Apparel Shirts Hoodies

Hoodies

This category includes all of our hoodies for men and women. Merino wool hoodies can be used as a top layer “jacket” but also as a mid-layer. It is fantastic that people still like Särmä merino hoodie so much. Our hoodie has proven to be such a good piece of clothing that our staff can be seen wearing them every day at work and in free time. Read the full story

Product groups

This category includes all of our hoodies for men and women. Merino wool hoodies can be used as a top layer “jacket” but also as a mid-layer. It is fantastic that people still like Särmä merino hoodie so much. Our hoodie has proven to be such a good piece of clothing that our staff can be seen wearing them every day at work and in free time.

Our merino wool hoodie history

The story of the Särmä Merino Wool Hoodie began when our Leader Valtteri acquired an almost good cycling hoodie from the Land of the Free that cost a couple of hundred euros. It was a magnificent garment: you could cycle to work at -5 degrees Celsius, and you didn’t need to change any of the clothes despite it being 27 degrees warmer indoors. Merino wool is a fantastic material, but the hoodie had another good feature, it didn’t look like a cycling garment. It was an ordinary piece of clothing, just excellent for an active lifestyle.

It did have a few negative traits as well, even if you don’t take into account poor availability and high price: The sleeves weren’t long enough to cover the wrists when cycling, the hood didn’t function properly under the helmet, the zipper touched the bare skin if you didn’t wear an undershirt and this and that. Valtteri simply wanted to make a better one.

Making our own Merino wool hoodie felt intimidating. We hadn’t made many products that cost more than a hundred euros, so even if the price-quality ratio was without a doubt great, the price tag might still come as a shock. Valtteri made a sketch on the backside of a receipt and published it on the Varusteleka FB: We would like to make something like this, and it might cost around 150 euros, what do you think? After enough “Shut up and take my money” posts, we began the project.

The Merino hoodie was a big passionate project that also resulted in loads of social media updates. Nevertheless, the popularity was astounding: we were able to lower the price to 130 euros, yet it still felt quite high, but the first batch sold out instantly, and the same happened to the next one. It took quite a while before the demand and our courage to order enough met.

Very few folks know about the cycling-specific history because this hoodie doesn’t look like a cycling garment either. You should still try it in crappier weather, too. It can e.g. take light rain quite nicely. It doesn’t keep water out, but it feels nice and warm even when slightly wet. The pockets were also designed with cycling in mind. The large kangaroo pocket at the back can fit a lot of stuff and it won’t interfere with your thighs. The sleeve pocket can fit a large cell phone, it is in the least sweaty spot, and you can hear the ringtone in all conditions.

We first made the men’s merino wool hoodie in black. And soon came the oxblood (discontinued) and gray. Later came the green (2018) and yellow (2020). During these years, we have replaced the original zippers with better quality ones from YKK and improved the cut of the hood. The zipperless women’s Merino wool hoodie came in 2018, and it was later replaced by the buttoned unisex model. Of course, anyone can wear whichever model they want.

Varustelekan Särmä

Särmä products are covered by a 12-month warranty against defects in materials and workmanship. For further information please read our detailed warranty guide.

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