Eagles letterman jacket made famous by Princess Diana coming back
A throwback Eagles letterman replica jacket made famous by Princess Diana is making a return to team pro shops
By TOM DOUGHERTY, WAKISHA BAILEY
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PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — The 1990s Philadelphia Eagles letterman jacket made famous by Princess Diana is making a comeback.
Mitchel & Ness posted Wednesday on X that “royalty returns tomorrow” with photos of the jacket.
The replica jacket will be sold for $400 and will be available to buy at Mitchell & Ness and Fanatics.
The Eagles said the jackets will also be available at their team pro shops, and there will be an auction for a Kylie Kelce autographed jacket to benefit the Eagles Autism Foundation.
Mitchell & Ness said Thursday it sold nearly 120 jackets in just a few hours – all sizes are sold out on its website, except for 5XL.
Marnie Schneider, the granddaughter of former Eagles owner Leonard Tose, told CBS News Philadelphia in February that Princess Diana wasn’t an Eagles fan but loved the team’s colors. The idea for her to wear the jacket sprung at the funeral of Grace Kelly.
An Eagles employee who was at the funeral struck up a conversation with the Princess of Wales and later told Tose that he wanted to send Princess Diana some T-shirts.
“My grandfather said she’s a princess, you can’t send her just T-shirts, we’ve got to do something special for this woman,” Schneider recalled.
Tose ended up sending Princess Diana a gift box that had the bomber jacket in it, Schneider said.
The varsity jacket isn’t the only Eagles merch from the 1990s making a return in 2023.
The Birds brought back the Kelly Green jerseys, which were a hit among fans, even though some fans received crooked merch.
In fact, the Eagles are attempting to trademark “Kelly Green” — the phrase, not the actual color.
Trademark attorney Josh Gerben explained to CBS News Philadelphia on Tuesday what the trademark would allow.
“It doesn’t allow the Eagles to tell people you can’t use Kelly Green to describe a color of another article of clothing or Kelly Green to describe a color that somebody else is using in another context,” Gerben said. “The only thing this trademark would allow the Eagles to do is, ‘Hey, another team can’t use Kelly Green to describe a game or theme that might be going on around the game.'”
Vintage making a comeback The letterman jacket is another example of vintage sports merchandise being in style. Fans can’t get enough of it right now.
Joe Vernacchio, who runs Past To Present Vintage in Barrington, New Jersey, said vintage is hit with fans because of the quality.
“I love that they redid it. It’s probably the most iconic jacket in Eagles history that no one every knows,” Vernacchio said. “It’s like the biggest mystery.”
Rare Vntg founder Casey Pitocchelli said he has two vintage letterhead Eagles jackets. In the CBS News Philadelphia newsroom, Pitocchelli wore one of the jackets and displayed the other. He said the one he was wearing was acquired in a trade with a friend of his in London — he said he traded a jacket worth $1,000 for it — and recently picked up a second from Spain.
“This is Campri branded and it was only released in the U.K. Contrary to what ESPN said, it was custom-made for her,” Pitocchelli said. “It was actually a very, very limited release. Nearly impossible find. According to the vintage community, there’s only four that has ever been spotted and two of them are right here in Philadelphia.”
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