Billy’s look across his road trip with Irving in Bad Grandpa is straightforward street clothes with an unmistakable athletic slant. The core visual comes down to high-contrast primary colors: a bold red athletic shirt worn under an open, vivid blue zip-up fleece hoodie, paired with chunky skate shoes.
Because the outfit relies on everyday apparel rather than specialized cosplay tailoring, assembling the pieces comes down to accurate color matching and clean graphic placement. It makes for an easy costume to wear comfortably at busy events, provided you pay attention to the proportion of the chest number and the silhouette of the layers.
The Red Number T-Shirt
Billy wears a basic crewneck t-shirt in deep cherry red, dominated by a large white athletic numeral centered across the chest. A heavyweight preshrunk cotton tee provides the right boxy cut and opacity, preventing the white graphic from puckering or showing through.
To recreate the chest graphic, iron-on vinyl athletic numbers around eight inches tall give the accurate proportion. Center the digit roughly three inches below the collar seam. When pressing the number, apply firm heat with parchment paper between the iron and the transfer to prevent scorching the cotton or melting the adhesive unevenly. Washing the shirt once beforehand removes factory sizing chemicals from the fabric, giving the vinyl a much stronger bond.
Layering the Blue Fleece Hoodie
Over the shirt, Billy wears a fitted fleece zip hoodie in lapis blue. The shade is a rich, saturated medium blue that contrasts hard against the cherry red tee. Keep the front completely unzipped so the chest graphic remains fully visible as you walk around.
A standard cotton-poly fleece blend gives the right slouch around the cuffs and hem without feeling stiff. Choosing a hoodie with white drawstrings and an exposed white zipper track mirrors the casual gym-class aesthetic seen on screen. If the hoodie cut runs wide, sizing down slightly keeps the shoulders sitting cleanly rather than swamping the shirt underneath.
Pants and Skate Footwear
For bottoms, simple dark denim jeans or charcoal relaxed-fit trousers work best. The pants should drape with a slight break over the shoes rather than a modern slim taper, reflecting Billy’s careless kid-on-the-road style. Keep distressing minimal—standard dark wash denim with ordinary wear fits the road-trip setting.
On his feet, Billy wears chunky skate sneakers with black uppers and blue accents, matching the DC Match 2 design. Skate shoes with padded collars and wide flat outsoles give the correct bottom-heavy profile. The black-and-blue color blocking ties directly back to the hoodie while grounding the bright primary tones up top.
Hair and Road-Trip Props
Billy has shaggy, tousled brown hair with a messy parted fringe. If your natural hair is short, you can texture it with a dab of matte clay to get that unbrushed morning look. Skip slick pomades or wet gels; Billy spends days bouncing around the back seat of a beat-up car, so matte, lived-in hair feels far more natural.
For an optional prop, carrying a crumpled fast-food soda cup, a half-eaten bag of chips, or a battered brown duffel bag immediately sells the traveling dynamic between Billy and his grandfather.
