Hoodie, Air Conrad

Air Conrad hoodie, under Flashback licence

The Air Conrad hoodie is a final run. 100% cotton, screen-printed artwork, design under official Flashback licence. The sizes listed below are what is left: there will be no restock.

Screen printing, and why it matters

Screen printing lays the ink into the knit itself, layer by layer. A transfer sticks a film onto the fabric: it cracks after a few dozen washes and lifts at the edges.

On a hoodie worn all year, the difference shows in the second season. A screen print fades gently along with the cotton instead of splitting.

100% cotton

No polyester in the fleece. Cotton breathes better, does not hold smells the way a synthetic blend does, and softens as it ages. The trade-off is slower drying, and shrinkage if you wash it too hot.

The piece that stays once the session is over

In a jiu-jitsu gym, a hoodie earns its place at three moments: before class when you arrive half awake, between rounds so you do not cool down, and after the shower so you can leave with wet hair without freezing.

It is also the only item in a grappler’s wardrobe that works outside the club without anyone guessing where it came from. A gi stays a gi. A hoodie is just a hoodie.

A reference that reads two ways

To most people, it is a graphic print. To anyone who played Flashback on the Amiga or the Mega Drive, it is Conrad B. Hart, the amnesiac agent who wakes up on Titan.

The game came out in November 1992. Delphine Software, a French studio, handed the project to Paul Cuisset. Its animation, traced frame by frame from a filmed actor, marked a generation of players, and the title entered the Guinness World Records as the best-selling French video game. The artwork is licensed, not loosely borrowed.

Choosing your size

Size up if you want it loose, stick to your usual size if you wear it fitted. On cotton that is not pre-shrunk, leave yourself some margin: a single 30 °C wash is enough to take a few millimetres off the sleeve length.

Care

Wash at 30 °C inside out, air dry. On 100% cotton, a tumble dryer shrinks the garment and tires the print. Never iron directly over the artwork.