Trying to stay warm, cool, calm, stylish and aesthetic at the same time is now possible because of the hoodies. Yes, hoodies are the new trendy attire in the fashion industry. One of the best benefits of hoodies is that you can easily associate them with any type of design for all seasons. Whether you want to layer it up with T-shirts, jeans, denim jackets or aesthetic sweatshirts as innerwear, you will always find a creative way to style. With so many options available for different fabrics, we understand how difficult it could be to choose one material for your hoodies.

Everything You Need to Know About Different Types of Material for a Hoodie

There are tons of options available that you can choose as your fabric for your hoodie clothing line. Winters are incomplete without hoodies, not only in winter but now it also makes sense to wear hoodies in all seasons. When it comes to hoodies, cotton hoodies are not only the best option you can opt for. Here are some best options for manufacturing a lightweight hoodie:

Types of Hoodies Fabrics

The hoodie industry is versatile nowadays, and the best hoodie could mean anything from a polyester hoodie to a screen-printed styled hoodie. The taste in people’s clothing varies based on a couple of factors. What’s your taste? A budget-friendly fabric, luxury fabric, 100% cotton hoodie, wool hoodie or lightweight hoodie? Whatever it is, we hope that you’ll find the best fabric for your brand in the options listed below.

Commonly used hoodie fabrics in the fashion industry

Before we move on to the detailed description of hoodie fabric types, here is a quick summary of common types used in the fashion industry.

• For the sportswear niche, jersey fabric is considered the best of all times.
• Fleece is another top-notch option to consider for manufacturing a hoodie clothing line.
• You should have cotton hoodies if you want comfortable and cosy attire to dress up.
• Polyester hoodies are the best options for rainy days that keep your body warm and dry.
• If you are a fan of wearing knitwear, then knitwear fabric is one of the best options.
• Another amazing fabric that surprises me every time is French terry fabric, which offers a highly breathable structure and comfortable wear.

The Best Fabric for Hoodies  

To spot the best fabric for your hoodie line, you must know all the details and offerings you get with different fabric types. Much to consider, like the comfort of fabric, style, breathability, touch, and feel. We have also added a section which mentions the essential factors to look for in a hoodie clothing line. It’ll give you a proper idea of what fabric you should wear.

Here are different fabric clothing options for your brand clothing fabric.

Cotton

The best option is cotton fabric, a plant-based natural fabric that promotes ethical and sustainable manufacturing in the fashion industry. Cotton fabric has been the first go-to choice for different clothing niche manufacturers. Cotton fabric is commonly used in manufacturing T-shirts, polos, vests, hats, uniforms and sweatshirts.

Cotton fabric is an inexpensive option that offers good durability, breathability, and designing opportunities and is easy to handle. One significant advantage of cotton is that you can easily mould this fabric into any structure. You can create a cotton canvas, ring-spun cotton, or even manufacture denim fabric through it.

Overall, 100% pure cotton is an excellent option as it offers you comfortable wear, breathability, cosy and cold structure all in one fabric.

Pros of cotton fabric

• It’s hypo-allergic and goes for all types of skins
• Easy to maintain
• Easy to customize
• Machine friendly
• Offer huge versatility
• Comfortable

Cons

• Tend to shrink
• Absorbs and holds water for more extended times

Fleece fabric

The fleece fabric is another top-of-the-line fabric trending in the market with substantial consumer demands. The fun fact is that fleece fabric is a fabric of its own, but there are different varieties like wool, cotton, polyester, and more. The fleece fabric is a luxury blend of polyester and cotton fabric.

The fleece fabric is cosy, comfortable, breathable, insulating and offers a luxury wear feel.

The fabric feels luxurious to wear when designed with custom demands and print over it. The material is best to choose for your hoodie clothing line if you want to add extra comfort and warm fabric for your hoodie line.

The fleece fabric is more comfortable than any other polyester fabric in the clothing industry. One good point is that this fabric comes in different weights, so you can easily find the structure that suits you. Usually, a standard fleece hoodie works with lightweight or mid-weight fabric, or if you want thick hoodies, you can choose a heavy-weight fabric. The fleece back fabric is another popular fabric offering luxury and premium velvet feel wear. 

Pros of fleece fabric

• Durable
• Comfortable
• Water-resistant
• Warm
• Insulting properties
• It comes in a variety of fabric types
• Various Belding options with other fabric

Cons

• It takes extra effort to clean and wash
• Attract odours

Polyester fabric

The term polyester looks like a term of chemistry. What if I tell you it’s a chemical synthetic material artificially made? Polyester is a thermoplastic material that attracts heat quickly but is durable, sustainable and breathable in terms of clothing.

Polyester fabric is the best fabric widely used in the fashion industry to create featuring hoodies. The texture of polyester feels smooth, breathable and comfortable. But one major drawback of the fabric is that if a person wears it too long, they might feel a bit itchy or clammy. The polyester fabric creates sweatshirts, hoodies, jackets, shorts, active wear, gym wear, polo, T-shirts and more.

Polyester fabric is considered better than cotton because it’s environmentally friendly and robust. Also, if we compare both, cotton is considered more absorbent than polyester. In short, the polyester fabric is a good option for your hoodie line project. Usually, polyester fabric is regarded as sustainable, but using fossil chemicals in the process makes it less bearable.

Pros of polyester fabric

• Quick dry
• Moisture wicking structure
• Wrinkle resistant
• Comfortable structure
• Durable
• Easy to wash in a machine
• Light in weight
• Sustainable

Cons 

• Not suitable to wear under high temperatures
• Not much breathable as compared to cotton
• It feels sticky to sweat

Wool fabric

Most people understand that the wool fabric comes from sheep, but the sources of the wool fabric also include goats, camels, oxen and sometimes even rabbits (the luxury one). The wool fabric is highly resistant to water and fire, making it one of the best quality for hoodie clothing lines.

The wool fabric comes with a blending of different materials, such as a blend of cotton and wool, which is considered one of the main components for making a top-notch hoodie line for your brand. Wool fabrics are regarded as a top option for high temperatures as they outperform all other fabrics regarding durability, comfortable breathability and warmth.

Although wool fabric is not as fashionable as wool fabric, it is well known for its durability, warmness, and breathability qualities. You must understand that some wool fabric blends are uncomfortable and start itching. If you want a lightweight hoodie, the fabric combination you have is wool and rayon, the wool fabric adds strength to the material while the rayon adds drape, giving a luxurious look to your hoodie.

Pros of wool fabric

• Warm and durable
• Insulating structure
• Moisture wicking material
• Misses odour

Cons

• Shrinks
• Some blends might be itchy
• Needs dry cleaning.

Shearling or Sherpa

Not very popular, but the Sherpa or shearling fabric is top of the lining fabric for hoodie manufacturing. Sherpa and Shearling are 02 different fabric types. The Sherpa is a blend of fabric with cotton, polyester or acrylic. The Sherpa fabric is similar to wool fabric. The shearling fabric is an extract from lamb. This fabric is also known as faux Shearling.

Sherpa or Shearling manufacture vests, jackets, blankets, and primarily sweaters and hoodies for frigid temperatures as the Sherpa fabric is a natural byproduct, so it gets easily dirty quickly. Because of its vast and open structure, it becomes difficult to handle the Sherpa fabric. 

Pros of Sherpa or shearling fabric

• Moisture wicking
• Soft and comfortable
• Easy to wash in a machine

Cons

• Attracts dirt and dust.

Lycra or spandex or Elastane

Lycra or spandex, or Elastane all belong to the same family. By the word “spandex”, you might already know about this fabric’s primary features. The word spandex is derived from expanding. The top feature of this spandex fabric is its highly elastic structure. Spandex is the most versatile and flexible fabric available in the market.

The spandex fabric is added as a blend to the material to add stretchability features to the fabric. Typically, hoodies and polyester sweatshirts offer a 15% stretch, but with spandex, you can add a lot of flexibility to your clothes.

The spandex fabric is commonly used in manufacturing hoodies, yoga pants, active wear and sportswear fabric. One major drawback of the Lycra or spandex fabric is that skin fits the material and doesn’t let you breathe so well. If you want to manufacture a mid-weight hoodie line with elasticity features, then spandex is the best fabric for you or even a sportswear or gym clothing line. Sportsmen and women are looking for a flexible and stretchable material.

Pros of spandex fabric

• Offers high stretchability
• It comes with 4 way-stretching features
• Comfortable
• Durable
• Moisture Absorbing structure

Cons

• Not much breathable
• A less sensitive product.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Fabric for Hoodies

The best part of the custom hoodies is that you can choose every detail of your project. You can easily customize it the way you want and add any design or colour you want, the fabric you wish or the zipper you want. Creating a custom design makes your brand unique and stands out from your competition.

But measuring every fabric and its factors in detail is essential to quickly decide which material will be best for your hoodie clothing line. Here are crucial factors that you must consider before choosing a fabric.

Weight

Everyone loves to wear light and mid-weight fabric, as it makes movement easy. A heavy fabric doesn’t only restrict your movement but also demotes breathability. One advantage of using a heavy fabric is that it offers warming.

You should always pick a fabric that is breathable, comfortable and durable. A fabric that doesn’t restrict body movement and provides a space to relax the body.

Drape you want

Some fabrics like rayon, cotton, and others offer a good amount of drape into the hoodies, while some are skin fit to the body. The drape refers to the structure hanging from your body while wearing a hoodie or a sweatshirt. No one likes to wear hoodies or sweatshirts every time they stand up or sit down. 

The hoodies or sweatshirts you wear should be suitable for communication with your body and in rhythm with your body. With a pleasing drape, you easily style the way you want without effort.

Breath ability

Breathing ability is an essential factor to consider when choosing a fabric. When you are out in the field or jogging, doing sports or even just in a group of friends, you need to stay calm, which is possible with a suitable hoodie that assures breathability.

Hoodies are made to keep your body warm, looking at the warmness inside, but at the same time, keeping the heat inside and not allowing the air to pass can get annoying. If you want a breathable fabric cotton is the suitable fabric to consider. Being a natural fabric, it allows good breathability throughout the day, keeping your body temperature cool.

Polyester Vs Cotton for a Hoodie Fabric

Polyester is considered to be environmentally friendly, while on the other side, cotton is a less environmentally friendly fabric option. Still, it offers other benefits like durability, breathability and versatility in printing.

Both of the fabrics have their benefits. But when it comes to which fabric is better, polyester and cotton. The polyester material is a winner because of its prolonged life and other benefits.

FAQs

What is a suitable hoodie?

A soft hoodie that feels luxurious, comfortable, and durable and offers good breathability is considered a suitable one.

Are thick hoodies suitable?

Well, it depends on the type of use and the area where you live. If you live where the temperature is cold, then thick hoodies are a good option, but they should be thick, or else it will be a problem. Usually, it should be 6oz or more.

What is the best fabric for sweatshirt manufacturing?

The fleece fabric is the best option for sweatshirt manufacturing. Fleece back is the new trend in the fashion industry.