If you interviewed 100 people from Michigan, I think 98 of them would say their favorite weather is "hoodie & shorts" weather, which is hard to describe using a thermometer or a forecast; you just feel it. The other 2 Michiganders who say it isn't their favorite are just lying to you and are probably from somewhere else.
My point is: who doesn't love a hoodie? It is the most comfortable article of clothing you can wear that isn't a set of pajamas (and if you wear a hoodie to bed, then you deserve a round of applause and should probably be studied scientifically). Before this summer, we only offered a handful of not even hoodies, but long-sleeve options. We had a Great Lakes hoodie (the same design as the classic Great Lakes T), a neon-colored Great Lakes Life hoodie with a much smaller logo that has since been discontinued, and a few styles for Michigan State.
But we are expanding. Like I mentioned in Friday's notes about the new one-color t-shirts, we are moving forward with the same philosophy of simple primary logo designs on solid color garments (well, mostly) that go for durability and comfort rather than being one-of-a-kind. Hoodies offer much more versatility than a t-shirt; it can be your coat as well as your primary fashion piece. It can keep you warm while you rake leaves (not something that our Texas friends have to worry about), or even shovel snow (looking at you, Northern Michigan), but a hoodie also won't get in your way at the tailgate if you're playing cornhole or tossing a football around.
Plus, it hides your food baby after one too many brats, which EVERYONE who has ever tailgated can relate to. (I know that's why I love hoodie weather, I don't have to convince anyone that I'm in any sort of decent physical condition).
We're big fans of full disclosure here at Nudge, so here's some for you. They are a different garment than the Michigan State Gruff and Magic Johnson Script hoodies. Those are the top of the line and in an effort to keep our production costs down in year one (so we could offer it at a lower price to you), we are using a different hoodie (that also offers more colors) for the rest of our schools. They aren't as soft to the touch, but they are still comfortable, sized appropriately, and an excellent 80% cotton and 20% polyester blend so it doesn't feel too heavy and make you uncomfortably warm.
More full disclosure: we won't be offering hoodies for every single school in year one. We are dipping our toe in the water to see how our fans like them, if they like the designs and the feel, and what we can do differently. We've never printed hoodies en masse like this before, so we want to be sure we're doing everything right and don't jump the shark.
Our process is simple: we have five base colors that we are using (black, navy, royal blue, maroon, and CAMO!) and we've designed the prints accordingly so mostly every school can fit onto one of those colors. Limiting our garments helps us maintain inventory space and thus keep our costs down, thus making it less expensive for you to buy. We are also trying to get approval from as many schools as possible to use their logo on the camo as well as their primary color to give you as much customization as possible!
The hoodies retail for $36.99, less than the MSU hoodies because they are not a premier garment. We will be adding listings throughout the month of August and September for your school so check back in frequently or reach out to us directly if you want to!
We were planning on rolling out a much grander campaign to coincide with football season and back to school, but we're having to pivot again due to COVID-19. Please wear your mask and wash your hands!
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