20 1980s Sweaters With Serious Swagger

Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor

Jun 9, 2025 9:00 PM EDT

Well, as you might have guessed from the title of this list, we were being sarcastic. Fashion, let alone printed fashion as is on these sweaters, simply did not hit its stride in the 80s. Perhaps it was due to the advent of mass-producing fast fashion, or perhaps it was just that we all had horrifying taste, but from the colors, to the cuts to the prints, there was always something more than a little bit off with these sweaters.

Worse still, someone got it into the heads of elder family members that these sweaters make for marvelous gifts, meaning that even though we did not want many of them back then, they were thrust upon us and forced upon our bodies any time that relative came to visit. And so if you happen to be one of the unfortunate few who has PTSD - Present-related Traumatic Stress Disorder, then you might want to tread carefully unless you might come across a particularly triggering sweater…

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Talk about the perfect family photo clothing collection. Especially if you happen to be one of those sailing families who spend their winters in Turks and Cacos. Because when you are super rich and can do anything you want, you need to give people something to make them laugh about you and humanize you. Just another way the rich control the poor.
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And well that is without a doubt the coolest sweater that you could purchase for your uncle. Well, beside that it is probably the only sweater you would buy for your uncle, because who buys sweaters anymore as gifts? We will tell you who, people who did not live through this trying period of stupid sweaters, or those who somehow got some sort of sick pleasure from it.
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