Letterman Jackets – High school and University

Hi. I’m from the UK, but I’m hoping to study in the US in a few years, probably for a year. I just had a question about letterman jackets (varsity jackets?):

Are they only a thing in high schools or do universities have them too? Also, how do they “work”? I’ve heard you have to earn them?

I just think they’re cool.

42 comments

  2. I’ve seen college letterman jackets but since making a college varsity team is so much harder than a high school’s they are quite rare. You have to actually be on the team *and* currently attending the school or it’s considered cringy at best.

  4. Its a style of jacket you can get anywhere if you don’t care about the lettering stuff that goes with it.

  6. I still have mine somewhere with the letter I earned for band, lol. I have seen some people wearing vintage-looking ones as kind of a thrift shop eclectic look.

  7. High school. While earning a varsity letter is good, wearing it after graduation is rather gauche.

  9. After High School it is douchy, unless you are the one guy in the grocery store from last week who was wearing a letterman jacket with the Planet Express logo. That is perfectly acceptable everywhere and at any time.

  10. Just high school. I didn’t know a single person who wore one tbh. But I know they’re relatively common

  11. High school only. My youngest son just got his last summer. I suspect the only time he’ll wear it after this year is going to football games when he comes home from college.

  13. You can buy jackets in that style that feature your college or whatever else, but the actual ones and tradition of awarding them are high school things.

    > Also, how do they “work”? I’ve heard you have to earn them?

    You get one by being on a varsity school sports team, as the alternate name “varsity jacket” would suggest.

  14. High school mainly. You don’t technically earn the jacket itself, you earn the letter patch with the first initial of your school’s name that is sewn onto it. This is why you might hear the phrase “lettering in a sport”.

    The jacket itself you can technically just purchase. As for *how* you earn the letter, you have to perform at a certain level competing in a school sport. Though to be fair, It does depend on the sport and the school to some extent. My school gave the graduating seniors on the cross country team a letter automatically at the end of the season if they hadn’t earned the letter already as sort of a “thank you for participating” kind of thing. But cross country is also a much more open and inclusive sport compared to some of the others at the school, and i have no idea what their process was.

    I’m a girl and varsity jackets were usually seen as more of a guy thing in my hometown, so I technically have the letter but not the jacket, but my brother has the actual jacket. He hasn’t worn it since a few months into his first year of university though. It’s generally considered something of a social faux pas to wear those after a certain age.

    I don’t know if they’re a thing at the university level. Very few people go on to play sports at the university level at all relative to the high school level, so I’ve never met anyone who played at that level who could tell me.

  15. Im a high school student in the US and I have one. You don’t necessarily earn the jacket itself, but you earn a “letter” (basically just a patch of your school’s initial) after participating in a varsity activity. I got mine from marching band. The letter gets sewn onto your jacket, along with other patches that are optional. I also have my graduation year, my last name, and a picture of my school’s mascot sewn onto mine.

    From what I have seen, they exist in universities but are much more prevalent in high school.

  16. Anyone can buy that style of coat, but the letters are earned, and not just from being on a sports team. I got letters from being in marching band, for example (though we were also a competative team). Never got a coat to put my letters on, though.

    And yeah, they’re a high school thing.

  17. In general they are only worn while in High School. And the letter is awarded for participation in an afterschool program. Almost no limit anymore.
    Traditionally Letters were given for being on the Varsity Squad of a High School Athletic Team. Now a days they will give them for almost anything. At many schools just being on a team can get a letter. Marching Band gives them out. Chess teams. Almost no limit.
    In most cases it is generally considered weird to wear the jacket after high school.

  18. You can buy the style of jacket many places online with out embellishments if it’s a style thing…. school pride is more common in entertainment than reality anymore and the jackets are often expensive for families already dealing with expenses of having 1 or more athletes, I know loads of kids who earned letters but hardly any with letterman jackets.

  19. They’re so high school that I refused to even buy one in spite of lettering all 4 years.

  21. I’m sure there are some universities that have them, but they are typically thought of as a high school thing. Usually there are letters for sports and for academics, although some schools may have ones for other things too. The sports ones are earned for being on a team, and the academic ones are for having a certain GPA. Or you could be like me and have your older brother’s girlfriend (who happens to be student body president) steal a letter for you from the supply closet where the school kept them.

    As for the jackets themselves, at least at my school anyone could buy one. So many people had one without a letter on it.

  22. I’m from Chicago and there aren’t really any letterman jackets even in highschool. Though for colleges I do believe they are in them.

  24. I noticed quite a few freshman wearing their high school letterman jacket first semester of university, but this usually ends when they realize practically everyone had a letter from their high school.

    After that, the only people you saw wearing letterman jackets were the university varsity athletes.

    Although I earned a letter in high school for football, I didn’t buy the jacket because it was expensive for an item of clothing that I would wear for less than a year.

  25. Definitely gives big time “stuck in high school” vibes to wear your letter jacket when you’re no longer in high school. There are unmarked varsity jackets you can buy in stores that have no connection to a school – just plain jackets for fashion. I can’t personally speak for other opinions on them but I wouldn’t think anything of it if you wore one of those

  26. You could do a letter sweater! Looks like a vintage cardigan and has a retro look. Always classically in style or as a streetwear look.

  28. It’s a high school thing. Some people in here are saying some universities have them but I have never heard of that in my life.

    Others have said this already but anyone can buy the jacket. However it would look pretty cringey if you bought one just to wear without any letters to put on it. A foreign student might get a pass though.

  29. HS mainly. I had one for two sports. I think I’ve worn it once after HS. It’s somewhere in my room.at my parent’s house

  30. i go to one of the biggest universities in the nation, our sports and marching has still have them. i see the band wear them frequently.

  31. I hate jocks but for some reason really wanted a letter. During my junior year on golf team I found out that all seniors regardless of JV of Varsity got a letter. But only at the end of the year. So I didn’t play golf my senior year. This was early eighties.

  33. I don’t know about the rest of the country but in Texas they are only in high school and they are earned through participating in any extracurricular activity and gaining a certain level of proficiency or achievement. Every school has it’s own criteria and each org within the school has their own criteria as well. However, if you think they’re cool and just want one, might I suggest a thrift shop or vintage store. They sometimes have them.

  34. It’s not a thing post high school. However, I do encourage you to look into the merchandise available at whatever uni you plan on studying at here in the US. There is a robust market for college gear, and you’ll be able to find some awesome items to represent your time here

  36. High school! You get a letter once you play a varsity sport. This is not a thing in uni.

  38. Pretty sure it was originally a college thing first.

    I’m a millennial so don’t know the current trends, but no one wore letterman jackets in High School anymore, except the wrestlers.

    The lacrosse team (and other sports teams) love their Boatman pullovers.

  40. Ours were separate letters you would receive at a banquet after the first year participating in a varsity sport, band, or ROTC. You bought your jacket separately then sewed on the patches yourself. There was the school letter for the front of your jacket then say a football, tennis ball, winged foot, for your jacket sleeve. Any year after the first you received a bar patch to go under the sport patch. If you knew embroidery type places you could go and get your name on the front, back, etc. My folks wouldn’t buy me a jacket because, well, who wears them after graduation and the jackets were wool and expensive. I do have my patches though.

  42. I got a letter (for my jacket) in middle school. You had to participate in a sport. Possibly only football, because football is big where I come from. You might have been able to letter in other things, but I don’t think I ever saw a letter for anything but football in either high school or middle school.

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