Don’t Buy Erewhon Hoodies

You don’t shop at Erewhon because you need to, it’s your closest store, or it has the best price for what you’re looking for — because it almost certainly doesn’t.The supermarket chain — named after the 19th-century novel by Samuel Butler — is beloved both for the quality of its produce but also for the image it projects and the feeling of its settings. To shop at Erewhon, you are an Erewhon person who drinks Erewhon smoothies, showing that not only do you care about your health, but you have the income to splash on it.Unsurprisingly, this brand loyalty and ethos has allowed them to expand their range and collaborations in a way that no other supermarket chain can, inside and outside of their usual product categories.They’ve been making collaborative smoothies with figures like Marianna Hewitt and Hailey Beiber — which sell for $17 each — but also had a collaborative line of Balenciaga, including T-shirts, tote bags, caps, aprons ranging between $425 and $1,150. Oh, and an all-black smoothie.It’s only fitting then that they’ve now branched out into their own in-house fashion line, with a capsule collection of hoodies, sweaters, sweatpants, tote bags, caps, bags, and socks, available initially to their members, and now to the general public, starting last Friday. The colors are lovely — the highlights being a bright pastel orange and grape purple — and I’m sure the 100 percent cotton is very nice.Only make no mistake: you’re paying a premium for what are almost undoubtedly screen-printed blanks, albeit high-quality ones, which you can otherwise buy elsewhere, unbranded, for far cheaper. The Erewhon hoodie costs $185; a Velour Garments 600 GSM hoodie, available in a far wider range of colors, also out of 100 percent cotton, is $78.There are far cheaper blanks available out there, but Velour comes readily to mind, and I have bought their product myself, as they offer a designer feel for non-designer prices. And yes, those are 100 percent cotton — which doesn’t mean much anyway, given the variety of cotton available and the quality differences between them.Again, the prices on the Erewhon range aren’t terrible — certainly compared to $17 smoothies — with $150 sweatpants, $185 hoodies, $45 hats, and $138 tote bags falling in line with the prices of those products from premium brands like Aime Leon Dore, Kith, and its competitors. Yet those will undoubtedly have better quality, and I, for one, wouldn’t want to walk around marketing a supermarket.In that way, Erewhon’s clothes are like their food; available elsewhere, at far better prices, but if you want their logo and the distinct Erewhon experience, you’re probably happy to pay the premium. And if you don’t get the love for the brand, then these aren’t going to make much sense to you either.

Don’t Buy Erewhon Hoodies

More from the New York Sun

Let Some Oil Tankers Sail Through the Strait of Hormuz — World Oil Prices Will Retreat Big Time

‘What Is Chabad Exactly?’

On Taxes in New York, It’s Mamdani v. Hochul

‘Hoppers’ is the Best Pixar Film of the Decade

Florida Senate Advances Bill To Let State Leaders Designate Groups as Terrorists After Federal Judge Blocks Effort by DeSantis

One Week In, Will Trump and Netanyahu Have Time To Finish Reshaping the Mideast and the World?

State Department Says Charter Flights Are Evacuating Hundreds of Americans Stranded in Middle East

Mayor Mamdani’s Wife Liked Posts Cheering on Hamas’s October 7 Massacre: Report