Sunspel vs Aviator Nation: which sweatshirt to buy, and when
Both land in the premium tier: the Sunspel Loopback Sweatshirt at $170, the Aviator Nation Bolt Crew Sweatshirt at $175, $5 apart. Here is how they stack up, head to head.
| Sunspel | Aviator Nation | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $170 | $175 |
| Material | A 100% cotton loopback body — the internal loop stitch traps heat while staying breathable — with ribs of 95% cotton and 5% elastane, made in Portugal. | Tri-blend fleece — 50% polyester, 38% cotton, 12% rayon — put through the brand's intense breaking-down process so it arrives pre-softened with a vintage surface. |
| Fit | A regular, neat cut that sits close without being tight, trim enough to wear under a jacket. Owner reports call it true to size. | Unisex sizing the brand itself says runs big for women and true for men. Several owner reports mention sizing down one — usual-medium owners buying a small — so women in particular should consider dropping a size. |
| Quality | Reviewers report the fabric resists pilling better than most sweatshirt materials and softens rather than degrades across repeated washes. | Single-needle stitch work and hand sewing in Los Angeles; owner reports mention it holding up, with one repeat buyer saying her first set still looks great after heavy wear and washing. Brand-wide independent reviews are polarized, so expect some quality-control variance between pieces. |
| Best for | Someone who wants one refined, layerable cotton crewneck in a plain color and accepts premium-tier money for a lighter-weight sweatshirt. | Right for someone who wants the 1970s California look in an already-softened, made-in-LA crew and accepts paying for that provenance; wrong for anyone expecting cotton-dominant fleece at this price. |
| Care | The brand's guidance is a gentle 30°C machine wash with no tumble drying and no dry cleaning. | Machine wash cold with like colors, then hang or tumble dry on low, per the brand's own care guidance. |
At $170 and $175 respectively, these two sweatshirts are separated by $5 — a gap so small it is functionally irrelevant — yet they deliver meaningfully different things: one is a refined 100% cotton loopback crewneck built for longevity and layering, the other is a tri-blend, pre-distressed piece whose price is partly carried by Los Angeles provenance and retro cachet rather than fiber quality. The real question is not which costs more, but what the roughly $170 is actually purchasing in each case.
- The case for Sunspel
- The Sunspel wins on material integrity: 100% cotton loopback construction resists pilling, softens with washing rather than degrading, and is trim enough to layer under a jacket — characteristics reviewers consistently tie to long-term durability.
- The case for Aviator Nation
- The Aviator Nation wins on immediate softness and aesthetic: the pre-broken-in tri-blend fleece arrives with a worn-in vintage surface that the Sunspel's structured loopback will not replicate, and hand-sewn LA production delivers a specific 1970s California look that is the explicit point of the garment.
VerdictThe pick
Buy the Sunspel if the priority is a durable, layerable cotton crewneck that holds its quality across years of washing — the $170 is backed by consistent reviewer reports on fabric and longevity. Buy the Aviator Nation if the pre-softened vintage feel and made-in-LA provenance are the actual goal, but go in clear-eyed: at $175, a 50% polyester tri-blend with documented quality-control variance is not a better-value garment than the Sunspel — it is a different one, and the $5 gap does not come close to justifying what the Aviator Nation asks buyers to overlook on fiber content alone.
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