I am not a fashion blogger. I don’t even really like shopping for clothes (though I do like shopping for shoes…which is a weird place to draw the line in the sand). But as the seasons change I have come to realize there are two items that I have really enjoyed. One I purchased (the hoodie) and the other was sent to me by the brand’s outreach team. I am not going to develop scoring systems for either of these items, though I have considered a jacket scoring system for a long time, but I do think both warrant a review. In case you haven’t noticed, I do sometimes review things without a scoring system and they result in the following three recommendations: not recommended (do not buy this), recommended (consider buying this), or highly recommended (buy this and don’t worry).

Flint and Tinder 10 Year Hoodie

The world of hoodies is a baffling place. As two trends in the apparel world intersect, hoodies have become strangely complex. On one side of the equation you have streetwear folks with their limited edition, kilobuck sneakers donning thick, durable hoodies. On the other side you have the explosion of athleisure clothing making its way out of the gym and into everyday life. As a result there is an absolute metric ton of good, high quality hoodies out there and prices can get staggering quickly. If you are looking to do your own research on hoodies, I would suggest starting here—Hoodie Hunt. This site is a treasure trove of information, with great links and clear explanations.

The Flint and Tinder 10 Year hoodie replaced my American Giant hoodie. The AG lasted as long as the F&T is advertised to last—10 years. Eventually the cuffs fell apart and it became clear that it was time to get a new hoodie. The Flint and Tinder is a mid-priced, mid-weight hoodie, coming in at $118 for the zipped model and $88 for the pullover. Because it does not have additional insulation and the weight of the fabric is not exceptionally heavy, it is considered a mid-weight hoodie, though be aware that it is significantly thicker than your Champion hoodie from high school. It uses 23 ounce fleece, which makes it again, a mid-tier design. True high-end hoodies, which usual go for around $500 use loopwheeled cotton, which is only produced by a handful of companies in Japan and Germany (the machines used to make loopwheeled cotton are no longer made and are insanely difficult to maintain, so only fanatics still use them). All of the components of the Flint and Tinder 10 year Hoodie are carefully sourced from American providers (knife companies would be wise to follow this level of careful sourcing in their components): the cotton is from Mississippi, the fleece from South Carolina, the seams are made in Philadelphia, the zipper is made in Georgia, and the entire thing is cut, sewn, and assembled in Los Angeles. Flint and Tinder made a splash releasing this hoodie on Kickstarter where it was very successfully funded. Huckberry started selling it after that and then Flint and Tinder was “brought into the Huckberry family” which sounds like Huckberry bought the brand. Rich Greiner, one of the two founders of Huckberry, was on the podcast before and is a cool dude.

The Flint and Tinder Hoodie feels like the American Giant, thick material, strong elastics, excellent and smooth zipper. The major difference between the two is the inside pocket. It is designed for a smart phone, but the pocket is not particularly large and so I prefer to not use it, unless I am exclusively standing up, like on a hike or a walk around the city. For stand up and sit down use (like running errands) I have had the phone pop out. It is, in other words, not the deal maker that I thought it would be compared to the American Giant. If you are on the fence, its probably enough to break a tie, but if you have any reason to prefer the American Giant version, they are so close to being equal that I would opt for it. It is the jacket equivalent of a fall soup—warm, hardy, and comforting.

Recommended

Kuhl Ambush Shorts

Kuhl sent me these for review at the beginning of the summer and I have worn the snot out of them. These are basically cargo shorts with DWR properties. They look a bit more militaristic than I prefer in clothing, but they are stylish nonetheless and tough as all get out. I used them when hiking and trapsing through creeks and seashores this summer and they held up nicely.

Kuhl, in case you are unaware, fashions themselves as a “mountain wear” company, designing all sorts of good for the ski slopes. They tend to be more stylish than ultra high performance. Canada Goose has nothing to worry about (though I am a bit concerned by the attempt to reposition that brand as streetwear—embrace your inner Ernest Shackleford). Think of Kuhl as LL Bean with more style or Triple Aught Design with more reasonable prices.

Over the years I have had a cardigan, a bunch of pants, and a few other odds and ends from Kuhl and I have never been disappointed. Their pants outlasted all of my Triple Aught Design apparel by years and they were between 1/2 to 1/3 less money. They do go a bit zippertastic and they have never said no to contrast stitching, but their clothing is solid.

The Ambush shorts were the practically perfect shorts for beach combing—brushing off sand with ease, not being too bothered by water, and equipped huge pockets. I was not a fan of zippers all that much, but they do provide a bit of extra security against lost or dropped items, so if that is a concern for you, these are a major upgrade from the Dad Section Gap Cargo Shorts.

Two things of note—the shorts are bit pricey at $75 and Kuhl’s sizing runs small. I am a 34 waist all day long and twice on Sunday, but these were snug. Similarly, I just ordered their Relik Softshell Hoodie and I got a large. Again, I am pretty consistently a medium everywhere, but even the large from Kuhl was too small. An extra large is on the way.

These are a more serious and more tacticool looking pair of cargo shorts, but they are very good for general messy exploring in the deep summer. If you want a break from the official summer shorts of Dads everywhere, but you are not QUITE ready to ditch the excessive pockets, these are a good pick.

Recommend