Aviator Nation

It depends on what you value. Aviator Nation's appeal is the hand-drawn, lived-in California aesthetic and the fact that everything is manufactured in California with single-needle stitching, which is rare for casualwear and a big part of the cost. If you want a distinctive, soft, broken-in hoodie you'll reach for constantly, many owners feel the cost-per-wear works out; if you just need a plain hoodie, you're partly paying for the look and the made-in-USA story.

Both are built around the same signature, so you can't really go wrong. The five rainbow stripes stitched across the chest are the brand's most recognizable look and its best sellers, which makes the 5 Stripe hoodie the most iconic starting point. The matching sweatpants are designed to pair with it, so many people add those next to build the full set.

The short answer is American manufacturing and craft. Every product is made in California, with garments finished using single-needle stitching and hand-drawn graphics rather than mass-printed ones. The intentionally distressed fabrics and dye treatments add labor too, so you're paying for domestic production and a deliberately worn-in finish rather than a quick factory run.

It's the signature hoodie. The very first style that sold out at the founder's local street fair was a white hoodie, and it became one of the brand's most successful garments. Today the rainbow-stripe versions, especially the four- and five-stripe combinations across the chest, are the pieces most people picture when they think of the label.

They're the brand's trademark motif. Aviator Nation stitches rainbow stripes inside the hood of its garments and across the chest of T-shirts and hoodies, drawing on the inks and dye treatments that were popular in the 1970s. Along with the surfer graphic, the stripes are the visual shorthand for the whole brand.

It was founded by Paige Mycoskie in 2006. After failing to find clothes that matched her comfort-driven, color-fused, 70s-nostalgic style, she started making garments for herself out of her home garage in Venice, Los Angeles. She sold them at a local street fair, sold out of every style, and built the brand from there.

The brand is named after Mycoskie's love of aviator-style sunglasses. It's a fitting fit for a label rooted in 70s nostalgia, and that same retro sensibility runs through the distressed fabrics, period-inspired dyes, and hand-drawn details across the collections.

Yes. All products are manufactured in California, and the garments are advertised with single-needle stitching and hand-drawn graphics. The founder still hand-draws details, from lightning bolts to psychedelic figures, and many prints come from her earliest sketches, so the made-in-California craft is genuinely central to the brand rather than a marketing line.

It does. Alongside apparel and accessories for men, women, and children, the brand launched surfboards in early 2016, each shaped and airbrushed by hand. That fits the surf-and-music California identity, which also shows up in collections named things like "Pray for Surf" and "Rock and Roll."

Yes, often around music and culture. The brand began a partnership with Austin City Limits in 2012, where the founder created a rainbow tepee for musicians that grew into impromptu shows, and it has since produced co-branded collections with artists such as John Mayer and brands including SoulCycle, Rolling Stone, and Gibson. It's a regular presence at festivals like Lollapalooza, SXSW, and BottleRock.

The line leans toward an easy, lived-in feel, with most styles cut as unisex and designed to look worn-in and vintage from the start. Because the fabrics are intentionally distressed and soft, sizing can feel relaxed, so checking a specific style's fit notes and considering how slouchy or fitted you want it is worth doing before you commit.