2 weeks ago
The Surprisingly Political History of the Hoodie
The hoodie is a comfy and warm piece of clothing worn all over the world.
Hoods are very old - children in the Iron Age and people in the Middle Ages wore them to stay warm.
The hoodie we know today started as sports clothing in the 1930s, when a company called Champion made a hooded sweater for athletes.
Later, break dancers, skaters and rappers like Eminem turned the hoodie into streetwear.
Some people thought hoodies looked scary and even banned them in shopping centres.
In 2012, a teenager named Trayvon Martin was shot in Florida while wearing a hoodie, which made people talk about fairness and race.
Today, important people like Mark Zuckerberg and John Fetterman wear hoodies on purpose.
So a simple sweatshirt can tell a big story about sports, music, politics and fairness.
The modern hoodie emerged in the 1930s, when Champion Athletic Apparel developed a hooded sweater to keep athletes warm.
Sylvester Stallone's Rocky training scene at the Philadelphia Museum of Art helped lift the hoodie into the cultural zeitgeist.
Hoodies were banned in shopping centres in the UK, the US and New Zealand in the 2000s, while an Australian trial ban was scrapped after community outrage.
The 2012 fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, who was wearing a hoodie, sparked the Million Hoodie March against racial profiling.
John Fetterman wore a tuxedo-style hoodie to Donald Trump's second presidential inauguration, underscoring the garment's power as a political statement.
- Who
- Figures from medieval monks and Anne Boleyn to Sylvester Stallone, Michael B. Jordan, Mark Zuckerberg, John Fetterman, Donald Trump and Trayvon Martin have shaped the hoodie's story.
- What
- The cultural and political history of the hoodie, from ancient hooded garments and 1930s sportswear to streetwear, shopping centre bans, racial politics and protest attire.
- Where
- From Scotland's Orkney Islands and a Swedish bog to sports fields, shopping centres across the UK, the US, New Zealand and Australia, Florida (where Trayvon Martin was killed), and museums in Rotterdam and Atlanta.
- When
- Hooded garments date from the late Iron Age (third to seventh century CE); the modern hoodie emerged in the 1930s, and the garment remains politically significant, with exhibitions in 2019 and 2026.
- Why
- The hoodie became political because it became entangled with groups and gangs, surveillance and control, fear and policing, race and power - raising questions about who can wear it without fear of repercussion.
Hoodies unfairly stigmatised
Hoodies as a security concern
Hoodies and crime
Hoodies unfairly stigmatised
Hoodies were unfairly linked to youth crime, fuelling moral panic and racial profiling - as seen with Trayvon Martin, who was shot for looking "suspicious".
Hoodies as a security concern
Oversized or baggy hoodies with the hood up were associated with vandalism, violence and shoplifting, prompting shopping centre bans in the UK, the US and New Zealand.
Race and suspicion
Hoodies unfairly stigmatised
Martin's killing raised the troubling question of who can wear a hoodie without fear of repercussion, with age and skin colour playing a part.
Hoodies as a security concern
The hood's capacity to make wearers menacingly anonymous led some to query the place of the hoodie in the shooting itself.
Hoodies in formal settings
Hoodies unfairly stigmatised
Wearing a hoodie is a legitimate sartorial rebellion - Mark Zuckerberg flouted corporate dress trends in investor meetings, and John Fetterman made it a political statement.
Hoodies as a security concern
Hoodies clash with expected formal dress in business and politics, such as the black-tie dress code of the White House Correspondents' Dinner and presidential inaugurations.
Key facts
- Dictionary entry
- "Hoodie" added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006 as "a hooded sweatshirt, fleece, or other garment".
- First modern hoodie
- Hooded sweater developed by Champion Athletic Apparel in the 1930s.
- Ancient example
- The Orkney Hood, from Scotland's Orkney Islands, dates to the late Iron Age (third-seventh century CE).
- Shopping centre bans
- Banned in UK, US and New Zealand in the 2000s; an Australian trial ban was scrapped after community outrage.
- Trayvon Martin shooting
- 2012, Florida - unarmed African American teenager wearing a hoodie was fatally shot for looking "suspicious".
- Protest
- The Million Hoodie March protested racial profiling after Martin's death.
- Notable wearers
- Sylvester Stallone (Rocky), Eminem, Ice-T, Mark Zuckerberg and John Fetterman.
- Exhibition
- Held at the Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam (2019) and the Museum of Design Atlanta (2026).
Sources
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