Asweatshirt is a long-sleeved pullovershirt orjacket fashioned out of thick, usually cotton, cloth material.[1][2] Sweatshirts are almost exclusively casual attire and hence not as formal as somesweaters. Sweatshirts may or may not have a hood. A sweatshirt with a hood is now usually referred to as ahoodie, although more formal media may still use the term "hooded sweatshirt".
In 1920,Benjamin Russell Jr., a quarterback for theAlabama Crimson Tide Football team, was tired of the constant chafing and itching caused by their wool football uniforms.[3] He worked with his father, whose companyRussell Manufacturing Company made women's and children's knit garments, to come up with a better option.[4] They created a thick cotton practice jersey that was a modification of a ladies'union suit top.[5] These loose, collarless pullovers were the first sweatshirts. A new division of the company, focusing solely on the production of sweatshirts, became theRussell Athletic Company.
The sweatshirt's potential as a portable advertising tool was discovered in the 1960s when U.S. universities began printing their names on them to exhibit school pride. The sweatshirt, along with theT-shirt, provided a cheap and effective way of disseminating information on a mass scale. The T-shirt slogan fad of the 1970s inevitably translated to sweatshirts. Due to the relative simplicity of customization and the power of clever graphics combined with catchphrases, sweatshirts became a vehicle for personal expression for both the designer and the wearer.[6]
In Australia, the sweatshirt is referred to as a 'Sloppy Joe'.[7][8]