Premium blank hoodies: a buyer's guide

You're choosing a hoodie to decorate, and the styles in this guide vary more than most. Fleece weight runs from 5.3 oz to 13 oz. The blend runs from mostly cotton to nearly half polyester. The fit runs from slim to oversized. Weight, blend and fit decide how the hoodie feels on the body and which decoration methods hold up on it. If you want one hoodie for heavy print and embroidery work, start with the Hanes OG700.

Which hoodies are we comparing?

Here are the twelve styles, heaviest first, each with the job it's best for:

• Hanes Beefy Sweats Premium Heavyweight (OG700): 13 oz, 81% cotton / 19% polyester, ringspun fleece. Best for heavy screen print and embroidery.
• Lane Seven Urban Hoodie (LS16001): 10 oz, 80% cotton / 20% polyester fleece, oversized fit. Best for streetwear drops, printed or embroidered.
• Lane Seven Heavyweight Hoodie (LS19001): 10 oz fleece. Best for embroidery, DTF and vinyl.
• Independent Trading Co. Midweight Pigment-Dyed (PRM4500): 9 oz, 80% cotton / 20% polyester, ringspun, classic fit, pigment-dyed. Best for a retail line with an embroidered logo.
• Augusta Sportswear 60/40 Fleece (5414): 9 oz, 60% cotton / 40% polyester fleece. Best for embroidery and everyday print work.
• Colortone Tie-Dyed (8777): 8.5 oz, 60% cotton / 40% polyester, ringspun, classic fit, tie-dyed. Best for embroidery or DTF over a ready-made pattern.
• LAT Youth Hoodie (2296): 7.5 oz, 60% cotton / 40% polyester, youth cut. Best for school and youth team runs.
• Independent Trading Co. Icon Lightweight Loopback Terry (SS1000): 7.5 oz, 55% cotton / 45% polyester terry, slim fit. Best for embroidery and screen print.
• J. America Triblend Fleece (8871): 7.5 oz triblend fleece, men's cut. Best for embroidery and vinyl.
• LAT Elevated Fleece (6926): 7.4 oz, 60% cotton / 40% polyester, combed ringspun fleece. Best for embroidery and adult sizes on a mixed-age order.
• Next Level Santa Barbara (9303): 7.4 oz, 80% cotton / 20% polyester jersey. Best for DTG and screen print at a midweight.
• Next Level Laguna (9301): 5.3 oz, 60% cotton / 40% polyester French terry. Best for a lightweight printed hoodie or DTF.

How heavy should the hoodie be?

Heavier holds its shape better. Every style from 7.4 oz up holds its shape, with little stretch or sag over time. The 5.3 oz Next Level Laguna is the exception. Its lighter terry gives more over time than the heavier fleeces.

Weight is also the biggest difference you'll feel from one style to the next. The Hanes OG700 at 13 oz weighs more than twice as much as the Laguna. Most styles sit between those two, from 7.4 to 10 oz.

Cotton-heavy or a 60/40 blend?

For ink, the cotton-heavy styles are the easier pick. The four that run about 80/20 are the Hanes OG700, Lane Seven LS16001, Independent PRM4500 and Next Level Santa Barbara. All four take screen print and DTG well, since the cotton gives the ink a good surface.

The 60/40 and 55/45 styles carry more polyester. As a general rule of printing, polyester dye can migrate into light inks on dark garments. A low-bleed ink or a blocker underbase helps.

Polyester content puts a few styles at opposite ends:

• Independent SS1000 is 45% polyester, the most of any style here, which means light inks can pick up dye on dark colors. Heather colors blend several fibers, so they tend to vary the most from batch to batch. On dark or heather colors, print and wash one sample before the full run.
• Hanes OG700 carries little polyester, 19%, which makes light inks on dark colors less likely to pick up dye.

Which fit do I need?

It depends on who's wearing it.

• Streetwear: the Lane Seven LS16001 is cut oversized, and its 10 oz fleece gives the oversized shape some body.
• Fitted retail: the Independent SS1000 runs slim.
• Classic retail with a finished look: the PRM4500 and the Colortone 8777 are classic fits, and both come pre-colored. One is pigment-dyed and the other is tie-dyed, so the blank looks finished before you add a logo.
• Teams and schools: the LAT 6926 adult and 2296 youth share the same 60/40 blend at nearly the same weight. They also handle every decoration method the same way. So one setup covers adult and youth sizes on a mixed-age roster.

Which decoration methods hold up?

Embroidery is the safe call on any of these hoodies. Every style is heavy enough to give stitches a stable base. The 5.3 oz Laguna is lighter, but it still holds embroidery well. DTF and vinyl work on every style.

Screen print and DTG are where the styles split. Both are harder to get right on the Lane Seven LS19001 and J. America 8871. For those two, lean on embroidery, DTF or vinyl, and run a test print first if the job has to be screen printed. On the SS1000, screen print works well but DTG is less reliable on its 45% polyester, so screen print is the better ink option there.

Discharge isn't a fit for any style here, since every one is a blend. Sublimation gives a faded result on all of them, since none carries enough polyester.

Will it shrink?

Before you lock sizes for a large run, wash and dry one sample the way the end customer will, then measure it against the size chart. Cotton-rich fleece can move in the wash, and a hoodie that shrinks a size can throw off a sized order.

Which hoodie for which job?

• Streetwear drop → Lane Seven LS16001, for the oversized cut at 10 oz.
• Retail line with an embroidered logo → Independent PRM4500, pigment-dyed, classic fit.
• School or youth team order → LAT 2296 for kids, matched with the LAT 6926 for adults.
• Lightweight printed hoodie → Next Level Laguna.
• Pattern-forward merch → Colortone 8777.
• Heavy, print-ready hoodie → Hanes OG700.

For heavy print and embroidery work, start with the Hanes OG700. At 13 oz it's the heaviest of the twelve. Its cotton-rich fleece takes screen print and DTG well, and the 13 oz weight gives embroidery a solid base. It's also only 19% polyester, which makes light ink on a dark color less of a gamble.