The Essentials Hoodie, Explained: Fear of God's Basics, Sorted for Every Day of the Week

Fear of God was founded in 2013 by Jerry Lorenzo, the man behind what Business of Fashion calls a luxury streetwear label, founded in Los Angeles. Five years later, in 2018, he added a second line, Essentials, and that is the one most of us actually wear on a Tuesday. The Essentials hoodie is its calling card, so it is the right place to start. I went deeper on a related idea in Fear of God ESSENTIALS Tops: A Guide to the Best Buys.

 

I like how Lorenzo explains the idea himself. He describes Essentials as the basics that support your wardrobe, because not everything in your closet needs to be luxury. That is a good way to shop it. You are not buying a loud piece to build an outfit around, you are buying the quiet layer that lets the rest of the closet do its job.

 

So here is my honest point of view. Pick one pullover from the first group and wear it to death before you buy a second. The Essentials hoodie and the Classic logo-patch hoodie are the most direct versions of the idea, and the Essentials logo-print hoodie is the same thought with the name on the front. If you like a chest mark you can read from across the room, the Logo-print hoodie, the 90s logo-print hoodie and the Logo-motif hoodie are where I would look.

 

The ones with small embroidery are calmer. The Logo-embroidered hoodie, the Embroidered-logo hoodie and the Logo-patch hoodie suit someone who wants the label to be a detail rather than the headline. The 90s fleece hoodie classic fit and the Signature Classic cotton hoodie are the two I would try on first, since both are the plain, mid-weight shapes in the group.

 

New in the group are the oatmeal Classic Hoodie, the Classic Raglan Hoodie in washed vintage black with print down the sleeve, and the Modern Cropped Hoodie in ink black. The cropped one is the pick if you wear your hoodies with high-waisted pants and want the hem to stop where the waistband starts.

 

Then there are the plainer ones: the Jersey hoodie and the Long-sleeve hoodie. I would reach for those under a trench or a blazer, where you want a hood and not much else going on.

 

My fitting-room test is simple. Pull the hood up and look in the mirror from the side. If it frames your face without swallowing your neck, it is working. Then lift your arms: the hem should rise a little and settle back, not ride up and stay there.

Essentials is where I start, but it is not the only hoodie in my closet. These sixteen come from labels that each do one thing well, and I like seeing them next to the Fear of God pieces above, because they show how many ways a plain hood can go.

 

Entire Studios is the one I would point to first. Dylan Richards Diaz and Sebastian Hunt, two New Zealand-born stylists, started the label in 2020, and the Heavy Hoodie in grey marle and the Heavy Hood in college green are exactly what the name says: thick, boxy and a little short in the body. Aviator Nation goes the other way. Paige Mycoskie started making the brand's clothes in her garage in Venice in 2006, and the rainbow stripes across the 5 Stripe Hoodie are still the thing everyone knows it for.

 

For something softer, Helsa's Saylor is a cashmere knit with a hood, and ALIGNE's Illaria is brushed wool in chocolate brown, both closer to a sweater than a sweatshirt. SKIMS, Cotton Citizen, LESET and Vuori make the clean everyday pullovers, and the zips from lululemon, WellBeing + BeingWell, Miaou and On's collaboration with FKA twigs open up like a light jacket. Alexander Wang's zip with the faux fur hood is the dressed-up one.

 

My test is the same as for Essentials: hood up, check the side view, then lift your arms and watch where the hem settles.

 

What I would skip: a heavyweight hoodie under a fitted coat. Save the thick ones for wearing on their own.

The second group is smaller, and it is the one I wear most in the in-between weeks. There are crewneck sweatshirts, the Essentials logo-print sweatshirt, the Logo-print sweatshirt, the Classic Crewneck Sweatshirt in oatmeal and the Modern Cropped Crewneck Sweatshirt in ink black. There are zip hoodies, the 90s full zip hoodie classic fit, the Zip-up fleece hoodie, the Classic Zip-Up Hoodie in oatmeal and the Modern Cropped Zip Hoodie in marble heather. Same maker, same quiet attitude, different ways to get dressed.

 

A crewneck is a different mood from a hood. There is nothing to pull up and nothing to bunch at the back of your neck, so it sits more neatly under a coat collar or a scarf. I wear a sweatshirt like the Logo-print sweatshirt when I have somewhere to be and want to look pulled together without trying. With straight jeans and a plain white tee peeking out at the hem, it is a whole outfit.

 

The zip hoodies are my favorite for travel and for mornings that start cold and end warm. The 90s full zip hoodie classic fit and the Zip-up fleece hoodie open and close in one motion, so you can wear them as a jacket over a slip dress or a tank. Leave the zip halfway down and the whole thing looks looser and more deliberate. The Modern Cropped Zip Hoodie does the same job with a shorter hem, which suits a high-waisted skirt.

 

One thing I like about Lorenzo's point of view is how much baseball hangs around it. The Los Angeles Times notes he is the son of major league manager Jerry Manuel and that baseball heavily inspires his designs. You can see why a zip fleece in a plain color feels like something you would throw on over a jersey, and why a simple crewneck feels like a team warm-up piece. I would not push the comparison further than that, but it makes the zips and sweatshirts easier to picture.

 

If you only buy one thing from this group, make it a zip. It does the job of a hoodie and a light jacket, and it goes with everything from tailoring to bike shorts. A quick test: put it on over your thickest sweater and check that you can still reach forward and hug someone without the sleeves tightening across your back.

A hoodie on its own is good. A hoodie with the pants made for it is a decision, and I mean that kindly. Matching sets look intentional when they are done calmly, and Essentials makes that easy, since the same plain logo language runs across the line. The third group starts with eight pairs of sweatpants and track pants, and I will walk through them like I would in a fitting room.

 

Start with the sweatpants. The Classic signature sweatpants is the simplest, and it is what I would pair with any pullover from the first group. The Signature Classic cotton track pants are the more polished cousin of the Classic signature sweatpants.

 

The track pants are where it gets interesting. The Drawstring logo-detail track pants, the Drawstring-fastening track pants and the Logo-embroidered track pants are the straight, no-fuss ones. The Essentials logo-embroidered track pants repeat the name from the hoodie, so they make the most obvious pair for the Essentials logo-print hoodie.

 

Then there are the two flared pairs, the Drawstring-fastening flared track pants and the Flared track pants. I love a flare with a clean sneaker or a low boot, because the hem falls over the shoe and lengthens the whole leg. Pair them with a zip layer from the second group and you have a quiet, balanced look.

 

What I would skip: matching the logo on top and bottom in the same size and color, head to toe, when you are wearing it out of the house. It can read like a uniform. Break it up with one different layer, a trench, a leather jacket or a plain tee, and let one piece carry the label. I would also skip trying pants on without shoes. Wear the sneakers or boots you plan to wear, so you can see where the hem actually lands.

 

The second half of the grid is more Essentials to wear with the pants: the 90s, raglan and long-sleeve hoodies, a half zip and a full zip, two track jackets, four crewnecks and two more pairs of sweatpants.

 

Check the drawstring too. Pull it, tie it, and move around the room. It should hold without digging in.

Here is how I would build a week around one hoodie. Monday, the pullover with straight jeans. Wednesday, the same hoodie under a coat, hood out over the collar. Friday, the zip over a dress, sleeves pushed up. On the weekend, the matching track pants and a clean sneaker.

 

If you are choosing just one piece, ask what you will wear it with most. For jeans, take a pullover. For dresses and travel, take a zip. For a full set, start with the pants and choose the hoodie to go with them.

 

Fear of God also has a third pillar now. In December 2020 adidas announced a long-term partnership with the brand, and it formed Fear of God Athletics next to Essentials and the luxury mainline. I find that useful context, because it shows how Lorenzo sees the three lines: the main line as the dressed-up one, Athletics for sport, and Essentials for the everyday. For most of us, that is the line we live in.