Brand Spotlight
Varsity Revival: The Enduring Appeal of the Letterman
Wool body, leather sleeves, chain-stitched felt. The varsity jacket has outlasted every trend that tried to claim it — here is why it keeps coming back.
The letterman jacket began as a literal award — a wool body and leather sleeves handed to athletes who had earned their letter. More than a century later it has been adopted by every subculture that ever wanted to look like it belonged to something, and it has survived them all. The appeal is in the construction: few off-the-peg garments are as considered.
Anatomy of a varsity
- Melton wool body: dense, felted, and warm — the same cloth used for military greatcoats.
- Leather sleeves: originally for durability, now the detail that reads instantly as a varsity.
- Ribbed trims: knitted cuffs, collar and hem in contrast colours, the palette that makes each jacket feel like a team.
- Chain-stitched chenille: the letters and patches, applied by hand, that make a genuine vintage piece one of a kind.
Three from the archive
A varsity jacket is the rare piece of clothing that was designed to be earned. Even secondhand, it carries that.
Because the patches were applied for specific schools, teams and years, no two vintage varsity jackets are alike — buying one is buying a small piece of somebody's history. Condition-graded and photographed in detail, the ones worth owning are the ones that wear their age openly.
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Every piece featured, priced live. One of each — once it sells, it is gone.
