An Esprit logo sweatshirt priced at $16.99 in Costco warehouses has become one of the retailer's most talked-about fashion finds, sending Gen X shoppers on a nationwide hunt for a brand tied to their teenage years. Why $16.99 is the whole storyHere is the detail that reframes everything: in the 1980s, an Esprit sweatshirt cost around $45 — roughly $138 in today's money. So the $16.99 crewneck is not a cheap version of something that was always cheap. The $16.99 warehouse price is widely documented, and the online listing sold out during the first drop. Worth knowing before you pay one: a restock is considerably more likely than a permanent sellout, and a marked-up price on a $16.99 sweatshirt tends to look worse in a month.