Unless you're in a situation where your head is too cold and your arms are too hot, there is no practical reason to ever wear a sleeveless hoodie. And yet it's become a wardrobe staple among bodybuilders and gym rats—a statement piece for the type of person who is so jacked that regular clothes look kind of stupid on them.
That's not exactly me. But earlier this year I purchased four sleeveless hoodies as a goof—a novelty item to give my gym buddies, somewhere between a team jersey and singing taxidermy. We wore the hoodies to our Saturday morning kettlebell class, where our instructor—a hulking, no-nonsense, powerlifter—openly pointed and laughed, either amused or ashamed to be coaching us. Afterward, I grabbed a group photo.
Then something strange happened. My phone lit up. Messages from old flames. Fire emojis. People were into the hoodie. An hour after class I got a text from my pal Isaac. He'd come home wearing the sleeveless hoodie. His wife said it's the hottest he'd looked in years. I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. At first, I attributed the comments to the Halloween effect: wearing a ridiculous, vaguely slutty, costume lets people see you in a whole different light. But after some more thought, I had to consider the very real question...are sleeveless hoodies kind of awesome?
They can look good on celebrities, at least. Despite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson branching way out of gym rat looks with the help of stylist Ilaria Urbinati, the most recognizable items in his Project Rock line for Under Armour are his sleeveless hoodies. In promo photos, you can catch him destroying big lifts, wearing headphones over top his hood, and flexing his biceps. Even Ryan Gosling has been known to rock the sleeveless, hitting a kind of dirtbag, mid-aughts, American Apparel chic. Both The Rock and Ryan Gosling look great in the sleeveless hoodie but they’re also The Rock and Ryan Gosling. It's not really a fair comparison for the average dude.
So to suss out whether or not sleeveless hoodies have any place in a good wardrobe, I polled two very-fit friends in the know. Eren Legend, a former bodybuilding world champion and celebrity trainer, was strongly in favor—for those with the arms to do it. “Anyone who can fill out a sleeveless knows what I’m talking about,” he said. Legend has his own merch line, with sleeveless hoodies in the lineup, naturally. “You have both comfort and anonymity. When the hood is up it can look a bit mysterious but at the same time you get to show off your gains.”
Showing off was the reason my most fashion-forward friend, Diego, objected to my hoodie. “It's like humble-bragging as an article of clothing. You’re pretending you’re shy because you have a hood on while at the same time saying ‘look at my fucking arms,’” he said. “Having a hood and no arms is like having a steel-toe croc. I don’t understand how anyone could look at themselves and think: I look fucking great. It looks like you rushed to the tailor and ran away halfway through.”
But against my own expectations, I’ve continued to rock the sleeveless hoodie at the gym. I don’t know whether it’s a need to channel some kind of inner meathead when maxing out PRs or it’s just a hangover from the compliments I got when wearing it the first time. Throwing up the hood and hitting some curls still feels a bit like wearing a costume, but that's also the same way I felt when breaking in my first leather jacket. The key, I think, is embracing the outfit for the meathead costume that it is. Have an unnecessary large arch to your bench. Do 21s in front of the mirror and flex. Hit some hammer curls in the squat rack. You’re a sleeveless hoodie guy now. Better be posting those gains.
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By Chris Black