Michael Chase Look, I know this sounds like a trivial thing to care about. It’s just two strings hanging off your neck, right? Wrong. If you’re walking around with your hoodie drawstrings dangling at uneven lengths—one hitting your mid-chest and the other tickling your chin—you look like you haven’t quite figured out how to dress yourself yet. It’s sloppy. And don’t even get me started on the people who tie a standard shoelace bow. Unless you’re five years old and your mom just finished lacing up your Stride Rites, there is no excuse for a bow on your chest.
I’ve spent way too much time thinking about this. I currently own 22 hoodies (mostly Reigning Champ and some old Gildan beaters), and I’ve spent at least 45 minutes in front of a mirror at a Starbucks in Seattle—this was back in 2018—just measuring the ‘swing factor’ of different knots. I realized that a knot isn’t just about keeping the hood tight; it’s about weight and symmetry. If the knot is too light, the strings bounce around like limp noodles when you walk. If it’s too heavy, it pulls the collar down. You need balance.
The Barrel Knot (The only one you really need)
This is the gold standard. Some people call it the ‘Heptastyle’ or the ‘coiled knot,’ but let’s just call it what it is: the barrel. It’s clean, it’s symmetrical, and it actually stays put. What I mean is—actually, let me put it differently. It makes the strings look like they were designed to be that way, rather than just being a functional afterthought.
To do it, you basically loop the string back on itself and wrap the end around the loop three or four times before tucking it through the eye. It takes exactly 12 seconds per side once you get the muscle memory down. I’ve timed it. The beauty of the barrel is that it adds exactly 4 grams of weight to the end of the drawstring (I used my kitchen scale for this, don’t judge), which provides enough ballast to keep the strings from flying into your face when there’s a slight breeze. It’s the only knot that works for both round and flat laces.
That’s it. That’s the whole trick.
The time I tried to be ‘creative’ and failed miserably
I remember being at a house party in 2019, wearing this brand new, heavy-weight fleece hoodie I’d just dropped way too much money on. I decided to try a ‘Cloverleaf’ knot because I saw it on some obscure Japanese style forum. It looked intricate. It looked ‘designed.’ Or so I thought.
About an hour into the night, someone asked me if I had ‘tangled my strings in a vacuum cleaner.’ I looked in the hallway mirror and they were right. It didn’t look like a knot; it looked like a structural failure. I spent the next ten minutes in a cramped bathroom trying to pick the knot apart with my fingernails because I’d pulled it too tight. I ended up having to use my teeth to loosen the aglet. It was embarrassing, it was gross, and I looked like a total tool. I learned my lesson: if a knot requires a YouTube tutorial to untie, it’s not a knot, it’s a cry for help.
The Hoodie Hierarchy (A definitive ranking)
1. The Barrel Knot: The undisputed king. Professional, weighted, and clean.
2. The Single Overhand (at the very tip): Acceptable if the strings are exceptionally long, but it’s a bit lazy.
3. The ‘No-Knot’ (Loose): Only works if the strings are exactly the same length and the hoodie is high-end. Otherwise, you look like a mess.
4. The Bow: Purely for children and people who have given up on life.
I know people will disagree with me on the loose look, but I’ve found that 90% of the time, one string eventually slides out further than the other. You end up looking lopsided. It’s a subtle thing that ruins the silhouette of a good outfit.
My irrational hatred of certain brands
I might be wrong about this, but I honestly think Everlane makes the worst drawstrings in the industry. I love their shirts, but their hoodie strings are always too short and too thin. You can’t even get a decent barrel knot out of them because there’s not enough slack. I’ve actually started buying replacement 100% cotton braided cords from Amazon and swapping them out. It sounds insane, but once you feel the difference of a heavy, 18mm aglet hitting your chest, you can’t go back to those flimsy little threads.
The quality of the string is just as important as the knot itself. If the lace feels like cheap polyester, no amount of fancy knot-work is going to save you.
I also refuse to wear anything from Patagonia that has a drawstring. I love their mission, but their strings feel like something you’d find on a tent flap. They’re too functional. Too ‘outdoorsy.’ I want my hoodie to look like I live in a city, not like I’m about to summit K2.
The ‘Single Loop’ Heresy
Lately, I’ve seen people doing this thing where they tie both strings together in one big loop under their chin. I used to think this was the dumbest thing I’d ever seen. I was completely wrong. Well, mostly wrong. I tried it last winter when it was -5 degrees out and I was walking to the train. Tying them together actually creates a seal that keeps the wind from whistling down your neck. It’s ugly as hell, but it’s practical. But the second you step indoors? Untie that thing immediately. You look like you’re wearing a bib.
Anyway, the point is that details matter. We spend all this time worrying about our sneakers or the fit of our jeans, but then we let the thing closest to our face look like a disaster area. Take the twelve seconds. Tie the barrel. It’s not just about the knot; it’s about the fact that you actually gave a damn for a second.
Does anyone actually like those flat, wide ribbons that come on some Nike hoodies? I can never get them to sit right. Maybe I’m just doing it wrong, but they always end up twisting into a weird DNA helix shape after one wash. If you’ve figured those out, let me know, because they’re currently the bane of my closet.
Just tie the damn strings.
