Letterman Jacket Information

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The Achiever Letterman Jacket:

Our Pacific Northwest Manufacturer has been making the highest quality Letter jackets for over 40 years. Our Exclusive Chenille Manufacturer is a highly trained artist who produces each custom chenille patch by hand. The Quality of our Letterman Jackets are unsurpassed in the market and we stand behind each garment produced with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Letter Jacket Specs: The wool is 100% virgin Melton Wool The leather (used on the sleeves, pocket welts and as an option on the collar) is "Grade-A" US cowhide. Letter Jacket Sleeve Style Options: Raglan Sleeve- Leather sleeve extends to the collar Set-in Sleeve- Leather sleeve stops at shoulder Letter Jacket Knit Trim: We offer several different "Knit-Trims" to choose from. The knit trim is applied to the collar*, the sleeve cuffs, and the waistband**.

*Letter Jacket Collar Options: Leather collars are also available and usually match the leather color of the sleeve. **Barn Coat Letter Jacket The Barn coat is tailored to fall just below the hip line and does not have a Waist Band. Barn Coats are normally styled to have leather collars and set-in leather sleeves. All Wool Letter Jacket: All of our coats can be made to be all wool with no leather. This option lowers the price of the coat by about $25.00. Delivery: Normal Delivery for a fully accessorized Letter jacket (Coat + Chenille) is about 7 weeks.

A Letterman

In U.S. sports, is a high school or college athlete who has met a specified level of participation on a varsity athletic team has earned the rignt to be called a "letterman". The term comes from the practice of awarding each such participant a cloth "letter", which is usually the school's initial or initials, for placement on a "letter sweater" or "letter jacket" intended for the display of such an award. In some instances, the sweater or jacket itself may also be awarded, especially for the initial award to a given individual. In order to distinguish "lettermen" from other team participants, schools often establish a minimum level of participation in a team's matches in order for a letter to be awarded. A common threshold in football and basketball is participation in a set level, often half, of all quarters in a season. (To meet this standard in a ten game season, one would have to have participated in at least twenty of the forty quarters played.) In individual sports such as tennis and golf, the threshold for lettering is generally participation in one half or sometimes one third of all matches contested. Frequently, other members of the team who fail to meet requirements for a letter are awarded a certificate of participation or other award considered to be of lesser value than a letter. This term is not gender-specific; a qualifying participant in women's basketball or other women's sports is properly referred to as a letterman, as would be a qualifying female participant on a co-educational sports team. In recent decades this concept has been extended to other competitions which are not technically sports, and "letters" are now often awarded for participation in events such as band and debate.

Letter Jacket

Letter jackets are usually produced in the school colors. The letter jacket derives its name from the letter or letters on its left breast, which are almost always the initials of the high school or college the jacket came from. For example, a letter jacket from Jersey High School would have a large J on the left breast. Letterman Jackets are also known as "Varsity Jackets" in some places.

The Birth of the Varsity Letter

According to Editor Jamie Richardson and researcher Jim Richardson at the Leather Sleeves newsletter, "It seems with the advent of organized sports, there was a need for uniforms. There was an additional need for identifications which was satisfying by the use of emblems or letters.

In 1865, the Harvard baseball team added old English 'H'. The 'H' was embroidered on the gray flannel shirt. The football team started to use the 'H' in 1875. It is interesting to note that for 25 years following the introduction in 1865 of the letter, it was the practice for the team captain to allow certain players who played in the most important games (Yale or Princeton ) to keep the 'H' jerseys as an award. If a player did not play in an important game, the player had to return the jersey at the end of the season. Awarding the 'H' jersey may have been the birth of the varsity letter as an award. The letterman sweater was first regularly used by the 1891 "Nine" (baseball) and was black with a small Crimson 'H' on the left breast.

It is not known when the letterman sweater came to high schools. The earliest example that VLAS has come across is in the 1911 yearbook of Phoenix Union High School , Arizona Territory. Pictured, not in football uniform, wearing a V-net sweater with the letter 'P' on the left side is a student in a group photo."

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