GSM Explained for Bulk Hoodies
By The Velocity Wear Team
GSM is grams per square metre: the weight of the fleece, not the weight of the finished hoodie. Our hoodies run from 280 to 450 GSM brushed-back fleece. Lower numbers give a lighter, more drapey garment that layers under a jacket; higher numbers give a dense, structured one that holds its shape. It is the first spec to fix, because fit, print and price all follow from it.
What does each weight band feel like?
At 280 GSM the fleece is soft and slightly fluid. It falls rather than stands, the cuffs sit close, and it is the weight people reach for in spring or indoors. At around 350 GSM you get the familiar high-street hoodie: enough body that the shoulders hold a line, still comfortable over a t-shirt all day. At 450 GSM the fabric is dense, the hood stands up on its own, and the garment reads as premium the moment somebody picks it up off a table.
Brushed-back means the inside face has been raised into a soft nap. That nap is where the warmth lives, and it is why a 350 GSM brushed hoodie feels warmer than a 350 GSM unbrushed one. It also means the interior will shed a little in the first two washes, which is normal and not a fault. The terms that come up on a spec sheet are collected in our apparel glossary if a quote uses one you have not met.
How much does weight change the price?
Fleece is sold by weight, so a 450 GSM hoodie uses roughly sixty per cent more fabric than a 280 GSM one of the same size. That difference shows up in the unit price and again in shipping, because a pallet of heavyweight hoodies is heavier and often larger. Custom hoodies start at $31 a piece at the 50-piece minimum, and where your chosen weight sits in the range moves that figure before any decoration is added. Current tiers are on the wholesale hoodies page.
Quantity moves the number further than weight does. The discount rises as you climb the tiers, up to 35 per cent off the 50-piece price at the top end. In practice that means a buyer choosing between 100 lightweight hoodies and 100 heavyweight ones is comparing a modest per-piece gap, while a buyer choosing between 50 and 250 pieces is looking at a much larger one. Decide the weight on what the garment has to do, then decide the quantity on budget.
Which weight suits which order?
Staff kit that gets worn on shift and washed several times a week does better in the middle of the range. Heavy fleece takes a long time to dry and a rota of two hoodies per person stops working when each one needs a day on a radiator. Retail or merch pieces, where somebody is paying money and judging the garment in their hands, justify the top of the range. Promotional stock handed out in volume tends to sit at the lighter end, because the cost per piece is what governs how many you can give away.
Weight also interacts with cut. A 450 GSM oversized hoodie is a genuinely bulky object and can overwhelm a smaller frame, while a 280 GSM oversized one drapes and reads as deliberate. If you are picking both at once, read the weight decision alongside fits and cuts for wholesale hoodies rather than settling them separately.
What does GSM not tell you?
It says nothing about fibre content, and that matters more for shrinkage than weight does. A cotton-rich fleece at 320 GSM will move more in a hot wash than a poly-rich one at the same weight. It says nothing about the knit structure either, so two fabrics at identical GSM can feel different depending on how tightly they are looped. And it says nothing about how the surface takes ink, which is why a heavy brushed fleece sometimes needs a different screen mesh to a smooth lighter one. Ask what the composition is, not just the number, and hold the answer next to care and washing for hoodies before you commit.
