Hooded Sweatshirt Guide

Is there any piece of clothing in the modern world besides the ubiquitous t-shirt that has a wider wearership than the hooded sweatshirt?  How many other casual garments can you name that are suitable for daily wear, keep you warm, and have a hood attached?  People of all ages and from all walks of life, including men, women, and most likely any other gender wear hoodies.  Some, like the denizens of California's foggy and often chilly central coast, make good use of their hoods and you will see normal people (not just those engaged in criminal activity) shuffling around with hoods on head.  Rest assured that most of the hooded people you see in towns like Santa Cruz are decent folks.  Others, like people in most other places, may never use their hoods at all or only use them when it's absolutely necessary.  These people often associate the use of the hood in non-inclement weather with suspect activity and might view hood-wearers with suspicion. 
A hooded sweatshirt might sport any logo, and the farmer and the hoodlum both feel right at home in a hoody.  Although you will see most people wearing a pullover hooded sweatshirt, the zip hooded sweatshirt is also quite popular and is a bit more versatile in terms of keeping cool and showing off what you are wearing underneath.  Hoodies are great because they are not all-out cold weather gear like jackets and can be worn just about anytime.  Since the cotton hooded sweatshirt is the norm, hoodies are also easy to care for and last a long time without costing too much.  This article will explore the various types of hooded sweatshirts people wear, organized according to types of people.  It should help you in searching for a hoodie for a gift or for yourself.  Unless you don't know a person well, it will be helpful to loosely classify hoodie wearers into the following categories: Artsy, Nerdy, Thug, Sporty, Normal, Family, Dork, Yuppie, Country, Eco/ Hippie, Trendy, Rap/ Hip-hop, and Other.   

Let's use an example.  If you are looking for a hoodie to give your husband for Christmas or his birthday, you're not going to do yourself any favors by doing an internet search for the terms mens hooded sweatshirt.  That just covers too broad a base.  Let's assume that your husband is a manly man, into football and cars, things of that sort.  Why, you would do better to just get him a hoodie featuring the emblem of his favorite sports team, say, a Notre Dame hooded sweatshirt.  But if your husband is a guy who doesn't like to advertise his likes and dislikes to the world at large, any old solid-colored hooded pullover men's hooded sweatshirt would do just fine.  Is your man a hard worker, doing manly tasks like chopping firewood and fixing cars?  A Carhartt hooded sweatshirt may be just the ticket.  
If you're a man looking for a hooded sweatshirt for your wife, use the same approach.  The average person may not want to wear a hoodie emblazoned with a giant logo, so it may be safer to go with more conservative womens hooded sweatshirts.  A lot of women love the fleece hooded sweatshirt as the fleece provides extra warmth.  It also seems that many women like the versatility of a zip up hooded sweatshirt more than men. 
In the world of hoodies, there is one that transcends social classes and subcultures- the black hooded sweatshirt.  This is the only one, whether a hooded zip sweatshirt or pullover, fleece or normal cotton, that can been found on the bodies of arty types, nerds, thugs, dorks, sexy people, and normal people alike.  Well, it may be a little rarer on plain old "normal" people (used loosely) as it is so often associated with the preceding types, but you can get away with it- something sporting a rapper or street gang-esque decorations, on the other hand, are to be avoided in general.  Black will be an okay choice for a lot of people, although a blue or green hooded sweatshirt may be more wearable to those who don't normally don black.  Of course, grey hooded sweatshirts may be even more common than black, but they aren't worn as much by arty and nerdy types who tend to like darker and/or more vibrant colors.  This is a good one for Joe six-pack types or serious people.
When getting a youth hooded sweatshirt for teenagers and college kids, it is recommended that you don't get a real thug-type hoodie.  It is understood that  if you are reading this article, you probably aren't a gang member and wouldn't want to be friends with someone who is.  Wearing something that is affiliated with organized and not-so-organized crime is not such a good idea.  If you like the aesthetic, though, there are a wide variety of hip-hop inspired hoodies that are sported by a lot of urban youth.  These can be quite stylish and may feature interesting designs, plus they are not overtly associated with bad activities.  This is true for all boys hooded sweatshirts and kids hooded sweatshirts too.