It doesn’t matter where I go — grocery shopping, the mall, or my local bagel shop.
Without fail, every outing lately puts me in the presence of a teen or tween wearing a hoodie with the word Essentials emblazoned across the chest or back — and the phrase “Fear of God” printed smaller underneath.
As a 30-year-old lifestyle reporter with an embarrassing screen-time average, I like to think I’m pretty in the know of what’s trending with young people.
I’m well aware that hoodies have transcended from comfy loungewear you’d wear at home to statement outerwear. Hoodies and sweatpants are the outfit.
But in the same way I try to grasp Gen Z slang and their affinity for trendy water bottles, I wanted to know more.
Mainly, why is Fear of God Essentials so popular, and how are tweens convincing their parents to spend $175 on a single hoodie?
A luxury brand for the masses
American fashion designer Jerry Lorenzo launched his clothing brand, Fear of God, in 2013. It offered luxury basics inspired by gaps in his own closet and was named in honor of his Christian faith.
Fear of God quickly became a fashion staple, especially as musicians like Justin Bieber, Kanye West, and Big Sean embraced its designs.
The success led Lorenzo to launch Fear of God Essentials, a cheaper — but still expensive — sister brand that focused on accessible streetwear basics, in 2018.
If you’re looking for bold colors and loud prints, Fear of God Essentials isn’t for you.
The label strictly offers neutral pieces with subtle graphics. While hoodies are its best-known product, Essentials also sells T-shirts, sweatpants, jeans, and more.
The full line ranges in price from $50 to $375 per piece, with hoodies priced from $130 to $200. The most popular options cost $150 and $175.
Standard Fear of God hoodies, on the other hand, cost between $395 and $1,170 each.
Teens, tweens, and almost everyone else
Kinna Thomas, a mother of two, said it was 2022 when her sons first put Fear of God Essentials items on their Christmas lists.
“It felt a little bit expensive for, at the time, 11- and 12-year-olds,” she said. “I was just like, ‘Wow, what are we doing?'”
Still, they each unwrapped a hoodie on Christmas Day. Since then, the brand has become a staple in the wardrobes of 15-year-old Timmy and 16-year-old Julian, who wear the sweatshirts at least once or twice a week with shorts or sweatpants and sneakers.
“I think people like it because it looks clean without doing too much,” Julian said of Essentials hoodies, adding that they’re “really popular” at his school.
“I also like that Essentials doesn’t try too hard,” Timmy added. “It’s simple, comfortable, and still looks good, which is probably why so many teenagers wear it all the time.”
The Thomas brothers, both athletes, discovered the brand through their local Minneapolis basketball community.
Ori Nachon, a 12-year-old from New York City, had a similar experience about a year ago.
He saw his basketball coach wearing the brand and told his mom, Amy Nachon, that he wanted his own Essentials hoodie. So she bought him an Essentials set while back-to-school shopping.
“It’s annoying how much they charge for them, but I guess I’m willing to pay it every now and then for a special item he wants because he’s a good kid,” Amy Nachon said.
Ori said Essentials is one of his “top five” favorite brands and that it’s extremely popular among 7th- and 8th-graders at his school. The unofficial tween uniform there, he added, includes Essentials hoodies, baggy sweatpants, and Birkenstock sandals.
“Some of the other [hoodie] brands are too loud and too colorful. They really pop out,” he said. “I like that Essentials is more chill and clean.”
Take a scroll through TikTok (where #fearofgod has 65,000 posts) or Instagram, and you’ll see that this isn’t a localized phenomenon.
Tweens and teens across the country are wearing similar outfits — and they’re not the only demographic that’s doing so.
Speaking with Kinna Thomas, I noticed that she, too, seemed fond of Fear of God. When I asked if she had her own Essentials hoodie, she laughed and replied: “You already know I do.”
She owns three Essentials hoodies, to be exact, and one pair of the brand’s shorts.
“I put on this hoodie, and I feel like it’s the coziest moment I have ever experienced,” she said.
Essentials becomes omnipresent
The hoodie market is saturated. Brands like Pink Palm Puff, White Fox, and Aelfric Eden are among the it-girls of loungewear, and there are countless others out there.
So how has a brand known for its understated designs kept the attention of a generation with a shrinking attention span?
For one thing, Essentials has a slightly bigger reach than other brands. Boys and girls of all ages enjoy its hoodies.
Ori, for example, recently passed down an Essentials crewneck that no longer fits him to his 9-year-old sister Romy, who is starting to see the brand become trendy within her grade.
“I really like knowing that [these hoodies] can be interchanged between boys and girls, because then we get another wear out of it,” Ori’s mom said.
Both moms and their children also noted multiple times how comfortable Essentials hoodies are. They’re oversize and made of 80% cotton and 20% polyester fleece.
That softness and quality keep them and other shoppers coming back year after year for new ones. Google Trends shows big search spikes for its hoodies every November and December since 2023.
And despite being trendy, Fear of God pieces are also helping some kids express their individual styles in places where they usually can’t.
“My children have a private education at a Christian school, and they’re allowed to wear Fear of God Essentials,” Kinna Thomas said. “They’re not necessarily allowed to wear some of the other brands.”
I think I mostly get it now. Who can pass up a cozy, oversize hoodie, especially one that gives you some fashion cred at the same time?
Parents seem to agree — even if Essentials pieces are expensive.
“If my son knows what he wants to wear and has an idea of his style and his look, I’ll support him in that,” Amy Nachon said. “Seventh grade is hard enough.”
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