When I was growing up in the 1970s, having a “jean jacket” was the thing. Typically, the jacket was made by Levi’s, sometimes Lee, and always in blue denim. The jackets usually started dark blue and super stiff, and the challenge was to carefully manage the amount of washing and drying over time to achieve one’s perfect level of fade and softness.
Back then we sewed patches on our jackets, including commentary borrowed from the 1960s, like “keep on truckin’” or “flower power,” and all kinds of graphics, like peace signs and yellow smiley faces. My jacket also sported patches from the places I had traveled to. When I was a child, my parents, siblings, and I spent a lot of time in state parks, and my jacket read like a map of where we’d been. My jacket is long gone, and I’m disappointed (and surprised!) that I didn’t keep it.
About 15 years ago, I started a new jacket. And patches are one of the items my family collects on our travels. To this day, I find it almost impossible to go to a gift shop in a state or national park and resist buying a patch. Years ago, I started sewing them on a jacket for my daughter. The first one was a Yellowstone National Park patch purchased on her first trip to see the park. The most recent was purchased at Cape Perpetua along the Oregon Coast. I’ve added some of my own and together we’ve created a shared jacket.
Admittedly, I’m more attached to it than she is. I love it—it’s comfortable and worn, and it evokes memories of my family’s travels. The Yellowstone patch purchased so many years ago reminds me of standing at Old Faithful with my daughter in a stroller. After waiting what seemed to be a very long time to see the geyser erupt, she turned around, distracted by something else, and totally missed the geyser’s display. It is a fond, funny memory and a story I’ve told her many times.
It seems I can’t wear the jacket without someone (around my age) remarking that they used to have a jacket like it. Do you remember putting patches on your jean jacket? Do you still have it?
[Photography by Moon Lake Multimedia. All rights reserved.]
Murph
I still have my denim jacket from the 60s. I wear it proudly and it is chock full of memories, the good the bad and the ugly!
Susan Clark
Lucky you to have your jacket from the ’60s! I’m jealous!
Mary F O'Rourke
I love this jacket and how fun to collect the patches and enjoy wearing the jacket with such fond travel memories. It reminds me of my attempt to collect a charm when traveling and the hope of having a charm bracelet. I did actually collect a handful of charms but where they are now, I have no idea. Your post makes me wish I did stick with my charm collection. I remember a dear neighbor when I was a young child – I was always amazed to see her charm bracelet and she would tell me where she traveled to get the charms.
Susan Clark
Oh my, I know what you mean about collecting things then losing track of them. I say start again! Before you know it, you’ll have a bracelet full of travel stories to tell.