Detroit Hoodies

Five months of hood weather

Detroit’s snow season is about five months long. The National Weather Service office for Detroit puts the average date of the season’s first measurable snowfall at November 16, and the average date of the last at April 7. That is a normal year. The record book stretches it in both directions — the earliest first snowfall on record is October 12, 2006, and the latest last snowfall is May 22, 1883. For about five months out of twelve, a hood is not a style decision.

The cold here has a record worth respecting. The longest unbroken stretch of below-zero temperatures ever recorded in Detroit ran from 7 p.m. on February 8 to 2 p.m. on February 11, 1899 — sixty-eight straight hours. Same weather service, same book.

Why a hood and not a coat. In January 1914 Ford Motor Company announced it would pay five dollars for an eight-hour day at its Highland Park plant, replacing a rate of $2.34 for a nine-hour day. The Henry Ford — the museum and archive that holds the company’s records — puts the reason plainly: by late 1913 turnover on the new assembly lines had reached 380 percent, bad enough that adding 100 men to the workforce meant hiring 963. Cutting the day to eight hours is also what let the plant run three shifts instead of two. Three shifts means there is no hour of the night when nobody in this city is walking out to a car. A coat is for going somewhere. A hood is for the ten minutes between the door and the lot, at 4 a.m., in March.

What’s in the collection. Text-first Detroit designs, drawn in-house — no logos, no mascots, no borrowed marks, no player names. Ever.

The blank. A heavyweight pullover with a front pouch pocket, in black, navy or charcoal heather, sizes S through 3XL, $57. Every hoodie is printed after you order it and shipped from the U.S., so nothing sits in a warehouse going stale.

Fit and care. Unisex sizing, true to size. Machine wash cold, inside out, tumble dry low — the print outlasts the hoodie if you do.

Want the same designs lighter? The 313 and Still Here artwork is on tees in the 313 Collection. For headwear, start at Detroit Hats or go straight to Detroit Trucker Hats.

Sources: NOAA / National Weather Service, Detroit/Pontiac — Southeast Michigan Climate Information — the average first and last measurable snowfall dates, the October 12, 2006 and May 22, 1883 records, and the 68-hour below-zero record of February 1899. The Henry Ford, Crowd of Applicants outside Highland Park Plant after Five Dollar Day Announcement, January 1914 (Benson Ford Research Center, object 84.1.1660.P.833.29) — the five-dollar eight-hour day, the previous $2.34 nine-hour rate, and the 380 percent turnover figure. The move from two shifts to three is recorded in EBSCO’s research summary of the same announcement.