I Have Some Questions About the New Ninja Gamer Hoodie

I Have Some Questions About the New Ninja Gamer Hoodie

Why not under, for one?

I was midway through my morning doomscroll when I came across news that Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is releasing a “patent pending hoodie” for wearing your headset over your sweatshirt’s hood (rather than over your ears). The gamer hoodie, embroidered with Blevins’ alias on the chest, features a circular mesh inlay near the ear region. Presumably, this will allow you to hear your music clearly without interruption, though whether you’ll be getting the best possible sound with a fabric wall — even a mesh one — between your cans and your ears is up for debate.

“I’ve always loved wearing my hood up with my headphones whether I’m travelling & listening to music or gaming. So excited to be releasing my patent pending hoodie that allows you to do either of those without changing your sound quality,” Ninja tweeted. I have some questions!

A quick survey of Gizmodo’s newsroom of gamers turned up exactly one (1) person who admitted to wearing their headphones this way during college, and they confirmed my suspicions that “it sucks” both for comfort as well as audio quality. What makes more sense to me — over-ear headset or otherwise — is to simply wear the headphones underneath the fabric hood, thereby using the headphones as intended.

Also, if you’re on the move and carting around luggage or a backpack, what’s to keep the headphones from simply flying off your head? Moreover, as the Verge noted, a specifically designed oversized gamer hoodie actually exists for accommodating larger headsets. It’s made by Champion, which by all indications seems to know a thing or two about sweatshirt design.

Look, I absolutely understand the need to bridge form and function, and there’s nothing necessarily bad about this sweatshirt design. I can also get down with the idea of functional gaming athleisure. But particularly if you want to take advantage of the best possible sound from those headphones you likely spent a not-insignificant amount of money on, why not just wear them as they were meant to be used, you know? That’s all I’m saying!