The short review: This jacket is AWESOME.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qRB6r8CpVY[/youtube]
Contact Jess Finley here: greatplainsfechtschule.webs.com
The slightly longer review: For anyone who studies the unnarmed portions of the medieval martial arts, you've noticed that a number of the plays require a person's doublet to be grabbed. Repeated practice of these techniques can destroy t-shirts or other garments worn for training. For many years students of these arts have either pantomimed those techniques, wore some form of Asian martial arts jacket, or sometimes even ignored these techniques.
A little while back Jessica Finley of the Great Plains Fechtschule decided that she really wanted a purpose-built wrestling jacket for Historical European unarmed training. Jess teaches historical Ringen, and has a background in Judo, and she wanted a jacket that did everything a Judo gi does: Take the strain of repeated forceful grabs, handle the wear and tear of being thrown to the ground over and over, and even more, to clearly look like a martial arts uniform that also happens to capture the general feel of a medieval garment, just as most Asian martial arts uniforms do to their respective historical cultures. I think she did a remarkable job.
The jacket is tough, plain and simple. We put it through many long hours of ringen practice, and it came through admirably. It could be violently grabbed and pulled with no visible damage to the garment, it survived hours and hours of me being thrown while wearing it, and I have full range of movement. Plus, its so comfortable that I've been joking with my students that I want to commission a second one for use as a bathrobe.
The jacket also looks *great*. It really does exactly what Jess intended: It looks like a martial arts uniform, and it happens to also look medieval. It doesn't look like garb, and in fact is definitely not historically accurate, but it still captures the general feel while maintaining an "all business" look to it.
Put shortly, I love it. I absolutely love it. The day after I first brought my jacket to class, Jess e-mailed me saying, "I guess the jacket must have worked for you guys, because I had three e-mails in my inbox this morning from students of yours wanting their own jackets..." Several more of my students have also expressed how they plan on getting one eventually as well.
You can see how well the jacket performs in the video review I linked to up above. I honestly can't praise this garment enough; It really fills a gap in the practice of historical European martial arts. People: Get in Jess's queue now while the waitlist isn't outrageous (and before she has to raise prices to keep people from overwhelming her for orders).
(Note that Pamela Muir and David Rowe in the video are wearing the Revival Clothing Wrestling Jacket. This is also a good jacket, particularly for the price. It doesn't quite compare to the Jess Finley jacket, but that isn't a fair comparison because 1) the Revival Clothing jacket is less expensive, 2) the Jess Finley jacket is a custom piece, and 3) the Jess Finley jacket has many details that simply aren't cost effective for a mass produced garment that has such a targeted niche market. As such, I still like the Revival Clothing jackets, and think they're a viable option, but I *love* the Jess Finley one and think its well worth the extra cost.)
(Also note: Yes, we're wearing standard Asian martial arts belts. Get over it.
That was our choice, and we're happy with them.)
