Costco Is Quietly Selling High-End Hoodies at Bargain Prices

Legendary menswear designer Virgil Abloh tragically passed away from a rare form of cancer in 2021 at the age of just 41, but his legacy lives on through his signature brand that he founded in 2013, Off-White.

Off-White is decidedly a luxury label. It’s based in Milan and is carried by high-end retailers like Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. A quick perusal of the brand’s online store shows that it charges anywhere from $495 to over $2,000 for a hoodie, with most priced around $700 to $800.

That’s why it was so shocking when reports emerged over the weekend claiming that Costco was selling Off-White hoodies for well under $100. So what’s going on here, and more importantly, can you still get one of these deeply discounted designer hoodies at your local Costco?

Great Off-White North

There’s quite a bit of mystery surrounding Costco’s recent stock of Off-White hoodies, but it appears the item was a Canadian exclusive and was priced at just $85 CAD, which is currently around $62 USD. It also appears to have sold out already, at least online, as Costco Canada’s product page for the hoodie is no longer live and its original Instagram reel about it has been deleted.

But there’s plenty of evidence out there that this hoodie was indeed real.

In Costco Canada’s original reel, which has been preserved and shared by Complex, a man named Ryan, who says he’s Costco’s menswear buyer, introduces the Off-White hoodie in three colors: white, blue and black.

The white version features Off-White’s logo, complete with its usual “TM” mark, in large black letters in the center of the chest, while the two dark colors feature a smaller logo in white on the left chest. The white and black styles have unadorned backs, while the blue version features an oversized depiction of Off-White’s arrow logo covering almost the entire reverse side.

According to screenshots of the now-defunct product page, the hoodies are made of 100-percent, heavyweight 470 gsm French cotton terry with a self-lined hood, elastic ribbing at the cuffs and waist, side vents, a kangaroo pocket and logo metal aglets on the drawstrings.

In fashion YouTuber Meili Zhang’s (@lifeofmeili) video on the subject, she notes the perceived quality of the Costco hoodie, pointing out that the only distinction between it and similar styles sold on Off-White’s website appears to be their place of origin, with sweatshirts sold directly from Off-White being made in Europe and the Costco version coming from Vietnam.

Too late to cop?

If you live in Canada, it may be worth venturing to your local Costco to see if any hoodies remain in stock. That’s the only way you’re going to get one right now, at least at retail prices, as I’m sure these sweatshirts will soon start popping up on eBay with inflated price tags.

We don’t yet know whether or not these hoodies were a one-off event or if Costco has wider plans for Off-White. Costco’s original Instagram reel did introduce it as a “new brand” for the wholesaler, which may suggest more products are on the way, or, at least, that we could see the hoodie in other markets, like the U.S.

Many commenters on Instagram are lamenting the sale of Off-White products at Costco, claiming Abloh never would’ve approved such a deal and saying it’s the death of the brand. But under Abloh, Off-White had a long history of collabs with mainstream affordable brands, including Levi’s, Nike, Converse and even Ikea, so working with Costco doesn’t really seem out of line to me.

Regardless, this is all speculation. No one outside of the suits at Costco and Off-White knows the depth of this collaboration, and no one alive knows whether or not Virgil Abloh would have approved it. So for now, let’s just enjoy our affordable designer hoodies at everyone’s favorite big box store while we still can … assuming it isn’t already too late.

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