How to Wash and Care for Your Hoodie

A decent hoodie is built to last. What kills most of them is not wear, it's the wash. Hot water, tumble dry on high, a careless cycle with denim and zippers, and three months in your favourite hoodie is faded, pilled, and a size smaller than it started.

The good news: the routine that saves a hoodie is simple. Five rules, a couple of habits, and you'll get years out of a piece that would otherwise be a single-season throwaway. Here's the full version.

Rule 1: Cold wash, every time

Hot water is the single biggest killer. It shrinks cotton, fades dye, breaks down elastic in the cuffs and waistband, and accelerates pilling on every fabric.

Cold (under 30°C) is fine for almost every kind of dirt. Sweat, food spills, light mud, normal day-to-day grime all come out cold if you don't let them sit for a week first. If something is genuinely stained, treat the stain directly (more on that below) instead of cranking the whole machine up.

The only time warm makes sense is if someone in your house has been sick and you actually need to sanitise the load. Otherwise it's cold or nothing.

Rule 2: Inside out, always

Turn your hoodie inside out before it goes in the machine. Three reasons:

1. The outside of the fabric, the bit you see, takes most of the friction from the drum and from other clothes. Inside out means that friction lands on the inside of the fleece instead. Less pilling, less fading, longer-lasting colour.
2. Any prints or branding on the front stay protected. This matters even on plain hoodies because woven labels and care tags can scratch up the next garment over.
3. Brushed-back fleece (the soft fuzzy lining most quality hoodies have) lasts longer when it's not being constantly scraped against zippers and buttons in the same load.

It takes two seconds. Make it a habit at the laundry basket, not at the machine.

Rule 3: Wash with similar weights, not similar colours

Most people sort by colour. For hoodies you want to sort by weight too.

A heavy 320 GSM hoodie thrown in with t-shirts, underwear and tea towels will batter the lighter items, and the lighter items can't absorb enough water to clean the hoodie properly. The load comes out unevenly washed and unevenly worn.

Run hoodies, sweatshirts and jeans together. Run tees, shirts and undergarments together. If you're not sure what counts as the same weight, hold it dry and bounce it on one hand. If it feels notably heavier than the rest of the pile, separate it.

Rule 4: Skip the dryer when you can

A clothesline or a flat drying rack will add years to a hoodie's life. The dryer is the second-biggest shape killer after hot water.

If you absolutely have to use the dryer (rain, no time, communal laundry), do this:

• Low heat only. High heat shrinks cotton permanently and bakes in any leftover stains.
• Pull it out slightly damp and finish drying on a hanger or flat. The last 10% of dryer time does most of the shape damage.
• Never dry a wet hoodie folded over a heated rail. It dries crooked and the cuffs stretch out.

Air drying flat is best for heavy hoodies because hanging them wet stretches the shoulders. For lighter hoodies, a hanger is fine if you use a wide one. Wire hangers are out.

Rule 5: Wash less often than you think

Hoodies don't need a wash after every wear. Unless you've sweated heavily, spilled something, or worn it next to skin for the full day, give it a sniff and an airing on a hanger first.

A good hoodie can usually go five to seven wears between washes if it's been over a base layer. Every extra wear between washes is a wash you didn't do, and a wash you didn't do is wear and tear you didn't pay for.

Stain spot-treatment, fast

Before the wash, hit individual stains with a targeted treatment. The faster you do it, the easier it comes out.

• Sweat marks (collar, underarm): rub a paste of bicarb soda and a little water into the area, leave for 15 minutes, wash as normal.
• Food and grease: a drop of dishwashing liquid worked in with your fingers, then cold water. Dish soap is built to cut grease.
• Coffee, tea, juice: rinse from the back of the fabric (push the stain out, not through), then a normal stain stick before the wash.
• Mud: let it dry completely first. Brush off the crust, then wash. Trying to clean wet mud just spreads it.

Bleach is almost never the answer on a hoodie. It damages dye and weakens the fibres even on whites.

Storage matters too

Fold, don't hang. Hoodies on a hanger stretch at the shoulders over weeks and months. The classic dimple in the shoulder seam is from a thin hanger doing slow damage.

Stack folded hoodies in a drawer or on a shelf. If you must hang one (limited drawer space), use a wide wooden or padded hanger and clip it through the shoulder seam, not the neckline.

Quick reference

• Cold cycle, inside out, every time.
• Sort by weight, not just colour.
• Air dry flat for heavy, hanger for light, never the dryer if you can avoid it.
• Five to seven wears between washes for layered hoodies.
• Fold for storage, never hang on a wire.

That's the whole routine. Pair it with choosing the right hoodie in the first place and you'll get five years out of a piece that most people throw away in one. If you want to go deeper on fabric weight specifically, GSM explained covers how the numbers map to feel and longevity.

Browse the hoodies range or jump into mens hoodies to see the GSMs we stock. Sizing questions? The full size guide has body measurements for every cut.

Look after a good hoodie and it'll look after you.