Nicholas Daley Hooded Pullover

The hooded sweatshirt is the most culturally loaded garment of the last fifty years and one of the least designed. Almost every one on the market is the same jersey body with the same eyelets and the same round drawcord, and the differences between them are a logo. Daley’s departure is small and consequential: the neckline is closed with a flat fabric tie rather than with a cord through two metal eyelets. That single substitution moves the garment out of sportswear and toward the tie-fastened workwear that runs through the rest of his line, the same closure used on the Utility Waistcoat and the Lee Shirt.

The cloth is the other departure. This is not a cotton fleece. It is a blend built roughly on cotton with substantial polyester and nylon in it, which is a technical construction rather than a comfort one, and it gives the garment structure and weather resistance a sweatshirt does not normally have. Army green completes the reading. What is on the hanger looks like a hoodie and behaves rather more like a light shell.

Why we selected it

We took this because it is the only hooded pullover we have found that a grown man can wear without it reading as leisurewear, and the tie neck is most of the reason why. The fabric is the rest.

Tie closures instead of hardware recur throughout Nicholas Daley’s work, and this pullover is that detail applied to the most standardised garment there is.

Materials and construction

Forty-five percent cotton, thirty-nine percent polyester, and sixteen percent nylon. Made in England. Pullover with hood, front kangaroo pocket, fabric tie closure at the neckline. Colour: Army Green.

Fit notes

Cut as a pullover with room to layer over a tee or a waffle crew. The synthetic content means it holds its shape rather than relaxing into yours, so what it is on the first wearing is roughly what it will be on the fiftieth. Take your usual size.

Styling

Under the Lavenham Sashiko Jacket, which is the same register of garment one layer up. With the Wide Leg Cargo Pant in navy, where the technical cloths agree with each other. Over a plain tee with any trouser he cuts.

Care

Wash cool and hang to dry. The polyester and nylon content means heat is the risk rather than water, so keep it out of a hot dryer, which will set creases into a synthetic blend permanently. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Wide Leg Cargo Pant in navy is cut in the same technical register. The Lavenham Sashiko Jacket is the quilted layer over it, and the Crew Neck Waffle in black the plain knit under. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.