The Gap hoodie below is great, but there’s no shortage of GQ-approved alternatives worth swaddling your torso in this fall. Acquaint yourself with them right here.
The turn of the millennium scared the pants off people. The “Y2K problem” engendered a litany of concerns, some more pressing than others. Would the whole world go up in flames? Would everyone lose their money? And, perhaps most importantly: would folks be able to buy the original Gap hoodie online anymore? (In retrospect, we’re not sure which of the three dominated more headlines.)
First, a little context. In 1995, Gap introduced the arch logo hoodie as a kids-only exclusive; in 1998, it migrated to the men’s section, too. A year later, it made its debut on the virtual stage when it became available on Gap’s then-fledgling e-commerce site, bringing the brand out of the galleria and into the binary code. Which begged the question: If the internet crashed forever, would people have to—gulp—return to the mall to score their Gap fix? Luckily, it all turned out okay, and Gap’s hero product has been flying off the shelves ever since.
More recently, though, the erstwhile Millennial hit has caught on with a different demographic entirely: Gen Z. Thanks to savvy collaborations with brands like Madhappy and Palace (plus a cheeky designer rip or two), the Gap logo hoodie has enjoyed a moment of highly-specific ubiquity. Back in 2021, the hype around the hoodie reached such a fever pitch that Gap re-released it in brown, a colorway that hadn’t been around since computers were the size of toaster ovens. Sure, the average Gen Z kid might not have experienced the highs and lows of Y2K fashion firsthand, but hey, they come by it honestly—their parents lived to tell the tale.
The kids weren’t wrong. In the decades since it hit the market, Gap’s logo hoodie hasn’t changed much. Its cotton-blend construction is as soft as ever, its brushed terry interior is toastier than it has any right to be, and it’s readily available in pullover or zip-up form. Though the price has increased since the halcyon days of the internet, it still tops out an affordable $50. (In this economy, that’s a steal!)
If you or your darling parents are still traumatized by the Y2K scare, though, best to keep the next bit of news on the down-low. Right now, Gap’s most iconic product is half off, putting the final price at $24, nearly as cheap as it was the year it was born. Chalk it up to a very apropos backend glitch or to the Gap team’s own ’90s nostalgia, but they’re practically giving these puppies away. If only we could get them to work on your rent while they’re at it.
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