A cut-off, cut, kutte or battle vest (when sleeveless) and a battle jacket or patch jacket (regardless of sleeves), [1] [2] is a jacket adorned with patches related to the wearer's subculture or general interests. Patch jackets are generally made using denim jackets or leather jackets, often times with the sleeves cut off. They are a prominent part of various subcultures including bikers, metalheads and punks. In music subcultures, they are generally worn with patches for bands which the wearer is a fan of, whereas in the biker subculture, "colours" signify the wearer's motorcycle club and their rank within it.
Patch jackets have their origins in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, where airmen would sew patches onto their regulation flight jackets. Upon returning from war, the practice was continued by former airmen who became a part of motorcycle clubs. The influence of the biker subculture then led the garments adoption by various other youth subcultures in the following decades. The garment because popular with punks and metalheads during the 1970s and 1980s.
During World War II, members of the United States Army Air Corps began to decorate their regulation flight jackets with patches of successful missions as well as cartoon characters and pin-up models. Following the war, many former airmen began motorcycling and became members of motorcycle clubs, where they continued this practice. Cut offs and motorcycling soon spread internationally, being taken up by the rocker subculture in the United Kingdom and the Bōsōzoku in Japan. Cut offs' ties to motorcycling led to them becoming seen as a sign of rebellion. Because of this, they were soon adopted by various youth subcultures, including the skinhead, heavy metal and punk subcultures. [3]
Upon returning from World War II, many former airmen began motorcycling. These bikers quickly began wearing denim jackets with their sleeves cut off and sewing on patches to display their associated motorcycle club, called colors. In outlaw motorcycle clubs, a cut off's colours are indicative of the wear's rank within the club, where the higher number of club-related patches represents a higher rank. In contrast, non-outlaw motorcycle clubs often only have one large back patch. As time passed, many bikers began instead making cut offs from leather jackets, rather than denim. [2]
Cut-offs are usually made from leather or denim jackets with their sleeves removed, or cut very short, and often adorned with patches, badges and painted artwork that display motorcycle club affiliations known as colours, [4] [5] or alternatively band names, political affiliations, beliefs, or sexual acts performed. [6]
Metalheads adopted cut offs in the 1970s, beginning with bikers who began to wear patches for heavy metal bands. [3] During the 1970s, many patches were embroiders by the wear, as most bands did not produce them for purchase. [7] Metalheads popularised the name "battle jacket" for the garment during the 1980s, when it became commonplace for band patches to be sold at live performances. [8] This decade was when the garment was most popular in metal, being commonplace during the new wave of British heavy metal and the early thrash metal scenes. [9] Battle jacket decreased in popularity in the metal subculture during the 1990s as the subculture became increasingly influenced by fashions of grunge and nu metal. However, battle jackets continued to be worn in black metal and death metal scenes, leading to their eventual re-popularisation in the 2000s. [10]
Battle jackets entered punk during the 1970s and 1980s. Often using a leather motorcycle jacket as a base, band logos are more likely to be painted onto the jacket than sewn on using a patch. They also often feature chains, studs and political slogans. [11]
The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedom, and the DIY ethics, the culture originated from punk rock.
A skinhead or skin is a member of a subculture that originated among working-class youths in London, England, in the 1960s. It soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working-class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in the late 1970s. Motivated by social alienation and working-class solidarity, skinheads are defined by their close-cropped or shaven heads and working-class clothing such as Dr. Martens and steel toe work boots, braces, high rise and varying length straight-leg jeans, and button-down collar shirts, usually slim fitting in check or plain. The movement reached a peak at the end of the 1960s, experienced a revival in the 1980s, and, since then, has endured in multiple contexts worldwide.
Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewellery, and body modifications of the punk counterculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited to the dressed-down look of North American hardcore. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including glam rock, skinheads, greasers, and mods have influenced punk fashion. Punk fashion has likewise influenced the styles of these groups, as well as those of popular culture. Many punks use clothing as a way of making a statement.
Leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities that involve leather garments, such as leather jackets, vests, boots, chaps, harnesses, or other items. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures. Many participants associate leather culture with BDSM practices and its many subcultures. For some, black leather clothing is an erotic fashion that expresses heightened masculinity or the appropriation of sexual power; love of motorcycles, motorcycle clubs and independence; and/or engagement in sexual kink or leather fetishism.
A waistcoat or vest is a sleeveless upper-body garment. It is usually worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wear. It is also sported as the third piece in the traditional three-piece male suit. Any given waistcoat can be simple or ornate, or for leisure or luxury. Historically, the waistcoat can be worn either in the place of, or underneath, a larger coat, dependent upon the weather, wearer, and setting.
Heavy metal fashion is the style of dress, body modification, make-up, hairstyle, and so on, taken on by fans of heavy metal, or, as they are often called, metalheads or headbangers. While the style has changed from the 1970s to the 2020s, certain key elements have remained constant, such as black clothes, long hair and leather jackets. In the 1980s, some bands began wearing spandex. Other attire includes denim or leather vests or jackets with band patches and logos, t-shirts with band names, and spiked wristbands.
A jacket is a garment for the upper body, usually extending below the hips. A jacket typically has sleeves and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat, which is outerwear. Some jackets are fashionable, while others serve as protective clothing. Jackets without sleeves are vests.
Rockers are members or followers of a biker subculture that originated in the United Kingdom during the late 1950s and was popular in the 1960s. It was mainly centred on motorcycles and rock 'n' roll music. By 1965, the term greaser had also been introduced to Great Britain and, since then, the terms greaser and rocker have become synonymous within the British Isles, although used differently in North America and elsewhere. Rockers were also derisively known as Coffee Bar Cowboys. Their Japanese counterpart was called the Kaminari-Zoku.
Western wear is a category of men's and women's clothing which derives its unique style from the clothes worn in the 19th century Wild West. It ranges from accurate historical reproductions of American frontier clothing, to the stylized garments popularized by Western film and television or singing cowboys such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers in the 1940s and 1950s. It continues to be a fashion choice in the West and Southwestern United States, as well as people associated with country music or Western lifestyles, for example the various Western or Regional Mexican music styles. Western wear typically incorporates one or more of the following: Western shirts with pearl snap fasteners and vaquero design accents, blue jeans, cowboy hat, a leather belt, and cowboy boots.
Fashion in the 1990s was defined by a return to minimalist fashion, in contrast to the more elaborate and flashy trends of the 1980s. One notable shift was the mainstream adoption of tattoos, body piercings aside from ear piercing and, to a much lesser extent, other forms of body modification such as branding.
Denim and Leather is the fourth studio album by English heavy metal band Saxon released in 1981. The album was certified Gold status in the U.K. This was the last album with the classic line up of Saxon, as drummer Pete Gill would leave the band due to a hand injury, later joining Motörhead; this was also seen as the last of their trilogy of classic albums.
Fashion of the 1980s was characterized by a rejection of 1970s fashion. Punk fashion began as a reaction against both the hippie movement of the past decades and the materialist values of the current decade. The first half of the decade was relatively tame in comparison to the second half, which was when apparel became very bright and vivid in appearance.
Workwear is clothing worn for work, especially work that involves manual labour. Often those employed within trade industries elect to be outfitted in workwear because it is built to provide durability and safety.
A shell jacket is a garment used as part of a military uniform. It is a short jacket that reaches down to hip level. It was very common in the mid and late 19th century. The jacket was first created in Austria.
Stone washing is a textile manufacturing process used to give a newly manufactured cloth garment a worn appearance. The process became popular in the 1980s, as acid jeans gained popularity; however, stone washing has roots going back to 1960s surfer apparel. Stone washing also helps to increase the softness and flexibility of otherwise stiff and rigid fabrics such as canvas and denim. Although stone washing increases a fabric's flexibility, it shortens the life-span of the jeans. The process of stone washing can be costly, as freshly stone washed jeans must be washed many times in order to remove the grit from the process. Along with high production costs, stone washing can be detrimental to the environment, due to the excess grit that is removed as fabric is being stone washed. This leads many manufacturers to pursue other methods to achieve a distressed appearance.
A poseur is someone who poses for effect, or behaves affectedly, who affects a particular attitude, character or manner to impress others, or who pretends to belong to a particular group. A poseur may be a person who pretends to be what they are not or an insincere person; they may have a flair for drama or behave as if they are onstage in daily life.
A leather jacket is a jacket-length coat that is usually worn on top of other apparel or item of clothing, and made from the tanned hide of various animal skins. The leather material is typically dyed black, or various shades of brown, but a wide range of colors is possible. Leather jackets can be designed for many purposes, and specific styles have been associated with subcultures such as greasers, motorcyclists, and bikers, mobsters, military aviators and music subcultures, who have worn the garment for protective or fashionable reasons, and occasionally to create a potentially intimidating appearance.
A scooterboy is a member of one of several scooter-related subcultures of the 1960s and later decades, alongside rude boys, mods and skinheads. The term is sometimes used as a catch-all designation for any scootering enthusiast who does not fall into the latter three categories.
Fans of heavy metal music, commonly referred to as "Metalheads", have created their own subculture that encompasses more than just appreciation of the style of music. Fans affirm their membership in the subculture or scene by attending metal concerts, buying albums, growing their hair long, wearing jackets or vests often made of denim and leather adorned with band patches and often studs, and by contributing to metal publications since the early 1980s.
Biker metal is a fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock, heavy metal, rock and roll and blues, that was pioneered in the late-1970s to early-1980s in England and the United States, by Motörhead, Plasmatics, Anti-Nowhere League and Girlschool.
A battle jacket – also variously known as a battle vest, patch jacket, cut-off or Kutte...
The battle jacket is most strongly associated with the biker scene and the motorcycle club jackets of its members. Motorcycle clubs were largely established across the US following the Second World War. Many of its members were ex-US Airmen who had tended to decorate their flight jackets with pin-up girls, cartoon characters, and bomb decals for each successful mission. These Airmen started to recontextualize the practice, using cutoff jackets to mark their club affiliation, geographical territory, and individual role and rank within the group. Similar conventions also sprung up in Japan amongst the Bosozuku biker gangs and in Britain amongst the Rockers and Ton-up Boys. Motorcycle jackets became associated with rebelliousness and, thus, were soon adopted and customized by various youth movements (e.g. punks, skinheads) as external identifiers. As many bikers were also metalheads, they began to personalize their denim and leather jackets with band patches. And so, the battle jacket was born.
Whilst it is difficult to say for certain when battle jacket-making first started, it seems to have been well established by the time heavy metal music became widely popular in the 1970s. Methods of customisation around this time included hand embroidery, which was practised by fans as a way of rendering band logos on their jackets in the absence of readily available commercial patches.15 Once bands began to cater to the demand for patches, these became a way of commemorating particular gigs and tours, with unique editions sold at merchandise stands in concert venues.
Metal fans born in the 1950s and 1960s state that the battle jacket was known as a "cutoff" or "kutte" (from the German for cutoff) throughout the 1970s and that they first heard the term "battle jacket" employed in the 1980s as its popularity grew and patches started to be sold at concerts. Fans bought these patches and sewed them onto their jackets as proof that they attended the concert.
Whilst battle jacket-making has remained an important part of metal subcultures since the practice was first established, there have been periods and genres of metal in which it has been particularly popular. The early 1980s was one such period when genres such as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) in the UK and thrash metal in the USA both saw an emphasis on battle jackets amongst musicians and fans.
During the 1990s, battle jackets were perhaps less common, as the genres of nu metal and grunge changed the style and expression of metal fans, although even during this period, jacket customisation practices persisted in extreme genres such as black metal and death metal. After the turn of the millennium, the popularity of previous styles of metal grew once more, and battle jacket-making enjoyed a renaissance, which has continued until now.
During the 1970s and 1980s, punks reappropriated leather biker jackets, which were decorated with hand-painted logos and slogans, studs, chains and other additions.24 A number of postpunk subcultures, such as goths and crust punks, also used hand-painting on leather jackets as a key mode of individuation.