|
View Poll Results: The primary reason you get rid of your old jacket for a new one? | |
Broken zipper and/or related jacket-closing mechanisms.
|     | 13 | 9.63% | |
Holes, stitching problems or tears.
|    | 38 | 28.15% | |
Outdated safety standards.
|    | 6 | 4.44% | |
My size changed in some way (height, weight).
|    | 34 | 25.19% | |
Simply beyond grungy -- it looked BAD.
|    | 19 | 14.07% | |
Some other reason.
|    | 25 | 18.52% | 
01-30-2006, 01:14 PM
|
#1 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,326
| WHY do you buy a new jacket?
From an earlier thread poll, it looks as though about 65 percent of respondents usually buy new fencing jackets within four years. I expected a slightly longer life, but that's my perspective which has been corrected.
Now, though, I'm curious about why the old jacket gets dumped for a new replacement. I'll try to list some options here -- obviously I'm going to miss a few. And we'll keep track of your PRIMARY reason although there may be multiples.
__________________
"Why do you say this to me, when you know I will kill you for it?" - Zod | 
|  | | And now for this message... |
| |
01-30-2006, 01:18 PM
|
#2 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Bedstuy, Brooklyn
Posts: 1,541
| I got a new one, cuz I was in italy, and blue sleeves look so pretty and feel so nice...
__________________
If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time~Proust
~The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.
| |
| | |
01-30-2006, 01:21 PM
|
#3 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Amherst, MA and Franklin, MA
Posts: 2,481
| I grew about a foot between my freshman year of high school and my junior year. I've kept the second jacket though....no need to change. | |
| | |
01-30-2006, 01:26 PM
|
#4 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,545
| I buy a new jacket when my old one doesnt fit.
__________________
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. And from this side only! The flight of a half-man, half-bird. Dinosaurs nuzzling their young in pastures where strip malls should be. Cookies on dowels. All those moment, lost in time. Gone, like eggs off a hooker's stomach. Time to die" -Phil Ken Sebben
| |
| | |
01-30-2006, 01:47 PM
|
#5 | | Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 10,174
| My current jacket is cheap. I expect to replace it with a nicer one with a wicking lining and better looks. So, new features rather than old defects. My old one needs the velcro tab replaced, but that's it. | 
| | |
01-30-2006, 02:04 PM
|
#6 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Tennessee
Posts: 203
| This poll is flawed. My jacket slowly changed size over time. It got smaller and then smaller and then smaller still. Odd
chiz | |
| | |
01-30-2006, 02:09 PM
|
#7 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: 40D 34' 7.046" N by 74D 26' 23.503" W
Posts: 765
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by chiz This poll is flawed. My jacket slowly changed size over time. It got smaller and then smaller and then smaller still. Odd
chiz | Agreed. My jacket is just plain small, and it was the largest the F Post had....
And it's still getting smaller!
__________________
Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it.
| |
| | |
01-30-2006, 02:41 PM
|
#8 | | Admin
Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 4,659
| With other safety equipment (bicycle helmets, hockey helmets, impact pads, etc.) there are notices on them that after a certain amount of time you should retire the equipment.
There is no established "acceptable life" of a fencing jacket, but given that it is a major piece of safety equipment and it takes multiple impacts over the course of a year, should there be some standard for replacing a 350N or 800N jacket? Has anyone studied if the protection degrades over time?
Curious on that one...
Craig | |
| | |
01-30-2006, 02:44 PM
|
#9 | | Fencing Expert
Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: greece
Posts: 3,362
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by Craig With other safety equipment (bicycle helmets, hockey helmets, impact pads, etc.) there are notices on them that after a certain amount of time you should retire the equipment.
There is no established "acceptable life" of a fencing jacket, but given that it is a major piece of safety equipment and it takes multiple impacts over the course of a year, should there be some standard for replacing a 350N or 800N jacket? Has anyone studied if the protection degrades over time?
Curious on that one...
Craig | Well, if I recall uniforms and blades used to have 5 year FIE expiration date. In other words, if the FIE uniform was older than 5 years old, it was no FIE. Both rules were rescinded some time ago. The uniform rule first, and then some time after that, blades.
I don't know if there were any studies done, or if it was an arbitrary decision by the FIE...
__________________
We're no threat, people, we're not dirty, we're not mean
We love everybody but we do as we please
When the weather's fine,
We go fishin' or go swimmin' in the sea
We're always happy
Life's for livin', yeah, that's our philosophy
| |
| | |
01-30-2006, 03:16 PM
|
#10 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,326
| Good point, re degrading over time.
In the case of jackets, I can't imagine blunt impact would be an issue (as opposed to friction micro-tears, perhaps, from weapon tips sliding on the surface). But one would think that constant exposure to moisture via sweat and cleaning would have some effect on woven material.
__________________
"Why do you say this to me, when you know I will kill you for it?" - Zod | |
| | |
01-30-2006, 03:39 PM
|
#11 | | Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 10,174
| I can see the point with the blades (they have a design lifespan of x,000 hits, and a broken blade is a dangerous thing), but every hit a blade makes is on the same object (the blade). In calculating jacket durability, are you worried about X000 hits on one spot, or near each other, or what? | |
| | |
01-30-2006, 03:43 PM
|
#12 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Charlotte, NC area
Posts: 2,501
| How come you didn't allow us to pick more than one option? I've gotten new jackets for several of those reasons. | |
| | |
01-30-2006, 11:00 PM
|
#13 | | Curmudgeon-in-Chief
Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Somewhere in your nightmares!
Posts: 23,534
| Me, too, and no one reason is "primary" for me. I discarded my last one because of the totality of grime, frayed cuffs, broken zipper, shrinking and a cuissard strap that had gotten partially "eaten" by a washing machine agitator mechanism...in other words, it just got too old and manky. | |
| | |
01-30-2006, 11:39 PM
|
#14 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: MA
Posts: 7,468
| 1. It smells bad
2. Rust stains
3. Rips and other visible damage that would make it illegal.
Both of my retired jackets experienced all three of these. | |
| | |
01-30-2006, 11:57 PM
|
#15 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: redneckvill Oklahoma
Posts: 3,536
| I got one when a month after I started fencing (about four weeks ago) but I want a new one,it is to to big and restricts movement, (but my parents are convents that I will grow in to it I keep telling them that I stopped growing but they don't listen  ) Of coarse I can't get one be cause I'm broke.
I'm hoping it has a "accident" and my parents take pity on me. 
__________________
“That’s not seduction! That’s ‘I made pudding’!”~Fabrice~
"They were not as far as appearance goes, anything but two soldiers at opposite poles from each other, but first of all they were both artists"
~Eugenio Corti, The redhorse.~ | |
| | |
01-31-2006, 09:56 AM
|
#16 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 183
| I bought my last new jacket beacuse one of the foilist in my club decided to ,helpfully, undoe the seem all the way up my right arm during a bout. | |
| | |
02-01-2006, 03:49 AM
|
#17 | | Épéeist Hive Queen
Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Sweden
Posts: 12,754
| 'Cause I'm a fashion addict, heh!  
__________________
Fencing is my only PvP. | |
| | |
02-03-2006, 01:56 PM
|
#18 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: UK
Posts: 784
| I am a right handed foilist and tend to wear through the right sleeve (through friction against my lame jacket).
With Allstar jackets (the cheaper 800N jacket), that used to take me about 12 months. My Leon Paul jacket (again the cheaper 800N jacket) has now lasted over 16 months and is still going strong.
Boo
__________________
Smarter than the Average Bear!!!
| |
| | |
02-03-2006, 02:00 PM
|
#19 | | moose rules!
Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Switzerland
Posts: 1,863
| When I don't know what else to buy, I buy a new fencing jacket..... YEAH, RIGHT!
__________________
Beat it...Jab it...Stab it...FENCE IT!!!
***little t***Fiskebäckskil!***
Take me 2 YVR! | |
| | |
02-03-2006, 03:52 PM
|
#20 | | Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 10,174
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by Boo Boo I am a right handed foilist and tend to wear through the right sleeve (through friction against my lame jacket).
With Allstar jackets (the cheaper 800N jacket), that used to take me about 12 months. My Leon Paul jacket (again the cheaper 800N jacket) has now lasted over 16 months and is still going strong.
Boo | What brand lame? | |
| | | Thread Tools | | | | Display Modes |  Linear Mode | 
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off | | |
![KShan5[PrFC]'s Avatar](customavatars/avatar1334_12.gif){kind=avatar}
![Send a message via Yahoo to KShan5[PrFC]](images/fencing_net/misc/im_yahoo.gif)
