All the Cool Guys Are Wearing Zip

By Gerald Ortiz

It's 2003, you're in your room instant messaging your crush, Tell All Your Friends is blasting from your Sony Psyc boombox—and you're wearing a zip-up hoodie. You weren't the only one, either: from gym classes to red carpets, zip-up hoodies were everywhere throughout the 2000s, popularized by peak indie sleaze (and sometimes, just plain sleazy) brands like American Apparel. Then something changed, society and the fashion powers that be reevaluated their opinion on the matter, and suddenly, the zip-up ceded its dominance to the almighty pullover. Band tees as virtue signals became a strictly warm weather swerve. Easy donning and doffing with the flick of a zipper? No longer. For much of the 2010s, the pullover hoodie—buoyed by a streetwear boom that encouraged emerging brands to slap their graphics on some beefy fleece—reigned supreme. But with the hallmarks of Y2K style on the upswing, zip-up hoodies are once again flooding the market.

Think of the zip-up as the pullover's edgy young brother, but with way more layering potential. In its most natural state, it can cuddle-up to a matching set of pants and a baggy tee with flair. (Top it off with a swanky necklace, crisp sneakers, and some stellar shades and you’re left with a fit on par with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at his tunnel-trotting best.) Unzipped and left open, it can also take on the role of a picture frame ready to display your sickest graphic tee—much like the cardigan, another treasure of 2000s fashion. Or make like a mid-aughts garage band ironically donning corporate attire and wear your zip-up over a dress shirt and baggy tailored trousers, a high-minded fashion move with a jolt of kooky Scandinavian cool.

If you had the foresight to save your zip-up hoodies from high school, it's time to crack open the attic and dust them off. But for those of us whose zip-ups were lost to time (or are too young to remember when Transatlanticism first dropped), we rounded up 17 pitch-perfect options you can buy right now.

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Hanes' EcoSmart is one of the most popular on Amazon and, from our testing, is also one of the best fitting options too. It's got a classic, relaxed-fit body that's not too long and certainly not cropped.

The other mall brands are actually quaking in their boots.

That elusive, mythical brand that fashion heads are willing to wait months for? They make a zip hoodie too.

Channel your inner rockstar.

Vintage or new, you can't go wrong with the brand that literally invented the hoodie.

Champion changed fashion history with its Reverse Weave sweats and, a century on, they're still one of the best.

Cropped to perfection, washed out like a vintage grail.

By The Editors of GQ

By The Editors of GQ

By Gerald Ortiz

Buck Mason's Interloop hoodie is THE ideal hoodie for achieving that vintage cropped silhouette. It's relaxed and hits just above the hips. AKA, it's perfect for high-waisted jeans in a sort of 60s or 70s look or even with some low-waisted jeans and a tank top like you just flew in from the year 2001.

Pop open the CD player, queue up Hybrid Theory and vibe out.

You can argue all you want about which Batman movie is the best. But it's no question that the best outfit is Robert Pattinson's drifter look from 2022's The Batman.

By The Editors of GQ

By The Editors of GQ

By Gerald Ortiz

The 10-Year hoodie, AKA the hoodie that'll last you until zip hoodies are out of style again.

3sixteen's elevated hoodies are crafted in Canada using double-beefy custom-knitted jersey and feature a game-changing two-way zipper with luxurious leather pulls.

The platonic ideal of a grey zip hoodie also happens to be the perfect medium for getting freaky with the rest of your outfit.

By The Editors of GQ

By The Editors of GQ

By Gerald Ortiz

Made completely from recycled cotton, Everybody.World is one of the few brands doing good on its sustainability promise.

A plain white tee, wide-leg khakis, and a pair of skate shoes is all you need for a solid everyday outfit.

For the guy that takes his days off extremely seriously.

By The Editors of GQ

By The Editors of GQ

By Gerald Ortiz

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