Practicaloodie

By Aiden Wilson (they/them)

When it comes to clothing, I prefer comfort over style. As much as I do enjoy a decent outfit, when it comes to going on campus to study, I will ALWAYS prefer grey sweats and a hoodie over jeans, flannel, and coat.

Typically, I’d describe my dress style as Bender from The Breakfast Club meets Billy Butcher from The Boys, unless I’m spending the day studying in the library, especially during winter. Nothing like bundling up in a decent hoodie and warm pants, drinking coffee, listening to the rain while typing away at something.

This comfort clothing is also what I lounge around in at home. Hell, it’s what I’m wearing right now! However, a few months ago something happened… Something I never thought would happen… My partner convinced me to get an Oodie, and it might be the single most comfortable piece of clothing I’ve ever owned.

Described by the company as a “wearable blanket”, the Oodie is essentially an incredibly large hoodie with a front pocket akin to a kangaroo’s pouch. The product’s descriptors, and the fact that an “outdoor Oodie” is sold, imply that these are not items designed to be worn outside of the home. They are intended as pyjamas or a blanket. Having seen a few fellow students wearing them round on the colder days (no shame, live how you wanna live), it got me wondering how practical wearing an Oodie while out and about would be.

So I decided to put the practicality of the Oodie, the practicaloodie if you will, to the test! The rules for my experiment are as follows:

Once I arrive on campus, I must wear the Oodie as I go about my day. I will go to each place I would usually in a typical day: student shop, library, common area etc. The Oodie does NOT need to be worn on the bus to campus but must be worn on the bus back. I will spend a minimum of five minutes in each location I visit. I MUST utilise the Oodie’s pocket throughout my day.

While in each location I will be noting: How it feels to move around the location wearing the Oodie. The temperature of the location, if it is too warm for the Oodie/just the right temp, etc.

On a quick personal note, this is not an ad for the Oodie, buy shit ‘cause you want it, don’t let me influence you.

Thoughts prior to the experiment: I believe that the library is going to be too hot, and I’ll be at risk of heatstroke while wearing my Oodie on the third floor. I also think I’m going to need to do the smart thing and take it off if I go to the bathroom. Overall I believe it’s not going to be LESS practical than a usual hoodie, but it’s size and warmth may have some drawbacks.

The Experiment

A normal day consists of three major stops for me, those being hitting up the MUSA shop for a Cookie-Time, heading across to the Greenroom in the humanities block for a coffee, followed by study in the library, finishing up with a trip on the bus.

Stop #1 – The MUSA Shop

As I theorised, this was the hardest part of my day. With the MUSA shops layout being condensed and cosy, moving about in what is essentially a giant blanket is not the easiest thing. Going down the alley to get my cookie required bunching up the edges of my Oodie, trying to make myself as small as I could to not knock random objects to the floor. Today was about testing practicality, not being a public nuisance after all.

To avoid adding extra struggle, I had dropped my backpack off at the greenroom before attending the first leg of my journey. What I gained in manoeuvrability, I lost in carrying capacity… or so I thought. The large front pocket came in clutch, allowing me to hold my phone, wallet, and eventually the cookie upon my departure. Aside from the initial worry about being too wide to get down the aisle, the trip was ultimately not too hard.

In terms of temperature, the MUSA shop is always really comfortable, never too hot and never too cold. Concourse in the Oodie was still pretty cold, but the wooly interior of my outfit kept me toasty. Stepping into the MUSA shop, I did not notice much difference initially. However, as I stayed I started to get warmer. I believe I left at the correct moment, or else I risked becoming a slightly sweaty lad in there.

MUSA SHOP OVERALL RATING: 7/10

Oodie is not too hard to manoeuvre as long as you focus. Pocket was good for carrying my wallet and any goodies I purchased. Temperature started getting a little warm but was fine for a relatively fast trip.

Stop #2 – The Greenroom

Getting to this spot and collapsing onto the sofa is always the best part of my day. Oodie only made that better. What was intended to be a short stay before heading to the library ended up lasting at least half an hour. I found myself snuggled up, sipping my coffee, watching Glee and having a great time (Aiden does NOT endorse the watching of Glee, Will Schuster is an awful teacher and should be fired).

SGP’s temperature is always on the lower side of warm, so an article of clothing made specifically for warmth and comfort was PERFECT here.

However, a major downside of this room was the fear I had of spilling my coffee down my front. There’s a reason why tables and coasters are a good idea, and the lack of them at this moment filled me with dread.

It was at this point I realised I needed to pee, so the Oodie had to come off so I could attend the lavatory. As humans, we do not appreciate what we have till it’s gone, and the time I spent out of my Oodie cocoon was frightfully chilly.

GREENROOM OVERALL RATING: 8.5/10

The Oodie was perfect to wear while lounging on the couch. The cold temperature of the building was completely negated by the warmth of the Oodie. However, eating and drinking in an environment with limited table space and no coasters made me nervous of spilling coffee and staining the Oodie. Taking off Oodie to go to the loo was the worst but putting it back on was like seeing an old friend once again.

Stop #3 – The Library

Have you ever worked in a kitchen? Over a grill with a wall mounted oven directly behind you, heating lamps to your left and the flame of the stove to your right? It’s not very pleasant. That’s what library Oodie was.

Anyone who attends Palmy campus can vouch that the library gets warm, sometimes uncomfortably so. The first floor was fine, second got a bit much, and by the third floor I was sweltering. Even heading back down to the second floor didn’t help. Temperature wise, the library is not it for warm clothing of any kind.

Movement was a piece of cake. The shelves were wide enough, and when they weren’t I adopted the tactics I had learnt when obtaining my cookie in the MUSA shop. But the heat, oh man the heat!

LIBRARY OVERALL RATING: 5/10

Too hot too hot too hot.

The Journey Home – Bus

Due to the time I left, the bus had no one else on it. I was nervous that other passengers would mean less seating space, as I believe an Oodie on the bus would take up a couple spots. I was right, as sitting down made my Oodie drape onto the seat beside me. Don’t be a dick! If you’re bussing and there’s more of you, just take it off.

The aircon of the bus made an environment that was again perfect for warm clothing. Bundling up for fifteen or so minutes was not a bad time at all and was a great break from the heat of the library.

BUS OVERALL RATING: 10/10 WITHOUT OTHER PASSENGERS, INCONCLUSIVE WITH OTHERS.

Riding by myself it was cosy as hell and I nearly missed my stop due to how snoozy I got. If there were others, I would not wear it though…

Closing Thoughts

From a purely practical standpoint, the Oodie is not the worst thing one can wear! The front pocket was awesome when I didn’t feel like dragging my bag around, but the wool interior became a detriment when going into warmer buildings.

It really all comes down to personal preference: wear what you wanna wear! If you feel like wearing an Oodie go for it. As long as you’re courteous and don’t knock everything off the shop shelves, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with going about your day in one.

FINAL RATING: 7.5/10

The praticaloodie of it was not too bad at all.