Most of the complaints I read were about the sizing in general- and that seems to be remedied with an exchange pretty easily- but I didn't see anything about the size of the hood in particular. I've had two of these now and overall I like them but they've both had hoods that don't seem to pull over very far. I thought my first one last year was just a one-off issue but after getting another in the mail, I'm a little less than impressed. I'm outdoors pretty often and come fall I like a hood I can pull up, cinch tight and feel like my forehead and neck are turtle-snug. This hood just doesn't seem to have enough material to do anything other than cover the top of my head. I own probably seven or eight different hoodies- this is the only one that ever made me wonder about how a tailor measures out, like, hood construction or whatever. If you're somebody that doesn't worry about messing up their coiffure and actually uses a hood to keep their head warm, you might want to keep this difficulty in mind. I'm of a height and weight for size Large Tall and those dimensions fit me in every other way. I don't have a sasquatch head either... so what's up?
I like everything about this sweatshirt except for the hood. The hood fit fine out of the bag, but after one wash in cold water and drying in low heat, the shrinkage was such that, although the body was still nice and "relaxed" in fit, the sleeves had shorted more than I would have expected, but the real problem is that the way the hood shrunk pulled it back to the very top of my forehead and even tightening it with the lace didn't feel comfortable and it's not stretchable because of the lining.
My head tends to be a bit on the large side of an adjustable "one size fits all" cap, so I know that if Bean had properly accounted for shrinkage in their model, this hood issue shouldn't have happened; I found an almost exact same concern in a review posted here in 2008, so it doesn't appear that Bean considers this hood issue to be significant enough to warrant a modification.
There's so much to like about this design that I don't want to return it, but the hood is as annoying to me as that little cavity in a tooth that you know is there and you can't help poking it with your tongue...if you know what I mean!
I got one of these in charcoal heather and was not impressed. The hood is shaped strange and is too small (not deep enough and cold air gets in from side) for real use. The draw cords could be flat, heavy, and useful, not the tiny cords it does have. Finally, the color doe4s not match the picture. The color I received was like gray sweats, and not the lovely charcoal color displayed. Sent back and of course, Bean was great. This does not happen often with Bean's products, but on this one, apologies, but I went with a competitor and was happier there. I will continue to buy from Bean, just not this product.
ProsDurable, Great Value, Comfortable, versatile, good for outdoor work
My husband works outside doing car fabrication and installation and lives in his collection of sweatshirts. This one get a lot of use because it is so comfortable and warm he often does not need to wear a coat over it to stay warm. he loves the nylon lined arms so when he wears a long sleeve shirt under it, the shirt fabric won't stick to the lining of the sweatshirt
