A sweatshirt is a long-sleeved pullover shirt fashioned out of thick, usually cotton cloth material. Sweatshirts are almost exclusively casual attire and hence not as dressy as some

sweater A sweater (North American English) or pullover, also called a jumper (British English and Australian English), ...

s. Sweatshirts may or may not have a hood. A sweatshirt with a hood is now usually referred to as a

hoodie A hoodie (in some cases spelled hoody and alternatively known as a hooded sweatshirt) is a sweatshirt with a hood. Hoodies with zippers usually include two pockets on the lower front, one on either side of the zipper, while "pullover" hoodies ...

, although more formal media still use the term "hooded sweatshirt".

History

In 1920, Benjamin Russell Jr., a quarterback for the

Alabama Crimson Tide Football The Alabama Crimson Tide football program represents the University of Alabama (variously Alabama, UA, or Bama) in the sport of American football. The team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Asso ...

team, was tired of the constant chafing and itching caused by their wool football uniforms. Russell Jr. worked with his father, who owned a manufacturing company, to come up with a better option. At the time, Russell Manufacturing Company made garments for women's and children's knit shirts and undergarments. Knowing the durability and comfort of cotton, they created a new practice jersey that was a modification of a ladies’

union suit A union suit is a type of one-piece long underwear, most often associated with menswear in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. History Created in Utica, New York, United States, it originated as women's wear during the 19th-century United ...

top from thick cotton that was produced throughout the factory. These loose, collarless pullovers – produced from women's undergarments to be used as men's football jerseys - would go on to become an iconic sweatshirt. Russell went on to create a new division of his factory, focusing solely on the production of sweatshirts, which became the Russell Athletic Company. The sweatshirt's potential as a portable advertising tool was discovered in the 1960s when U.S. universities began printing their names on the medium. For students and parents alike, university names on sweatshirts became the preferred casual attire for exhibiting school pride. The sweatshirt, along with the

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

, provided a cheap and effective way of disseminating information on a mass scale. The T-shirt slogan fad of the seventies inevitably translated to sweatshirts. Due to the relative simplicity of customization and the power of clever graphics combined with catchphrases, sweatshirts became a vehicle for personal expression for both the designer and the person wearing them. In Australia, the sweatshirt is referred to as a 'Sloppy Joe'.

References

{{reflist History of fashion History of clothing (Western fashion) Tops (clothing) 20th-century fashion 21st-century fashion Sportswear