Heavy Blend Hooded Sweatshirt
About Gildan’s hoodies: The blank hoodie most printed and bulk-bought sweatshirts are built on — Heavy Blend is the workhorse, with lighter and fleece-lined variants alongside.
Price check
Our take
Gildan's Heavy Blend is the hoodie the printing industry runs on, and bought blank it's about the cheapest wearable pullover you'll find. Owners describe a thick cotton/poly fleece that's warmer and more opaque than the price suggests, with a no-frills boxy cut. Nobody mistakes it for premium — the drawcords are basic, the fleece pills, and sizing runs large and shrinks. But as a warm, cheap, ruin-it-without-care hoodie, reviewers consistently say it does the job.
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The details
- Material
- 50/50 cotton/polyester fleece, ~8oz.
- Fit
- Boxy and roomy, runs large; shrinks toward true after a hot wash.
- Quality
- Functional blank quality — warm and opaque, but the fleece pills and the cuffs lose stretch over time.
- Best for
- Layering, around-the-house warmth, printing on, and a hoodie you won't baby.
- Care
- Wash cold and tumble low to limit the shrink and pilling the blend is prone to.
How Gildan hoodies hold up overall
Reviewers treat this hoodie line as a budget workhorse: the 50/50 cotton-polyester "Heavy Blend" fabric is actually midweight at 8.0 oz (270 gsm), giving moderate warmth for spring and fall rather than deep-winter insulation. Air-jet spun yarn keeps pilling down and double-needle stitching reinforces the collar, shoulders and cuffs. The recurring complaints are that the fabric feels thinner than the "Heavy Blend" name implies, the body runs short in length, and the cuffs and waistband stretch out over time. Owner sentiment consistently frames it as strong value for the price rather than a premium garment.
- Strengths
- Very low price for a pilling-resistant, double-stitched fleece that holds up to repeated washing.
- Watch out for
- Feels thinner than the "Heavy Blend" name suggests; cuffs and waistband stretch over time and it lacks a modern, roomier cut.
- Sizing
- True to size in width but runs short in length; expect 3-5% shrinkage if tumble-dried hot, so size up if you machine-dry.
About Gildan's hoodies line as a whole. Sources: Gildan 18500 Review: The Complete Guide to Heavy Blend Hoodies · Gildan 18500 Hoodie Review | Printful · Customer reviews for Gildan Men's Heavy Blend Hooded Sweatshirt - G18500 | Walmart.com
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