The origins of the Varsity Jackets

The history of the Varsity Jacket begins in 1865 in the United States of America . The Harvard University baseball team first wore a very heavy wool sweater, with a cubital letter H embroidered in the center.

Initially, it was a team uniform, worn by students who also played sports at the university. The most deserving could keep the shirt, while those on the bench had to give it back. What’s more, in the first period only players who reached certain levels of performance or a certain number of appearances could have the letter embroidered on the shirt. In fact, at the time the Varsity Jacket was known as the Letterman Jacket : the jacket of the man of the letter , a student who reached a high level playing for the team of his university.

Before late , Harvard sports students began to wear the jacket even off the pitch , in everyday university life. The word varsity is slang for “university”: therefore literally a university jacket.

The development between sport and university

In later years, football, basketball, and other college sports players also began to use their own jackets.

The turning point was 1930 , the year when that wool sweater with an embroidered letter in the center was transformed into the Varsity Jacket as we know it today. Players needed warmer clothing to face the cold, so long leather sleeves and center buttons were added . The letter was permanently moved from the centre to one side of the chest.

From then on, the Varsity Jacket spread all round the academic world: private universities, high schools and colleges. The jacket became a status symbol , a foundational garment in the wardrobe of every student athlete in America.

The great allure of the Varsity Jacket was that the jacket was for all players, but for an athlete to be able to wear the letter, he had to earn it with outstanding performance on the pitch. Anyway, over the following years the varsity jacket became part of the daily fashion of all university students , not just sportsmen.

The various university fraternities also began to wear a personalised jacket. Wearing a jacket with the initial of one’s university or frat was something to be proud of and a symbol of association to show to everyone.

The 80s: from the academic world to the street

It was in the 80’s when the Varsity Jackets came to the fore with a boom as an item of clothing.

The leading national professional baseball, football and basketball teams started this rise and began adopting and marketing their own Varsity Jackets. In the basketball world the first to do so were the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics: fans obviously started buying jackets and wearing them.

In parallel, the world of music also contributed to spreading this fashion. In 1983, Michael Jackson wore a red Varsity Jacket with an embroidered letter “M” in the video clip of his global hit “Thriller” Afterwards, other famous people, singers, DJs and actors included this kind of jacket in their outfits, making it known to an ever wider audience.

A few years later, the Varsity Jacket entered a new sector: streetwear , once again through music. Hip-hop appropriated the university jacket in the early 90s, making it one of the quintessential street garments, an unmistakable symbol of that subculture. . Immensely successful groups like NWA or Run-Dmc would wear Varsity Jackets in their video clips and on every street corner there was a guy wearing such jackets.

The Varsity Jacket ceased to only be relevant in the university sports sphere and turned into an iconic item of clothing, recognized and worn by everyone around the world.

Patches

In the early years the patches simply consisted of a letter embroidered in cloth . In the case of Harvard, the athletes themselves chose the letter H, the initial of the university’s name. Anyone who set a record or performed at a certain level got the letter and could add it to their jacket. It was therefore an acknowledgment , a symbol to show off and to show other people your skill in a sport.

Over the years the patches were customised with various inserts: the star for the captain, the symbol depicting the university mascot, the player’s identification number, one or more letters in addition to the first.

The evolution continued with thousands of custom variations depending on the fonts, colors, borders and shadings and all sorts of symbols. For example the patches used in fraternities jackets were Greek letters . Those about particular objectives achieved in the field of arts had the wording “Art” to distinguish them from sporting ones.

More than 100 years have passed since the first Varsity Jacket and there have been many changes and evolutions over time. However, even today the essential shape has remained the same as it was in the past , an embroidered fabric letter on a heavy jacket and for the rest you can unleash your fantasy.