Engineered Garments Raglan Hoodie

A raglan sleeve has no shoulder seam. Instead of a sleeve set into a round armhole, the sleeve runs in one piece from the underarm all the way up to the neck, on a long diagonal seam across the front and the back. It was drawn in the nineteenth century for a man who had lost an arm and needed a coat he could get into unaided, and it survives because of what it turned out to do for everybody else. With no seam sitting on the point of the shoulder, the arm moves through its whole range without the garment resisting anywhere, and the shoulder line goes soft instead of square.

The rest is a heavyweight cotton fleece, which is a knit brushed on the inside until the loops break open into a nap, so the face stays smooth and the back holds a layer of air. A snap placket rather than a zip. A pouch pocket across the front. None of it is complicated, and all of it is why this shape has been in continuous production since the 1930s while nearly everything around it changed.

Why we selected it

The hooded sweatshirt is everywhere, and most of them are made to a price. A heavy fleece, a raglan sleeve, and a snap front are the three things that separate one that lasts from one that does not.

The colour

Graphite is a grey with a cool cast to it, darker than a heather and short of charcoal. On a brushed fleece that is the useful place to sit, because a mid-to-dark grey is the only neutral that actually shows a nap: black swallows the surface entirely and a pale grey shows every mark instead. It goes under almost anything and reads as a base layer rather than as a statement.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent heavy cotton fleece, made in the USA. Snap-button front with a pouch pocket. Colour: Graphite.

Fit notes

A raglan sleeve reads roomier through the shoulder than a set-in one at the same measurement, because there is no seam marking where the shoulder ends. Heavy cotton fleece has give and good recovery, and it will shrink slightly on a first hot wash, which is worth avoiding rather than allowing for.

Styling

With the FW24 FA Pant in black. Under the Hooded Field Vest, which is the layering order both garments were drawn for. With the Natural Cotton Heavy Fatigue Pant, where the grey and the undyed cotton are the entire outfit.

Care

Wash cool and inside out, and keep it out of a hot dryer, which shrinks a cotton fleece and mats the nap on the inside. Dry it flat or on a broad hanger rather than a thin one, since a wet fleece is heavy enough to mark its own shoulders. Our cotton care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The same fleece with a print on it is the Printed Raglan Hoody in navy. The FW24 FA Pant in black and the Natural Cotton Heavy Fatigue Pant are the trousers, and the Hooded Field Vest the layer over it. There is more on the house on the Engineered Garments designer page. Everything we carry from Engineered Garments is listed together.