The Official UP Hoodie

Last spring, I was determined to design a new hoodie so that more people could rep the brand.

In December 2018, I was cranking out hoodies and tees in The Factory (otherwise known as my parent’s basement back in CT).

Our original Classic Logo Hoodie was a hit, which—to be perfectly honest—was a shock to me. I usually shy away from both making and purchasing white hoodies because, let’s face it, one spill and that thing becomes borderline unwearable. But the yellow outline accented the baby blue text really well, combining with the white hoodie to make a unique design that really popped.

So when I came back to the drawing board, I knew I wanted to make something else that would really stand out. I hadn’t overused the powder-blue-and-yellow colorway too much (though, let’s face it, you really can never go wrong with ‘em), so I decided that I would try to find the right light blue as a base and go from there.

I usually buy blank clothing wholesale, so after searching the interwebs, I finally landed on something I could buy in bulk: the Hanes EcoSmart Pullover Hoodie in Light Blue. Not only did I love the shade of blue, they featured recycled plastic, as well as the coveted blend of polyester and cotton. They were a bit more pricey than most cotton hoodies, but I thought they’d be worth it.

Next was finalizing the design. When I’m designing shirts, I often take a bunch of different ideas and play around in Illustrator for hours on end, ultimately falling in love with one and sticking with it. For this hoodie, though, I was stuck between three designs:

Even though I think it looked great, the first one was pretty much the same as the white hoodie, so I figured we’d opt to go with the “UP” logo instead. I liked the square small—bigger versions made it look almost like product placement—so it was between putting the logo either in the middle or side. We decided to poll our followers on social media, and an overwhelming majority picked the logo on the side…which was probably for the better, since I think the tassels would’ve blocked it if it was central.

I asked some happy customers if they had any good quotes to provide for this story.

So we go with the side logo, and it’s an instant classic. Everyone who buys one tells me it’s the softest hoodie they’ve ever owned. I myself have probably worn it, like, every day in the past year (and yes, I do my laundry). And many a time, happy customers have excitedly told me, “I was walking on Sheridan Road, and like 5 people told me, ‘Yo, that’s a dope hoodie!’ without even knowing anything about Unplugg’d!”

Is there an argument to be made that I should say fuck it with all this content bullshit and just focus on designing hoodies? You be the judge.

You can buy the Square Logo Hoodie from our store now!