The song was written by group members Jesse Rutherford, Zach Abels and Jeremy Freedman, and was produced by Justyn Pilbrow.

[3] The song was also covered by Kurt Hugo Schneider, Alyson Stoner, and Max S in 2014.

[4] In mid-to-late 2020, the song experienced a resurgence in popularity due to it being used on the social media platform TikTok.

In late 2023, for the 35th anniversary of Alternative Airplay, Billboard ranked the song as the 15th-most successful in the chart's history.

The second music video for "Sweater Weather" was directed by Zack Sekuler and Daniel Iglesias Jr.,[10] shot in grayscale to go with their black-and-white theme, released on March 5, 2013.