Whats a pourpoint and where do I get one?
Here are 2:
http://www.revivalclothing.com/14thcenturylinenpourpoint.aspxhttp://historicenterprises.com/pourpoint-14th15th-century-p-1196.html?cPath=99_108The Historic Enterprises one fits differently and is more suited to holding up clothes than something heavy. The revival one is padded at the hips and specifically for a leg harness.
In the interest of not re-typing a bunch of stuff, here's the pourpoint discussion points from DoK:
The pourpoint is designed to PUT the weight on your hips. Which is a good thing, you don't want the weight on your lower back or your shoulders. The only way a pourpoint works as a load-bearing garment is to ensure a proper fit. The revival pourpoint is designed to be very tight through the hips so that the front seams cannot meet each other. This will ensure that the weight is kept off the shoulders. The revival pourpoint has good fitting instructions on their website. If you allow the front seam to meet (i.e, the garment is too big), all the weight of your armor will be transferred to your shoulders and make your shoulders and lower back hurt all day, defeating the purpose of the pourpoint.
OK, Pourpoint Fitting Modeling:
First photo, The pourpoint is only laced up to my chest and then tied off to illustrate that it needs to be TIGHT through the hips and mid-section, and can be completely LOOSE from the chest up, and there is no tension whatsoever on my shoulders. The middle seam CANNOT meet in the middle or you defeat the purpose.
In Photo #2, you can see it attached to the cuisse. The points are reinforced with small leather tabs. And you can still see, there is NO tension on my chest or shoulder with the weight of the cuisse hanging from the garment, all the weight is on my hips which does not fatigue my lower back or shoulders:
Oh, and I forgot, the lacing is SPIRAL LACING, not normal sneaker style lacing. The holes are offset on the revival garment to allow for spiral lacing. This means only one end of the lace snakes up the garment as you tie it tight.
**updated for permissions on those photos**