Real stories · The hoodie that finally retired his old one

My husband wore the same shapeless zip-up for a decade — this is the hoodie that finally retired it

The hoodie that finally retired the old one — that's what this turned out to be, and if you live with a man over sixty you'll know the old one: shapeless, bobbled, faded to a colour with no name, and defended like a family heirloom. I'm 67, my husband Malcolm is 68, and his was a decade old.

The problem with replacing it was that everything I found was either made for twenty-year-olds or felt like tissue paper. What I wanted was one properly made hoodie he'd actually choose to put on.

Then I found the Tharen from a British label called York Boutique — a zip-up hoodie with chest pockets, and I chose the army green, which manages to look intentional rather than 'gardening clothes'.

It's the details that won him over. The soft blend has a proper weight to it, which is why it holds its shape instead of going baggy by lunchtime — and the half-zip means it goes on and off like a jacket, with no wrestling it over his head and no glasses knocked to the floor. The two chest flap pockets have become the official home of his reading glasses and his phone, which has genuinely reduced the amount of 'have you seen my…' in this house. There's a hood for when the wind turns on the dog walk, and the kangaroo pocket does what kangaroo pockets do.

Proper chest pockets for the glasses and the phone, a half-zip he doesn't have to wrestle over his head, and a proper weight of soft fabric that holds its shape — he put it on in July and I've barely seen him out of it since.

He put it on the morning it arrived — tea in the garden, then Winnie's walk, then the football on Saturday — and I have barely seen him out of it since. The other grandad at the match asked him where it was from, which Malcolm reported back with some pride. The old one has quietly gone to the garage, which is as close to a funeral as these things get.

It was £44.95 in the sale, half the usual £90 — and I'd checked I could send it back if he refused to wear it, which you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free. It comes in six colours and in sizes S all the way to 3XL, and the fit is relaxed without being sloppy.

If there's a shapeless decade-old zip-up being defended in your house too, do treat yourself to a look. The Tharen is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 310 customers, it's £44.95 in the sale instead of £90 — half price — and the middle sizes always seem to go first.