Custom Letterman Jackets

A letterman jacket is not just a school jacket — it is a recognition garment. The student athlete earns the right to wear it by meeting their school's varsity-letter eligibility requirements (typically a minimum number of game appearances or competitive seasons in a recognized sport, though many schools also award academic, music, drama, and activity letters). The big chenille block letter on the left chest — the varsity letter — is the visible proof that the wearer has met that standard.

Because the jacket is earned rather than purchased generically, it carries the student's individual identity. The first name is embroidered on the right chest. The graduation year is stitched on the lower sleeve. Sport patches, captain pins, and award medals get added over the wearer's high school career — many seniors finish high school with a letterman jacket that has six to ten patches and pins across the front, sleeves, and back, each one representing a specific recognition.

We build letterman jackets the traditional way that has defined the garment for a hundred years. The body is 100% wool-melton in the school's primary color (wool keeps the structure crisp and stands up to weather and wear). The sleeves are genuine leather (top-grain on Elite builds, full-grain on Xpress) in the school's secondary color. The cuffs, waistband, and collar are knit ribbing in school colors with a contrast stripe — the classic letterman look.

The chenille varsity letter — the big block letter on the left chest — is built from chenille yarn (the looped, fuzzy texture that gives chenille its name) sewn onto a felt backing in school colors. The letter is the centerpiece, sized roughly six to eight inches tall. The student's first name is embroidered above the right chest pocket in matching thread color. The graduation year goes on the lower right sleeve in chenille numerals. The school name often arcs across the back in chenille block letters.

Part of what makes a letterman jacket personal is the layering of patches and pins added over the years. Sport-specific patches (a football, a basketball, a baseball, a track shoe) attach below the varsity letter, one for each sport the wearer letters in. Year-pins denote each year the letter is earned (a freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior pin). Captain pins, all-conference pins, all-state pins, all-American pins each attach to the chest as those recognitions are earned.

We ship every letterman jacket with the initial setup (varsity letter, name, year, school name on back). Additional patches and pins are added either by the athletic department (most common), a local tailor (for individual additions over time), or back through our shop (we offer post-purchase patch additions for any of our jackets at any time).

Most letterman programs in 2026 recognize more than just athletics. Academic letters (typically awarded for sustained high GPA or AP-program completion), music letters (band, orchestra, choir), drama letters (theater productions, speech and debate), and activity letters (robotics, debate team, mock trial, model UN) all qualify for letterman jackets at most high schools.

The construction is identical to athletic letterman jackets — same wool body, same leather sleeves, same chenille varsity letter. The difference is in the patches and pins: a music-letter jacket carries a musical-note or instrument patch, a drama-letter jacket carries a theater-mask patch, a robotics-letter jacket carries the team number and an FRC patch. We work with the school activity coordinator to source the correct insignia for each program type.