We are designing a sun hoody for climbers, what features are important to you?

Basically, we are trying to grow our brand, developing quality climbing related products at a reasonable and fair price. I think it would be awesome to have a good well made sun hoody around the $25 range instead of the $50-$70 range that is what's currently on the market right now.

Here are the features we know we want to include:
-lightweight
-anti UV
-breatheable
-quick drying
-fitted sleeves (by the wrist)

Here are some of the things we are thinking about as we work with the clothing manufacturer, any input from you guys would be greatly appreciated!

1) Do you prefer the hood to go over or under the helmet?
-When it's hot out, I feel like the hood should go over the helmet and under when it's cold. But more opinions wanted.

2) Do you wear it mostly as a baselayer?

3) Overall it should have a looser fit.

4)Thumb loops are overrated.

1: Under
2: No
3: Yes
4: Yes they are

1. Over helmet

2. Yes, next to skin base layer

3. Semi looser fit is OK. Very stretchy and athletic cut is better. Definitely cut longer to stay under harness.
4. Thumb loops are good, if one doesn't like them, they don't have to use them.

5. I like a balaclava like zipper (like an R1) but an older Ex-officio was the one hoodie I have seen it on.

caughtinside wrote: Hi James,

I compare all sun hoodies to the patagonia tropic comfort II, the best one (of only three) I've tried.

1. The hood should cover a helmet.  You don't want it tight fitting anyway, to facilitate airflow. I like how the TCII is designed to wear over a ball cap, you get lots of protection for the next and side of your face, and still have a little airflow.  Side benefit is this design also works over a helmet.

2. It's the only thing I wear when I have to be in the sun.  so, yeah, a base layer. (I generally have it in my pack if I'm wearing warmer clothes to the crag in the morning)

3. Looser fit is correct.  

4.  Normally I'm not a fan of thumb loops, but I do like them on sun hoodies to protect the back of your hands from UV.  as a climber, you don't want to sunblock the back of your hands, so I think this is a nice feature.

If there were ways to increase airflow through the shirt, that would be great.  vented pits? Maybe a half chest zip?

Also, I would totally wear (and happily look like a dork) lightweight pants made of the same material, to protect my legs.

+1

I think the sleeves are a key area that can be improved. They need to be loose enough that they can be pulled up to the elbows for climbing without cutting off circulation, but long enough that they can be pulled down over the hands at belays. I actually think thumb loops are a good idea.

The hood should be spacious enough to go over the helmet with room to spare.

Vents would also be nice.

Mine (cheapo amazon edition) works best as my only layer. But it's still too clammy to hike in when it's hot. So I either approach in a t-shirt and change shirts if it's a longer route and I'm returning to the base, or pull it over a t-shirt while belaying in a cragging scenario.

You can pay $25 for a big bottle of sunscreen. Why worry about cheaping out on a garment you’ll wear every day?

If you start out with the goal of making a price point hoody you’re going to end up with with a cheap POS. Start out by designing the best, most functional sun hoody you can and sell it for a fair price. Who knows, you might surprise yourselves and find that you can find a designer, find the right fabric, meet the minimums for buying the fabric, meet minimums for sewing it, inspect it, package it, ship it, warehouse it, market it and then sell it for a fair price. Don’t worry if that’s $25.

Make sure there’s a secure pocket large enough to hold a cell phone and hopefully there’s a hook or lanyard in it for when you drop your phone.

Good luck,
Mal

I own a bunch of sun hoodies, including the vaunted Patagonia ones. My favorite is actually by O'Neill and was designed to be a hoody that can also function in the water as a loose fitting rash guard. Bonus is that it has hand pockets.   us.oneill.com/products/24-7…

1) Under helmet, over ball cap
2) Base
3) Looser
4) Rarely used, but still nice to have

1. Over, the Patagonia TCII nails it, small hoods just make you warmer...
2. I wear a sun hoody mostly by itself so I guess that makes it a baselayer...
3. loose but not baggy if that makes sense? forearms should be fairly tight and no huge gut in front, long and loose at the back and shoulders is best.
4. No, I have plenty of sunshirts with them and never use them, a longer sleeve than normal is nice though

I'm with Mal!

Remember the old adage: when you're outdoors, you don't care what you paid for your gear, you care whether it functions as it should.

Great feedback, here's some highlights:

-Definitely over the helmet, it's gotta be way too hot if it was stuffed under the helmet.
-longer cut to stay under harness
-look into venting (sort of prefer it to be all one material) or adding a low profile half zip (not convinced but will look into it), breatheable material will probably end up being key
-Definitely no pockets, material will be way to light to support anything.
-take care on the sleeves, must be able to roll up for crack climbing

You should account for the fact that climbers have disproportionately large forearms when designing the sleeves.

And thumb loops are great.

Hobo Greg wrote: I use sun hoodies as awesome hooded baselayers, personally I find that a loose fitting long sleeve button up is superior for hot climates. You don’t see the Bedouin wearing sun hoodies. Long loose fitting layers. So regardless of your brand’s design, if it’s a ~$25 hooded baselayer, id buy one.

How do you protect the back of your neck and head?

I also use mind as a super light midlayer. For some reason, no matter what, if it's hot out, I get soaked in sweat hiking with a sun hoody. But I'm hoping super breathable material and nice loose but not baggy fit might solve my problems...

Sam Skovgaard wrote: You should account for the fact that climbers have disproportionately large forearms when designing the sleeves.

And thumb loops are great.

really great point, I have some BD long sleeves where I literally cannot pull up the sleeves. 

caughtinside wrote:

No! No pocket.  the material is too lightweight to support a phone.  put your phone in your pants!

The material really is the key.  My TCII from 2 years ago feels cooler and more breathable than the current TCII material, the step backward is a bummer. 

I’m only going carry my TiPhone, I swear!

1) Over the helmet.

2) I typically wear a lightweight sun hoody when climbing in the summer. If I'm not wearing a sunhoody I wear a really thin long sleeve base layer and a buff.  In colder seasons I often wear an R1 (and maybe a puffy or a windbreaker depending.)

3) Loose but not huge.

4) No thumb loops.

Hobo Greg wrote:

Helmet and a bandana, much more ventilation than a hood. I use the hood on my sunhoody when it’s cold.

Interesting, I went with helmet and bandana on the Nose this August and feel like it was way better than a sunhoody would have been.

Regardless, still feel like there would be a market for a hooded baselayer, or a hooded super light midlayer. But yeah I tend to agree that sun hoodies might not be all that great when it's 80-90s out.

Have you looked at hoodys for fishing? Made for hot temps and available in your target price range. They work great.

Over helmet, only shirt worn, loose, cooling effect when hit by breeze. OR Echo does that well. Extra vents in arm pit and sides would be great. Lightweight of course. I climb in, what seems like 95 degree weather and exposed sun half the time. I'll happily gueani pig one for you :)

I’ve got an NRS sun hoodie, I believe it was $55. The tighter sleeves don’t bother me. If I’m wearing my sun shirt it’s to stay out of the sun so I’m not rolling up my sleeves.

Not sure you can vastly improve on sun shirts and beat the price down. 

Barry M wrote: I’ve got an NRS sun hoodie, I believe it was $55. The tighter sleeves don’t bother me. If I’m wearing my sun shirt it’s to stay out of the sun so I’m not rolling up my sleeves.

Not sure you can vastly improve on sun shirts and beat the price down. 

Maybe not vastly improve, but I do think a lot of outdoor products have insane markups, and our goal is to deliver a quality product with a reasonable price. 

For example, we are working with a designer that is charging $6/piece for 500 pieces, so assuming that the product meets our specifications, $25 with free shipping would be pretty reasonable.