Vintage Summit 11: A Vintage Summit of the industry's leading eccentrics discussing vintage clothing.

Abe:Sorry to start with a question again, but stadium jackets (stadium jumpers) in Japan have various common names such as award jackets and letterman jackets, but are varsity jackets more common overseas?

Kurihara:Yes, it is. In the U.S., varsity jackets are the most popular way to refer to them. Varsity in the broadest sense of the word, and within that, letterman and awards are included. Letterman is a school representative who is allowed to wear the initials of his/her alma mater, and award literally means a recipient of a prize, so I guess the general term for these is "varsity.

Abe:I see. This time, I brought a varsity jacket made by Batwin in the '90s.

Kurihara:Oh, you use it as soon as possible (laughs).

Abe:A few years ago, varsity jackets started to look fresh again. I came across this all-leather "Batwin" at a time when I was looking for something different. It's not particularly old, nor does it have any vintage value, but I liked the way it looked less drab than melton and leather. The brown color of the leather and the design of each badge are also reasons why I like it.

Fujiwara:You certainly don't see all-leather very often.

Kurihara:But don't you also get the impression that the U.S. has a lot of melton and leather and Canada has a lot of all-leather?

Konno:Canada comes up here again (laughs).

Kurihara:.(LOL). Not that this unit was made in Canada, just my experience. Besides, most Canadian-made, all-leather varsity jackets have a collar and no waist rib.

Fujiwara:As for this unit, I'm pretty sure it was made in the USA.

Kurihara:And most Canadian varsity jackets are basically made by local manufacturers, because American manufacturers probably never made them in Canada.

Abe:Well, I don't mind either way (laughs).

All:(Laughter).