Premade Battle Vests 

When my non-metal sister saw how my jacket was coming along, she suggested I make an etsy shop taking commissions. I told her theres no honor in premade jackets

I found a dude on Etsy who sewed on 10 patches lazily at random spots and he was trying to sell it for $250. It's a shame.

First: I think people need to be more creative with their vests rather than buying pre-made

Battlevests sold at a retail store = blasphemy. Battlevests made by someone for someone else that includes their favorite bands = I get it. Some people are not crafty with a sewing machine. Battlevests made for yourself by your own hands = Spiritual and personal. I made mine. My very first video I ever posted on RU-vid was me cutting up an old concert T-shirt to make my own Back patch, because I couldn’t find one I liked.

I buy my patches, I do the layout but I get my brother to do the sewing. He is a far better at sewing than I am and finds it relaxing. I don't mind the idea of pre made vests as long as they are made by metalheads for metalheads. I would deeply resent some corporation doing it as a money grab.

My humble opinion, pre-made vests are horrible. Your vest should be one of a kind and represent your own personality and likings. But once it's already made, that idea is gone

Well, what one can do is buy the patches, take a picture of the arrangement they want on the vest, and then pay a dry cleaner to sew it on. I agree that doing it yourself is the best, but if you struggle with needles and thread, just do the outline with your patches, and then pay to have them stitched.

My favorite band is Metallica and in my 30 years I’ve only ever gotten to go to 1 of their shows well at that show my wife bought me a pre-made Metallica vest but it only had a back patch and 2 rows of Metallica patches I’m slowly filling in the rest but the sentimental value comes from it being a gift from my wife for my birthday so I’m cool with it being somewhat pre-made

I found this while sewing my boyfriends battle vest

I loved the experience of creating my vest. It's dumb, but I was really excited when I sewed my first patch on it. It's not much and it admittedly looks kind of shitty, but it's mine. If someone wants to buy a vest, that's their choice, but I think they're really missing out on that sense of pride and accomplishment that comes with it.

I am working on my boyfriend his battle vest. He isn't good at sewing and I really like to do it. He just pins the patches on the right places and I will sew it on. No money involved. But he took me out for dinner because of the effort.

the way I see it on battle vests.....if you didn't make it, it's not YOURS. YOURS on the personal sense. planning on spots for new patches, arguing with yourself in which patch looks better in which spot.....and even the pricking yourself with the needle is part of the joy and pride of what the vest truly represents of you. 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

Personally, I like using a needle and thread instead of a sewing machine. Taught myself how to sew just to make my jacket.

Here before he fixes the typo :)

Just started making my vest couple of weeks ago. Hopefully it will turn out good.

"Hey baby, looking for a good time" Good god, seeing a metalhead do that would be whack!

I think you can relate a battlejacket to a custom bike. You put it together yourself, like a labour of love, and it's something unique to you and personal. Same with building a custom motorcycle. Tear apart the frame, weld up a new one, making it new, unique and personal to you. Buying a custom looking bike from a motorcycle brand just seems wrong to me. But, in the end, it doesn't matter, people can spend their money as they please.

My tendonitis/repetitive strain injury told me to hire a local seamstress to sew the patches on my battle jacket. She did a great job, and wasn't at all judgmental about what the hell I asked her to sew on my jacket.

Here when there was still a typo on the caption

Sewing is a skill all in it's own and not everyone can do it. Say someone is disabled and really wants to make a vest but can't or a really lazy person who just won't learn how to make one. But when it comes to buying one pre-made I don't know about that, but paying for someone to do it seems fine to me because it's custom and you'd be in charge of how it's made and how it looks henceforth it's yours. Great video man. \m/ \m/

“I could start stripping or be a hooker” lmfao I lost it. But I have my own vest that I bought myself a couple years and I’ve sewn a few patches on it when I had the money. But my parents got kinda mad when I I bought a long sleeve jacket with my own money I earned and cut the sleeves off. It was cheaper on amazon to do that than get a pre sleeveless vest. It was my first summer job and I had amazon kick basically lol. But I’ve gotten quite a bit of SLAYERRRRS!! From people lol it’s very uplifting every time someone does that to me lmfao

about the making of the vests, i pay a woman to sow them for me and i tell her what spots i want the patches, so in a way i help with how its made haha

That's just cheating! If you haven't pricked your finger 100 times and bled on it is it really yours?

For me sewing your own patches it's kind of spiritual.... 🤘

for me making a vest is a night in which you listen to music, get your favourite drink and sew on. i think people that buy the premade battle vests miss out on a huge part of the proces

Half the fun is hunting down the exact patches you want either in stores in person and or online. and the placement on your vest. I had trouble sewing some on pockets so I got a friend to do some. I don't think there is anything wrong with getting help if you lack some skill and patience, but try and sew on most that you can yourself.

I fuckin died when you made jokes about Hookin’ and Strippin’ lmao

As someone who has 7 different battle vests going and none of them are done. I get it! These things take a ton of time. Unless you have sowing machine which I don’t. I like making mine but I get it that some people don’t. I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve bought vests on line that have a particular back patch I’ve wanted or a vintage denim vest from the 80s that had a few patches already on it and I just added to it. If someone wanted to pay me to do it I would. But it would cost them. Time is money.

I'm sewing my own battle west right now 🤘 And I have to give you credit, because your vids convinced me, that it is a good idea

I'm making a vest right now dedicated to king Diamond and Iron Maiden, just finished one dedicated to Lemmy and Motorhead already

I'm of the opinion that vests should be your own creation, however i personally think there's a bit of grey area example I started my vest in college i got all the patches for it and even took the time to lay them all out just like I wanted, but with school being so much work i knew i wasn't just going to be able to set time aside to learn how to sew and had someone help me put the patches on to me it still feels like it's my special vest personal to me and I love wearing it around and showing it off and I'm greatful for my friend's assistantce in arming me for battle!🤘⚡🔥

As a construction worker & the advent of the orange vest being worn everywhere now not just the guys on the roads. ( I think they suck when our already gotta wear the bags. But I digress) There’s an iron worker here in the sf Bay Area had the pleasure to work with (& drink with). Dude was rocking the orange vest but had the murdered out version w/ the big metal band patch on the back. & dude had a grip of different ones & they had miles on em well broke in. Brought me back to ruthies inn the stone the beginning of thrash in the Bay Area

My vest has over $500 AUD in patches plus hours of sewing, that would mean selling them for $1000 min, super proud of my vest and looking forward to starting a new one. \m/

When I first started my battle vest I got my wife to use her sewing machine to put on the first 2 patches because I didn't know how to sew..... but the thick denim broke the sewing machine! 🤣 So I began to learn how to sew and ever since then every patch on my jacket have all been hand sewn by myself. Only thing is is that I constantly get worried that my patches will be torn off by something.. so I tend to go over the same patches over and over again so they're as fused to the jacket as I can get it.

For me the whole point of a battle vest is to make it yourself, my vest is like my pride and joy lol I also like how a vest can be a peek into someones personality, just by looking how its organized (is it all symetrical? is it all messy with patches all over the place? what band is the backpatch from etc etc)

I've never made one my self but I understand. It rewinds the experience of finding the patches sewing them on and wearing ur jacket u made ur self with pride. Might be a bad example but like Lego u don't want to buy a pre made set u want to build it ur self and injoy the experience.

Well if you make it yourself you can choose the exact position of where your patches go and you can choose thread colour you want how close the patches go to each other or maybe they overlap that’s the best thing about making your own vest

Totally agree. A battle vest is a personal thing.

I think making your own vest is more special and has more value personally, I’ve made a couple different vests over the years, however I’ve also spent money on a custom vest; the reason bieng its a different kind of vest to me, it’s more of a collectible, and its entirely dedicated to one band, which I then got signed by that band. Also the person who made it used different sewing techniques and thrashed up the denim, (cut and re sewed it slightly off center with extra denim layered onto it giving it a textured layer effect) some different things I wouldn’t be able to do just doing normal sewing on my own. Also I think a big valid reason for getting a custom one is for the purpose of a leather jacket, because leather is really hard to work with and requires a special tool or machine to sew effectively, which most people don’t have. So if you want a patched up leather jacket, getting a custom made one would be the best way to go either way. Also you can tell the maker exactly what you want and how you want it so it’s not like your getting it pre made by them entirely, if you value the art form you can have it made to your specifications and have the patches and details exactly how YOU want them, not just pre decided by the maker as if it’s just a shelf product where you get it how it’s produced.

Werewolf, I've had to stop working on my battle vest..there are more important things that I'm saving for...so ,my battle best wishes have to wait for a while

7:56 *dead* xD Anyways... I'm glad you came to that conclusion, and I agree with basically everything you said. Before watching the video I thought we were talking about "pre-made" vests as in already-made-vests with random patches on. (Maybe genre specific, but otherwise random.) Which would be kind of stupid seeing as the buyer most likely would not be a fan of all the different bands on the vest. But paying someone just to sew the patches they actually like onto a vest? I don't see any problem with that. I think most guys wouldn't bother to learn how to sew just to put patches on their jackets, so then they either do safety pins or get someone they know to do the sewing for them. So in conclusion: paying a random person for doing that wouldn't be so far fetched. Then again (and most importantly imo!) most people collect patches over time, making it more "true" to do your own vest. I think that's why it feels "wrong" buying pre-made because you're sort of skipping a huge step when you're getting all the patches at once. Just my opinion, and to each their own ^_^

I'm a bit split on the subject, in one part I'm for the diy- thing, on the other hand, as a professional seamstress, I'm well awhere of peoples lacks in sewing skills. With that said, I made a couple of battle wests for other people, however, that has allways been an organic process, of the customer "designing" (telling me where to put the patches and so on) and me just doing the sewing part of it, and getting paid for the work. I allso have sold one of my own, ones, due to necessity, but that was desperate times and that was a choice of becomming homeless (the west raised the last funds to pay rent that month) or west less....I choose the latter.

The most I've ever done for anybody is sew up a couple friend's backpatches, or odd shaped patches for a small fee. But they've always been in charge of placement.

I can’t sow for shit so I got my mom to sew it on for me, I did the placements though I will eventually teach myself how to sow (especially on machine) but so much else is taking up my time

Honestly I get my mum to stitch the patches just cuz she's awesome at it but also cuz I suck and the patches I get are usually to thick for me. Her helping me with it makes it more personal than hiring someone

The subject of Battle Vests and Jackets deserve as many videos and comments as it takes, I also find myself over-romanticising most All my Metal fantasies too, Ha.

Pre made battle vests to a degree takes some of the self sufficiency away from the metal community. I can understand if it’s bands you’re into and the patches are vintage and/or rare. Not all battle vests are music related though.

I have buddy that bought a premade battle vest he did it because it was deal on getting a vest and patches he doesn't have so when he got it he cit the patches off and redid the layout, put in patches/pin/spikes/stubs he already had, and he gave some the patches that came with the premade to some of his friends.

One of my employees once asked where I bought my vest, if i remember right he was like 17, I told him I did it myself and he was all amazed. I really don’t know what’s up with these kids, up until then I didn’t even know there was fake ones. Oh well!

For battle vest (or anything in general, really), to each their own, but, anything made by oneself is always better than just buying from someone.

the only time i can be ok with it is if the customer is disabled and can not sew themselves, and they commission someone to sew it for them. Also if you want a laugh check out the store cotton on and their "Rodeo Collaboration Jacket"

I can totally see you at the Zanzibar on young st. 😂‼️ seriously though you're on point making a battle vest tailored to personal tastes. I've recently got into creating a battle vest off a generic jean vest found at store called Ross and each of the patches and buttons has a story to tell.

If you love metal music and it's an important part in your life you will never ever buy a premade vest! That would be ridiculous. When I think of the hours I spent sewing patches on my vest by hand and enjoying metal music in the process, these are unforgettable great hours, dedicated to my passion

I think you should make your own Battle vest to make it individual but having said that if you can't sew and don't have anyone to help you out maybe it's an option.

some times i would do it, like recently i found a fan metallica jacket that looked really cool. if it looks cool and you like it just buy it

There are people who see battle jackets as mere costume pieces that they want to wear to shows. They don’t have (or want to have) an emotional attachment to the vest or the patches. These folks would buy a pre-made vest because it is the seemingly shortest pathway to a fun fashion accessory that will look good in selfies. That’s all fine and well, and I’m not going to judge. But there’s another camp of vest bearers out there. These are they that view a battle vest as something personal, almost ceremonial even. They view vests as a living journal, declaration of the soul/self, and tangible expression of art and devotion. For this camp, a battle jacket will take years to complete and each patch has deep personal meaning or significance. Patch placement is not a flippant exercise to them, as lengthy consideration is devoted to selection and positioning before the needle and thread appear. Over the course of time, as blood and sweat are shed in the making of the vest, a bond forms between the armor and its bearer. One who wears such a vest delights in seeing others who have gone through the same process, and they will bond from the shared experience. Then enters the young man who simply paid $300 to some guy on the internet for a finished product. Is it any wonder why he would be shunned by those who labored for years to make their vests? They have nothing in common; one guy has a life story to share, the other a one time purchase. Put simply: I’m not going to besmirch a guy with a store-bought vest. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to fawn over a costume piece or do anything to reinforce this behavior. To do so would discourage others from engaging in something that I’ve found to be imminently rewarding and satisfying. I love my vest and the years I’ve spent making and sharing it with others have been great.

Making your own vest does make it more personal.

If you do want to have a custom vest made, I would recommend ordering from drowned in black. They have blank vests you can buy to customize on your own, as well as customization services that they can make for you. But they do more than just sew patches, look at their Instagram and see what I mean, they do all kinds of anointments that you most likely wouldn’t be able to create with your standard sewing kit, as well as they can use t shirts for back patches, and literally do virtually anything you can think of, as well as adding d rings, chains, denim thrashing, they can make it look like some serious stagewear like some shit you’d see rob zombie or badass black metal bands wear, I’m talking high attention to detail and a lot of stuff added onto it that you wouldn’t find on a standard homemade battle vest.

People are free to do what they want but I couldn't buy a premade battle vest. In my own opinion, battle vests/jackets are very personal. I'm very proud of my vest because I took the time to put it together. Family members have given me patches or pins that they thought I would like, I made a few patches and heck my back panel is actually my sister's artwork. There is this sense of pride you get when you take the time to put one together vs having one premade.

Making a vest is an experience and you become emotionally attached to it and buying one pre made is just not the same also when you finish a vest you feel accomplished

You need more patches on your vest. But on the plus side happy hunting.

making one adds a personal touch to the battle vest

I’m not metal or punk and I prefer classic rock and hairbands of like the 70’s/80’s. My dad was born in 62 and had a wild streak in him during the whole of his 20’s. He saw tons of Uber popular bands live and travelled North America from Indiana (where we live...though I wasn’t born yet and he hadn’t even met my mom) to Texas to California etc etc. He saw The Rolling Stones live and many other classic rock bands such as them. He had hair down to his waist (and he’s 6’4”) wore bellbottom jeans, platform shoes and those crazy patterned button up shirts and had a mustache. Anyways it’s kinda in my blood to love classic 70’s and 80’s rock. I also happen to watch a lot of action movie where leather jackets are almost as prevalent as the actors that wear them (my dad is the owner of several Wilson’s leather jackets) and anyways all these things combined had me ordering a black leather moto jacket and I’m waiting for its arrival now. Now while I’m not part of the punk, goth, or metalhead subcultures, I kinda really wanna stud some of it and put a few pins and patches on it. Not too much cuz I wanna wear it daily and I live in the rural Midwest and I’d stick out like a sore thumb in this cow town lol. I deal with stupid cowboys and chewing tobacco on the daily and our summer fair and many other community “activities”is revolves around horses and cows, or tractor pulls and big trucks. Lol anyways I’m more of a hippie than anything (but I’m also Christian so whatever is conceived by combining the two things) and would be more likely to pair a leather jacket with a flowy “flower child” dress than jeans and biker boots lol. Anyways (after my extremely long winded speech) I like your channel for jacket idea and while mine definitely wouldn’t be a battle jacket/vest I like the artistic influence. 🤘🏻✌🏻🤷🏻‍♀️🌼🌞🌚🌸🏵🎸🎧🇺🇸

I’ve only made a battle vest for my best friend and I only did it because he’s my best friend and he’s been their for me through thick and thin and he really wanted one

Still working on my Power metal battle vest

not so much into the vests (i think they can look cool but it just isn't my thing) but it's the same with tuned/styled cars or modified bikes. Anything you want to mod, you do yourself (with maybe some exeptions that require a professional). You buy the desk or the fridge or even the jacket that later becomes the vest. But you don't just give someone a bunch of money to make you something that should be personal.

I was wondering how you feel about unconventional battle vests? As in using garments other than jeans jackets as a vest? Like a friend of mine has a doctors coat and I am thinking about sewing myself a waistcoat.

Your videos about your battle vests have got me to make one myself

I'm just curious, I buy my Jackets, Vests ( if I need sleeves cut off I do it ), Patches, T-shirts to be used as a patches, Pins and buttons. But I do pay someone else to do the sewing for me because I suck at it and a lazy bastard. Who thinks what?

i wonder why he has`nt .. i spelled that word wrong oh well .lol. i wonder why there are no more bands to check out at the end. still it was an awesome and hell of a vid. thanks again Wolf. and i will stay Brutal. \m/

I am 51. My battle vest is a banner of scars that have been earned over years through my Metal journey and is work to show as such. It is be looked upon as a visual representation of who I am and where I have come from.anyone who buys a premade vest is guilty of false valor.

Ive got my 1st battlevest this year & currently sewing my 1st patch on it!! i would recomend making ur own patches if u can

A good example is using/not using cheats in a game, you will never have the same long term satisfaction as no cheats

what do you think about buying patches in stores or online? you said you got your patches at concerts and such and it sounded like battle vests and the patches and all are about the memories (for you), that's why I'm wondering...

I could understand if maybe someone wanted to buy a vest with a back patch of their choice but it think all the little touches should be done by the person who owns it

Came here this early had to leave a comment 🤘 and pre made battle vests such it’s supposed to show bands you own like and to express the sub genres of metal you own like.

I definitely have made my own but sometimes I wish I could have either someone else sew it or learn to use a sewing machine.

If you can make your own you should. However if you lack the skill, dexterity or sewing machine access, don't feel bad about paying someone to help you out.

I would not feel right wearing a battle vest I didn't make myself... I am in the process of making my first one and it would just be too personal to give to anyone else.

Hi i'm also from Brantford! I just started a medieval themed RU-vid channel!

i can see buying a used vest if it has some rare patches on it, but just for parts

I rather make my own due to i can pick what patch i want for each band as well pins from shows n horror anything thats fits my own telling when a person sees me wearing a battle vest and say oh that dude loves cradle of filth or that dude loves crash bandicoot due to seeing my pin... I would rather be creative and my own taste.. then buying a premade battle jacket where i might not like it.

Premade vests defeat the point of having a vest in my opionon. The whole point is to create a sick collage of patches of bands that you like to your own styling. Having someone else do that for you just takes all the creativity and authenticity out of it.

How to make metalheads friends?

Personally, I would rather make my own, despite how bad I am at sewing... I am currently working on one at the moment and it looks awesome! However it's an absolute nightmare to do. So would it be a bad thing to get help from a family member who has experience with sewing to complete it (I'm not saying that I will) ?

I just started my second battle vest. I will have one with all black and white with a vulvodynia backpatch and the other one with all colours that match my aborted back patch.

I couldn't/wouldn't buy a premade vest. Even if I could choose the patches. That being said I don't sew my own patches (or pay for the sewing.) I buy materials and patches and give it to my mom and show her exactly how and where I want things. She's a master seamstress and NOTHING moves or comes off it all looks flawless and is very sturdy. She sews my dad's biker vests too. This way it's mine, but well done.

Personally, I would love to make my own vest, and I've already started collecting patches. However, can't find a suitable denim I'm happy with. I think if people want to buy a pre-made battle vest, I can get that. However, I'm on the same page as you, I'd rather make my own because it's just for me. It's mine. It's unique, like me.

I'm pretty new to metal at the age of 56. I'd like to make a vest, but would everyone think I was stupid because I'm so old?

I’m actually just starting my own and mad at myself for not starting it as a teenager because I have gone to some bad ass concerts! I mean I started to go to shows when I was 14 and that was I think in 94 and I still have patches that I never put on anything that I now brought upstairs to start putting on my jacket. It’s funny because I just went to a festival and I always wear a denim vest that doesn’t have anything on it and I started to notice how many people were wearing denim vest but there’s were fucking cool. So I said fuck it that’s a good idea and I’m going to make my own. I am Trying to recruit one of my friends who is an old-school gutter punk to maybe help me decorate it a little bit so I think that still makes it personal because I’m still going to be doing it but him and his boy always had bad ass jackets that and I can’t even describe how fucking cool they were

How ya going mate Building a battle jacket is a personal thing in my opinion it states who you are and what your preferences are when it comes to bands Im going through changes on mine as lve had the fucking thing since l was 16 so to give you an indication how long lve had it lm 52 this year so some of my patches are quiet rare so time to put them aside for some new ones Metal for life

"M.Dillon, the choice is yours... You can sell me your battle vest or you come my bitch" 10 minutes later " 7:56 "

I will always do my own. Because I love metal. But Im not going to lie. If someone wanted to pay me big bucks to sew there’s I probably would make someones battle jacket.But I would never sell or make one for a none metalhead. I think that would piss me off. None metal heads wearing them for pop or hip hop fashion. That would make me very angry. But I could understand if they’re like a old metal head or disabled or in a wheel chair that loves metal. But can’t physically sew. To pay someone for a battle jacket with the bands that they love. I could totally understand that. Good video man!

Making my own, yes its a bitch to sew the patches but its better than buying a pre-made that has patches of bands you may not like...

I have finally started my own battle vest, when I didn't have funds for patches yet I made my own Havok and Toxic Holocaust patch on my own with acrylic paint and patches for denim. If you are interested in it there is a guy on instagram with nickname Sinnister Skuller I believe. He is so goddamn good at it, really. I am proud of my own patches even tho they are not best looking

Hey man I have been watching your vids for awhile now and I gotta say this subject kinda got to me, I gotta agree with you completely 100% I have always done it myself ! Those s patches are like medals to us true metal heads right ? And if they can’t handle a needle and thread cause it ain’t easy, then I would think they could never ever be in a MOSH PIT !!

i think every metalhead should make their own battle vests, its way more fun and personal that way but if you really cant sew for shit its fine if you pay for someone to sew em on for you but its a big no for big corporations selling battle vests. totally weird.

Your money, your thing. Not everyone is like me who can sew their own stuff.

Would you be in favor of buying a premade battle vest and using it for making another battle vest ?

One question say someone has outgrown a battle vest would it be wrong to take the patches off and put them on a new vest ? Is the history in the vest or the patches ? Because without the patches it's just a vest