In high school there are many expenses; back to school supplies, field trip fees, game admissions, prom, senior pictures, announcements, letterman’s jacket. A letterman’s jacket is not cheap; the average jacket will cost $300-500. It is important to find a company that will produce the dream jacket without killing the parents’ wallet.

Many students receive a letterman’s jacket as a Christmas present, orders are being placed now. There are three main stores in the area to purchase a letterman’s jacket.

There will be a letterman’s clinic on Sept. 28, 2013 by PDQ PromoPrint Embroidery & Engraving (PDQ) held at 163 W 11th from 10-4 p.m. The clinic’s purpose is to teach people how to use their online design tool that they provide through Jacket Back. The program allows you to design your jacket online, and then PDQ takes the online version and makes it reality.

PDQ is offering a special discount on letterman’s jackets ordered at the clinic. This includes the jacket with first name on the front, graduating year under that, and the first letter being sewn on.

PDQ carries Delong jackets as well as other brands, so a custom jacket is optional, but they do not have a big stock inventory. Instead when a customer orders a jacket, PDQ sends out the order to be filled by the company that makes the jackets. So the sooner that the jacket is ordered the quicker it will be in.

Tracy Awards & Embroidery (TAE) also offers custom letterman jackets; the store is located at 48 W. 10th Street.

TAE carries Rockcreek letterman jackets. These jackets can be customized to the color of the wool, color of the leather sleeves, and the trim pattern on the cuffs and collar.

Jackets are $225 and this price includes the first name and year of graduation of the front, and any patches or blocks at time of purchase of the jacket.

For patches and letters added after the purchase of the jacket it is $5 per patch and $10 for a block. Adding a name on the back is $25.

The turnaround time for a jacket during peak season (Aug.-Dec.) is normally six weeks and three weeks during the down season (Jan-July).

Both PDQ and TAE both are affiliate stores of Jacket Back and both have access to Jacket Back’s online design tool. Both offer a tutorial of the online design tool in their store.

Monogram Magic (MM) in Manteca also produces letterman’s jackets. The price of a jacket is $179.00 for boys or girls in the sizes of: small, medium, large, and extra-large. There is an extra charge for jackets larger than XL.

MM caries three different brands of letterman jackets: Delong, Rennoc, and Settermeir. This allows the client to pick a style of letterman jacket that they like.

MM also offers a basic embroidery package for $95. The package include: first name on the right breast area, sports or activity over both pockets, last name across the back, finally all blocks and patches for the four years enrolled in school are sewed on for free. If a letterman’s jacket is brought in from a different store to have a patch sewn on they normally do not charge.

MM also does digitizing, this is where they can take artwork and turn it into a format that they can embroidered onto the letterman jacket. MM has 24 years of experience. The price for artwork, digitizing, and embroidery depends on the design and detail of the artwork.