My very own hoodie of many colours

On the hooded sweater that keeps the chill off, covers the arms right down to the wrist, and — yes — makes strangers smile at you in the parking lot. The one I now reach for without thinking.

By Carol Hadley · Fairhope, AlabamaPosted September 2026 · 6 min read

I am 65 years old, and for most of my life I dressed to disappear. Navy, grey, oatmeal, black. If you had opened my closet ten years ago you would have thought I was in mourning for someone. I told myself it was elegant. What it really was, was safe.

The trouble with safe is that it is also cold, and dull, and it does nothing for you. The bright things I tried were thin, itchy, cut for a 25-year-old, and stopped short of my wrists. The warm things were the colour of porridge. Nothing was both.

Then one morning at the farmers' market my friend Ruth walked up in a hooded sweater that looked like a sunrise stitched out of a quilt. Two people stopped her before she reached my table. I asked where on earth she'd found it — and she said, "Carol, you sell it."

We are a small family shop here in Fairhope, Alabama, running since 1984. The hooded sweater is called the Amanda, and these are the handful of things we refused to compromise on.

1.Your own hoodie of many colours

We chose the print before anything else. A big golden sun in one corner, and rays of patchwork fanning out across the whole front — orange, magenta, purple, green, teal, blue — with a quilted texture you can see from across the room. It looks like something a grandmother took a winter to piece together. Put it on and a grey Tuesday changes colour.

2.A cozy hood to keep the chill off

We wanted a real hood, not a decorative flap. This one is lined, roomy enough to go up over your hair without flattening it, and closes with a drawstring at the neck. When the wind comes off the bay in October, you pull it up and carry on with the dog walk instead of turning back for a scarf.

3.Soft, warm and cozy

We asked for a fleece-backed sweatshirt fabric — brushed soft on the inside, with a bit of weight to it — instead of the thin printed polyester that most "fun" tops are made of. It is warm enough for the porch at seven in the morning with a coffee, and it never once scratches at the neck.

4.Long sleeves that cover the arms

We made the sleeves long. Properly long, to the wrist, with a snug cuff so nothing rides up when you reach for the top shelf. At our age we have all made peace with our arms, but that does not mean we want them out in a cold wind — and we did not want to be tugging at sleeves all day either.

5.A relaxed, oversized fit

We cut the Amanda relaxed on purpose. It drops straight from the shoulder, sits easy through the middle, and comes down over the hip with a kangaroo pocket in front for your hands or your phone. It goes over jeans, leggings or a long skirt, and it forgives absolutely everything underneath.

6.It fits the body you have

We size it true, from XS to 5XL, and we cut every size with the same easy shape — not one pattern stretched or shrunk to fit a chart. If you are between sizes, take your usual; the fit is meant to be roomy. And if it is not right when it arrives, send it back within thirty days and we refund you, no questions.

The usual hooded sweater vs. the Amanda

Why we're clearing it now

We priced the Amanda at $174.95 when it launched. But for America's 250th Anniversary, we wanted to give something back to the women who keep our doors open — so every hooded sweater is going out at a fraction of that.

Every order leaves Fairhope folded in a kraft paper mailer with a handwritten note from one of us tucked on top. It is a small thing. We have found the small things are the ones people remember.

I do not usually write things like this. But the morning I first wore the Amanda, a woman I had never met told me at the post office that I had made her day. I have not been told that in a very long time. It felt like getting a piece of myself back.

If that sounds like you, I hope you get yours before it clears.

— Carol Hadley · Fairhope, AL

The Hadley Family is a small family-run shop. Prices and availability shown are current at the time of writing.