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What is a Letterman Jacket/ Varsity Jacket?
A letterman jacket is a jacket traditionally worn by high school and college students in the United States to represent school and team pride as well as to display personal awards earned in athletics, academics or activities. Letterman jackets are also known as "Varsity Jackets" in some places.
The body (i.e., torso) is usually of boiled wool and the sleeves of leather with banded wrists and waistband. Letter jackets are usually produced in the school colors with the body of the jacket in the school's primary color and sleeves in the secondary color. They usually feature a banded collar for men or a hood for women.
The letter jacket derives its name from the varsity letter chenille patch on its left breast, which is almost always the first letter or initials of the high school or college the jacket came from. Because the jacket is meant as a display for the letter award, the jacket's colors match those of the letter, rather than the other way around.
The name of the owner usually appears either in chenille (matching the letter) or is embroidered on the jacket itself. The owner's graduation year usually appears in matching chenille, Placement of the name and year of graduation depends on school tradition. The year is most often sewn on the right sleeve or just above the right pocket.
Lettermen who play on a championship team often receive a large patch commemorating their championship that is worn on the back of the jacket.
Lettermen who participate in a sport in which medals are award often sew the medals onto their jackets to display their accomplishments.
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 an 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.