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Forums > All other metal related talk..

Battlejacket types and examples. Thoughts?

MungoBumpkin
Thu, 05/08/2021 - 17:37

I'm trying to create an in depth guide to common jacket etiquette, going over absolutely everything someone needs to understand jacket culture, the common tropes, the aspects of design we see, etc. Let me know what you think of these definitions and such, and if you like the terminology, or what you'd add. Exceptions obviously exist and these aren’t set in stone, but I think that defining common tropes is fun, interesting, and helps newer hobbyists get into the craft.

The most common jacket styles are...

American Classic: American classic features a smaller amount of patches than the German, typically with plenty of space between them. Often the patches have a degree of layout organization and symmetry, and common features include hand-drawn logos and artwork in and outside the vest, an intact collar & pockets, and studs. Common stud patterns include studs at the corners of patches, studs placed to mimic stars/sparkles, and studs in the shape of metal symbols (upside down cross, speed wheel, etc). This is one of the cheapest options for vests.
This is a popular option for vintage collectors, and also one of the few options that it’s not unheard of to keep your sleeves on.

https://tshirtslayer.com/battle-jacket/executioner%E2%80%99s-song
https://tshirtslayer.com/battle-jacket/japanese-assault

American Cubic: American Cubic is a style born of the combination of the typical German and American styles, as well as the addition of easily-available, uniform album art patches thanks to the internet (although typically not composed of those types of patches exclusively). The internet also allowed new hobbyists to see both styles, and pull from both of them. Thus, birthing American Cubic. Patches are stacked edge to edge as tightly as possible, and at intersections of corners are typically smaller logo patches, buttons, or even studs.

https://tshirtslayer.com/battle-jacket/battlejacket-20192021
https://tshirtslayer.com/battle-jacket/death-metal-jacket-8

German/clusterfuck: Features little to no visible denim, little to no organization, tons of overlapping, and it's common to see collars, pockets, and other non-essential features removed. There's also usually a lot of cutting up and customizing patches, and cutting shirts into patches for these jackets. Studs aren’t especially common, but can be found on these jackets on occasion. Pins are commonly used to cover small gaps of exposed denim. This is the most creative and free-form jacket type.

https://tshirtslayer.com/battle-jacket/battle-jacket-started-1998-update...
https://tshirtslayer.com/battle-jacket/last-pallbearer-battle-jacket

Minimalist: A minimalist jacket features little to no patches and pins, preferring quality of placement and art to speak for itself. Often features larger metal pins, painted-on artwork, and a pervasive theme. Leather vests are common for this type as opposed to denim, and it’s not uncommon to see sleeves in this type of jacket, much like the American Classic.

https://tshirtslayer.com/battle-jacket/burnin-fukkin-leather
https://tshirtslayer.com/battle-jacket/minimalist-black-metal-vest

All comments and criticism is appreciated!


meaningless's picture

good idea...i love the name CLUSTERFUCK already..hahahahahahahahaahahahaha

Doomgarlic's picture

What you call "American Classic" is more of a thrash/speed/heavy thing to me.

MungoBumpkin's picture

See that's something to note, is that these layouts have nothing to do with genre, and everything to do with the orientation and placement of patches on the vest.

In theory you could make an American Classic type of vest without using any metal patches at all.

Dan's picture

Why American and German ?
Chuck in French, Finnsish, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Indonesian, Brazilian, Norwegian and British into the fray too.

Geographic location in naming/inventing a style seems a tad off.

Keep it on genre and sorting / layout instead.

MungoBumpkin's picture

Genre has nothing to with these, it only has to do with the placement and layout.

I've heard clusterfuck style vests called German style, and there's even a group named as such on here to show of those type of jackets.

I see the "American Classical" style as the opposition to that. I named American Classical as such because vests grew in popularity especially with thrash metal, and the two most infamous thrash areas are Germany and American to most people. But the name really isn't the point, that's just semantics

bad_american1992's picture

I feel like at least half of what you've referred to as "American Classics" come from Deutschland, might not be a styled exclusive to one country or another.

Looking into the darkness's picture

That is a good point! For me these are "80s classics" style.

Faber's picture

When I think of American style I immediately see a jackets containing the following bands:
Metallica
Slayer
Ozzy
Slipknot
Judas Priest
Iron Maiden
And one Norwegian Black Metal band for underground credits.

Hehehe

Hárbarðr's picture

Hahahaha exactly!!

fauzan big's picture

Hahahahahaha I agree with you. Put a Slipknot patch and Norwegian Black Metal band patch in one vest is definitely American style.

Arch_Caligula's picture

Don’t forget it being on a black denim vest and having like 20 Iron Maiden patches right next to each other

bad_american1992's picture

Also known as the "Rockabilia Catalog Order" hahaha

fauzan big's picture

I think American classic isn't totally American, and not all German maniacs build their vest looks crowded. I mean, there's HMFC or something in German like Intruders HMFC (correct me if I'm wrong) that totally obsessed with 80s style, so their vest isn't crowded just like battle vest in 80s era. So, 80s style is the right name in my opinion.
Here's what I mean :
https://tshirtslayer.com/battle-jacket/mighty-kutte
https://tshirtslayer.com/battle-jacket/kutte-0718

Arch_Caligula's picture

“American Classics” are just HMFC or Verlierer style jackets and are more associated with Germany than the US like everyone else is saying. American battle vests in the 80s were a lot more minimalist. See below

Mastercutor's picture

If you are serious about this, you might want to take a look at the oldest times, when battle jackets started, when band patches were hard to come by (in some countries even harder than in the others) and people embroidered band logos straight to their jackets. The custom itself came from the motorcycle clubs of the time, which came from the army, namely airforce members, who were proud of their original jackets.
A new-age example of this (the Black Sabbath logo on the back): https://homeofmetal.com/the-archive/my-battle-jacket/
Somebody will surely find a jacket full of embroidered logos here on TSS and post it here, too.
I'd like to see, which category will this fit in. I mean, everyone have seen at least one local old guy with a jacket that has that Led Zeppelin logo, which he's embroidered to it 30 or so years ago, right? But there's gotta be a better way to categorise it.

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