy — and the shoulder placement
5. Hood: panels, lining, interfacing at the front edge
6. Drawcord: metal or sewn eyelets, channel construction, cord tips
7. Ribbing: rib type, rib height, elastane yes or no
8. Pocket: kangaroo, split, or none
9. Zip: brand and type (if applicable)
10. Shrinkage after one wash, and whether it is pre-shrunk
11. Decoration method and placement limits
12. MOQ per colour, size curve, carton configuration

If your program also includes tees, the t-shirt buying guide covers the jersey side of the same conversation, and the crewneck guide covers the hoodless version of this garment — which is often the better seller in corporate and school programs.