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The Sweatshirt in History and Life |
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If you’re like most people – and we know you’re not, of course, being the rugged individualist you are! – you wouldn’t be caught spending more than a minute or two delving into such arcane subjects as the historical roots of “the sweatshirt”. Or, would you? Well, if you have even the smallest grain of interest in the world of apparel, as we do on the team at Corporate Apparel Unlimited, subjects like this will hold you absolutely spellbound . . . . for hours and hours on end.
We now begin the tour of the wide wide world of sweatshirts, a.k.a. sweat shirts, and the variations thereon that have surface over the past half century or so: fleece, hooded sweatshirts, hooded pullover sweatshirts, hoodies, zip-front sweatshirts, quarter-zip “cadet” sweatshirts, and more. A terrific selection may be found at thisall-inclusive sweatshirt site.
First, for the uninitiated, the more-or-less standard sweatshirt out walking the street is a loose-fitting long sleeved collarless pullover garment constructed of soft, absorbent fabric such as cotton jersey. The garment is usually close fitting about the waist and wrist-cuffs with elastic material and sometime has a drawstring at the waist as well. The sweatshirt can be worn alone, or with a T-shirt or other garment underneath [for layering], and of course with an outer jacket for additional warmth. [Certain styles of sports jackets actually come with a sweatshirt-like lining.] At any rate, the sweatshirt is quite often worn for some sort of athletic activity – indoors or out – which of course generates a good deal of warmth and – dare we write it – sweat! There, the secret’s out. Sweatshirts really have a purpose. Sweat absorption. Clever folks, those people who coined the term for the first sweatshirt, generally regarded to have occurred shortly after the turn of the century. [You do understand, we trust, we’re not speaking of this century. Try around 1910. and you’ll be much closer!]
It’s generally acknowledged, per Andy Gilchrist [see “askandyaboutclothes.com”] that the word sweatshirt first entered our American lexicon in the 1920’s. Sweatshirts were worn at that time by athletes as a pullover warm-up garment, before or after games, and the shirts were typically produced in a utilitarian gray.
In 1919 the Abe and Bill Feinbloom brothers founded the Knickerbocker Knitting Co., a mill that produced sweaters. Sometime around the mid-1930’s the company patented a flocking process to place raised letters on clothing – and they began manufacturing athletic wear. They produced sweatshirts for general athletic wear and later added “sideline sweatshirts” – garments designed for the football player market. These particular sweatshirts had a front zipper, along with a hood. While it took several decades, by the 1960’s the sporting of university names/logos on sweatshirts became almost universal – and has continued to this day.
For those with a penchant for trivia – the Knickerbocker Knitting firm eventually became the well known Champion Athleticwear, Inc. Besides Champion there are now over a hundred mills and suppliers across the U.S. who produce and/or market sweatshirts [to the thousands of wholesale/retail distributors who provide them to various client publics]. Sweatshirt brands galore.
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• Online prices: For "blanks"
•Shipping: $10 if order < $250
•Shipping: 8.0% if order subtotal > $250 and 8% for custom orders
• Embroidery & Screen printing: Avail. by request, 25-piece minimum
• No international shipments
[except APO and FPO]
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