Women's sweatshirts and crewnecks: buyer's guide

Ordering women's sweatshirts for a boutique line, a sorority, a dance team or a school store starts with the cut. The styles here range from cropped hoodies to mid-length crews, plus a side-zip and two quarter-zips. Weight spans 6 to 10 oz. Fiber splits two ways. Most are cotton-heavy blends that take most print methods, and two are polyester-spandex fleece made for sublimation and vinyl.

Every style below is a women's cut. For unisex crews, the crewneck sweatshirt guide compares weights and fits. For women's tees, tanks and polos, go to the women's-cut blanks guide.

Which women's sweatshirts should you look at?

For a retail crew, start with the Next Level 9087. The other styles below cover the main cuts, weights and fibers in our women's sweatshirts, so you can match one to the job.

• LAT 3525 Women's Weekend Crewneck: 7.4 oz ringspun, combed fleece, 60/40 cotton-poly, oversized fit. An all-round boutique crew for embroidery, screen print, DTG or DTF.
• Comfort Colors 1566L Women's Garment-Dyed Mid-Length Crewneck: 9.5 oz, 80/20 cotton-poly, relaxed fit, garment-dyed. Heavy enough for big stitched logos, and it prints well too.
• TriDri TD085 Women's Cropped Maria Hoodie: cropped and oversized, 8 oz, 60/40 cotton-poly. A cropped hoodie that still takes embroidery and most print methods.
• Comfort Colors 1580L Women's Garment-Dyed Mid-Length Quarter-Zip: the quarter-zip partner to the 1566L, in the same 9.5 oz ringspun twill fleece. Relaxed fit, garment-dyed. Built for a left-chest logo on a dressier piece.
• Next Level 9087 Women's Heavyweight Crewneck: 10 oz ringspun, combed cotton-poly at 80/20, relaxed fit. The heavyweight retail crew, for stitching or screen print.
• TriDri TD600 Women's Billie Side-Zip Crewneck: 8 oz, 60/40 cotton-poly, with a side zip. A crew with a detail that sets a retail line apart.
• Colortone 8333 Women's Tie-Dyed Crop Hoodie: 6.5 oz ringspun, 60/40 blend, relaxed fit, cropped and tie-dyed. For a dance or spirit order where the dye pattern is part of the look.
• J. America 8742 Women's Electric Fleece Hoodie: 6 oz, 90% polyester and 10% spandex, classic fit. Made for sublimation and heat-transfer vinyl, with embroidery and DTF as options.
• LAT 3536 Women's Vintage Wash Hoodie: 7 oz ringspun, combed 50/50 cotton-poly. Screen print, embroidery, vinyl and DTF, plus softer-toned sublimation.
• J. America 8754 Women's Apex Fleece Quarter-Zip: 8.25 oz, 87% polyester and 13% spandex, classic fit. A team quarter-zip for sublimation, vinyl or stitching.
• Bayside 7760 Women's USA-Made Hoodie: 9.5 oz, 80/20 blend, oversized fit, pre-shrunk, made in the USA. For orders where sizes have to hold.
• Berne WSP418 Women's Heritage Zippered Pocket Hoodie: 9 oz fleece, 52/48 cotton-poly, zippered pocket. Embroidery first, with screen print, vinyl and DTF as options.

Cotton blend or polyester fleece?

Pick a cotton-heavy blend for screen print, DTG and embroidery. Pick one of the two J. America styles for sublimation.

Ten of these are cotton-poly blends. The cotton-heavy ones, at 80/20 and 60/40, take screen print, DTG, DTF, embroidery and vinyl. The LAT 3536 (50/50) and Berne WSP418 (52/48) carry more polyester. For full-color art on those two, use DTF instead of DTG.

The J. America 8742 and 8754 are a different fabric. They're mostly polyester with spandex, which is the fiber sublimation needs, and vinyl bonds well to it. DTG ink needs cotton to grab onto. On these two, use DTF or sublimation instead.

Every style here has some polyester, so discharge won't work on any of them. Plan on plastisol or water-based ink. On dark garments, polyester can bleed into light ink as it cures. More poly means more bleed, and that's true of blends in general. A low-bleed ink or a blocker underbase keeps light prints clean on dark colors.

How heavy should it be?

Go by how warm the piece needs to be. Every style here holds embroidery, even at 6 oz, so a left-chest logo works on any of them. Planning a large or dense design? See which blanks hold heavy stitching best.

The Next Level 9087 is the heaviest crew here at 10 oz. The Comfort Colors pair and the Bayside 7760 follow at 9.5. At the light end, the J. America Electric hoodie is 6 oz, so the 9087 weighs about two-thirds more. That's the gap between a thick winter crew and a light layer for warm-ups or indoor wear.

Which cut fits the job?

The style name tells you the cut. The TriDri TD085 and Colortone 8333 are cropped hoodies. For a dance team set, pair one with matching joggers or sweatpants. The Comfort Colors 1566L crew and 1580L quarter-zip are mid-length. The TriDri Billie has a side zip, and the Berne hoodie has a zippered pocket.

Fit is a separate choice:

• Oversized: LAT 3525, TriDri TD085, Bayside 7760
• Relaxed: the Comfort Colors styles, Next Level 9087, Colortone 8333
• Classic: both J. America pieces

Will it shrink?

If sizes have to hold across a reorder, choose the Bayside 7760, which is pre-shrunk. The Comfort Colors 1566L and 1580L are garment-dyed, and the dye bath adds shrink on top of the fabric's own. Before you lock sizes on those, wash and dry one sample and measure it.

Which one for which job?

Our pick for a women's crew going into a retail line is the Next Level 9087. It's 10 oz of ringspun, combed cotton-poly at 80% cotton, and it takes a stitched logo or a screen print. Here's where the rest fit:

• Boutique or retail crew: Next Level 9087, or the Comfort Colors 1566L for a garment-dyed, mid-length look
• Retail line that wants a detail: TriDri TD600 Billie side-zip
• Sorority or dance order in a cropped cut: TriDri TD085, or the tie-dyed Colortone 8333
• Sublimated or vinyl team gear: J. America 8742 hoodie or 8754 quarter-zip
• Embroidered dressier piece: Comfort Colors 1580L quarter-zip
• School store where sizes must hold: Bayside 7760
• Vintage-wash hoodie: LAT 3536

For hoodies beyond the women's cuts, see how pullover hoodies compare on weight and fit.