The 30s-70s faded red hooded sweatshirt is considered a grail for vintage clothing collectors.
Why red? If you Google image search them, you'll see the variations of vintage red hoodies that change over time with sun, wear, washing, and exposure to other elements – as historically they were either leisure wear or worn by laborers, athletes, college students.
Personally, I have a handful of vintage red sweatshirts and they all look different. They're each unique in color and that story of wear was something I really wanted create for All-Time High.
After spending countless hours at the flea markets, raiding my friends' closets, testing fabrics and configuring the shape to make ours, I found these hoodies that have white or off-white cuffs. That was the final element I wanted to add in terms of what the ATH french terry hoodie would become.
What we constructed is a slightly cropped, oversized hooded sweatshirt with darted shoulders in a 24oz french terry. It's incredibly cozy, and has a soft and spongy hand-feel. Why french terry? Well, somehow we've gotten to a place where some brands are making men's sweatshirts that are thick, heavy, and slim cut – essentially unwearable if you're not a construction worker that has to work outside in the dead of winter or plan on breaking in the hoodie every day. Most of us wear these to coffee, dinner, etc.
So while 24oz sounds heavy, it's actually the perfect weight, in my opinion for the weave we chose. Unlike fleece, french terry lays well, is less bulky, and feels more breathable and luxurious on the underside. But most of all, it's designed with an appreciation of old things and with the intent to live day-to-day in something that just feels good to wear.
The faded red hoodie was one of the first pieces we designed in this new collection. You'll see as we release the rest of AW23 over the next couple of months the story of wear and color that we focused on.
The French Terry Darted Hoodie is on sale now in Sun Fade Red and Umber.