Dubbed the ‘uniform of winners’, Varsity Jackets were traditionally part of Sports, Academics, or activities’ uniforms, originating from High-schools and Universities. It has undergone significant transformation through the years. From being a status symbol in any educational capacity to show up as a style essential in fashion. If you’ve ever seen a Hollywood movie that includes a High-School or University, you’ve most likely seen the Varsity Jacket in its original natural habitat.
It all started back in 1865, as attire for the Harvard Baseball Team, with the iconic letter “H” embroidered on it. Of-course, it was initially a woven sweater or pullover that had been used at the time, which was referred to as a ‘Letterman Sweater aka Varsity Sweater’ that evolved through the years.
Undergoing change in fabrics, design and dimensions of the initialing from a big, bold alphabet to a more subtle yet equally iconic style it possesses today. What hasn’t changed though, over all these years, is the sentiment attached to this iconic style that will continue to live on years ahead.
To say that its journey of constant evolution and change is interesting would be an understatement. Ever since the introduction of Varsity Jackets in the mid-80s, they have been morphed and changed to facilitate many styles, designs, and custom engravings while maintaining its timeless elements that are its signature.
What To Expect In This Article?
What is a Varsity Jacket?
While it would be accurate to say that Varsity Jackets and Letterman Jackets are one and the same, the reason for the use of two names has more to do with history and level than anything else. Varsity Jackets are always used by those who currently are or were at one point in ‘Varsity’ level Sports, Academics, or other activity that qualifies the person to earn an official Varsity Jacket.
In many High-Schools and Universities, most teams have a Junior Varsity level as well as a Varsity Level that has the best players or individuals in the concerned field. So the use of Varsity Jacket was only introduced recently to classify a certain group of people, as opposed to Letterman Jackets that goes back to the beginning.
The change to the use of jackets from sweaters, understandably has to do with the use of more fabrics such as cotton along with leather sleeves that developed from the original make using wool alone. This name originates from the presence of letters that are patched or embroidered onto the jacket. These letters can have different meanings, from the school’s name to the athlete’s number. Hence the combination of several different icons found on Varsity Jackets today.
Why are Varsity Jackets so Expensive?
Varsity Jackets are highly desired, personal pieces of outerwear that are made from high-quality materials and customized to the customer’s liking. The price of these jackets can seem very high at first glance. However, this price-point is justified; once we consider the quality of materials, the option of complete customization and the sentimental worth these jackets can have for a person.
The true value of Varsity Jackets lies in the connection that they and the wearer have in between. For a high school graduate, these Varsity Letterman Jackets are like a trophy, a piece of their life spent in that sports team.
While for a person getting them for their looks and fashion, the value resides in their tailored nature. A Custom Varsity Jacket is something that is exactly how they want it to be. From the material on the sleeves to the color on the cuffs, everything is personal to them and represents them as a person.
What are the Different Types of Varsity Jackets?
Over the last few decades, Varsity Jackets have expanded pretty rapidly. The custom nature of these jackets allow designers to innovate and try new things with the materials and designs of these jackets. Let’s look at the different types of Varsity Jackets.
Materials
One way to categorize Varsity Jackets is by the materials used in their construction. Here are the three main combinations of materials used for these jackets:
Varsity Hybrid- Wool Body and Leather Sleeves
As the name implies, the body of these Varsity Jackets is made from high-quality wool, and the sleeves are constructed from real leather of your choosing. There is usually a color difference between the wool and leather for a contrasty look. An excellent example of this type of Varsity Jacket would be our Harrison Black Hybrid Varsity Jacket.
Completely Leather
Complete leather Custom Varsity Jackets are made from all sorts of different types of leather. These leather Custom Varsity Jackets are often unicolored and often shiny in nature. The color and type of leather are completely up to the customer, and they can choose any combination they want.
Full Wool
Woollen Varsity Jackets are made of high-quality, soft, and fluffy wool. A completely woollen construction allows for greater color variation and combination that is not bound by the limits of leather. There are several sleeve and collar designs in the woollen category, such as the Set-in Sleeves, Raglan Sleeves, Knit up Collar, and Byron Collar.
F.A.Qs
Varsity Jackets are seeing a swift growth in popularity. This rapid rise in public demand has brought forth a host of companies offering Custom Varsity Jackets.
There are companies offering low-end jackets at prices that are considerably lower than anything else on the market. However, purchasing one of these jackets is a straight-up waste of money, not to mention it would barely last a season before giving up on you and going the way of the garbage.
On the other end of the market are companies that offer decent to great quality jackets but slap a luxury label on their products while charging an exorbitant amount of money. Their prices are way above the reach of an everyday man. So, there is no custom varsity jacket maker on the market that offers a remarkable balance of quality, price, craftsmanship, and value better than The Jacket Maker.
A jacket is a much bigger part of one’s wardrobe than a t-shirt or a pair of jeans. It is supposed to last for years, possibly even decades on end, and stay a part of our life for a long time, providing us with its style, comfort, and warmth.
Our story began with a search for a leather jacket and the frustration that the market environment caused. There was no one on the leather jacket market that was selling truly upright quality products at prices that made sense to us.
On one side of the market were cheap fast-fashion products that were mass-produced, without even a hint of quality that would barely last a season. While on the other hand, were big-name brands selling, although quality jackets, at a price tag of thousands of dollars. They justified this extremely high price range with a label of luxury and extravagance while not having anything exceptionally special about them. The jackets these brands sold offered no real value to the customer.
Thus, The Jacket Maker was created as a middle ground between the low-quality cheap leather products and the extremely expensive high-end luxury market. The goal behind the creation of The Jacket Maker was to provide customers with leather jackets and coats that are of the absolute best possible quality while keeping the prices low enough to make them accessible for the average joe.
Today, we offer a whole assortment of leather jackets and other pieces of custom men’s leather upper wear. All you have to do is head over to our custom varsity jacket maker page and provide the relevant information to place an order intent. We will soon connect you with one of our amazing and talented designers who will guide you through the whole custom design process, taking what you want into account and offering advice as well. Your custom varsity jacket will then be handcrafted by our experts from the finest of the material and will be delivered to your home with our care and love.
Purchasing a custom varsity jacket from us gives you total control over everything, and by everything, we do mean every single detail. For starters, you can choose the material you want your jacket, body, sleeves, and collar would be made out of, from a huge selection of leather, wool, polyester, nylon, cotton, denim, fleece, or even satin. This choice also includes the choice of the color you want your jacket’s body and sleeves to be. If you pick leather as the material of your choice, you have further options for the type of leather and also the finish on it.
Moving on from the materials, you can change almost everything about the design. Do you want a hood, or shoulder insert or anything else changed about the standard design? We will gladly guide you through the process and will customize it exactly to your liking.
Last but not least is our option to add custom embroidery onto the jacket. It can be anything, from a logo to a name/number, to a gorgeous flowery design, and you can get that embroidery on the place you like, i.e., front, back, arms, etc.
