Marty McFly Safari Shirt - Back to the Future

MitasTouch said:

I find it weird that this shirt has never once showed up for sale. It's even more rare than the Guess Marciano jacket and Class-5 vest. At least those two have been on ebay before.

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The reason the jacket does not show up for sale (According to statements and interviews by Guess) is that the jacket was never produced by them beyond the few made for the movie. All other jackets that have shown up have been replicas. There are no "real jackets" This was established years ago by BTTF.com

I agree that shirts are far more likely to be used and discarded than a vest. Also keep in mind Class-5 went out of business in 1983. Those products were well made.

BTTF Forum said:

The reason the jacket does not show up for sale (According to statements and interviews by Guess) is that the jacket was never produced by them beyond the few made for the movie. All other jackets that have shown up have been replicas. There are no "real jackets" This was established years ago by BTTF.com

I agree that shirts are far more likely to be used and discarded than a vest. Also keep in mind Class-5 went out of business in 1983. Those products were well made.

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It's been well-established that Guess (Or whoever claimed Guess said that) was wrong on that account.

There are at least 3 jackets to my knowledge that have appeared in the proper colors and proper style in the hands of nerds like us now. Which means there may have been many more that once existed. Every time one pops up this "Guess said it doesn't exist" statement always gets brought out as a way to say that whatever someone is selling must be fake.

There are people here who know more about the jacket than I do, so if one of them feels like adding anything or correcting anything, by all means jump in.

...and I'd put money on their being at least 1 or 2 more jackets in collectors hands that will never mention it publicly, just because it's such a Holy Grail piece and they don't want to have to deal with constant requests to sell it.

Back to the shirts though, shirts are such a utility piece. I know I've worn through more than I can remember in my life. So I can only imagine how few button-downs from the 80's are still in any shape to be kept. Oh well! It just makes it that much more of a challenge for us, nerds then!

-Nick

BTTF.Com conducted interviews with Deborah Scott about the jacket. Then another interview occurred with Guess. Both of them said the same thing when it came to the origins and history of the Marty jacket. It was backed up with proof that the jacket did not appear in any catalog form 1983-1985 despite all of the other variations of the shoulder patched jacket being in the catalog. It has been proven that Guess did not have any facility in Mexico in the mid 80's and in fact had only 1 foreign plant in Hong Kong that was actually owned by Jordache.

The replicas a very good replicas. As replicas go they are very well done. But you cant put a Porche emblem on a Volkswagon and make it a Porche. Everytime some one tries to "Prove" their jacket is a real Guess made jacket they fall flat. The jacket sold in NJ last year was claimed to be owned by the guys mother in the 80's. I have spoken to that guy via email and he cannot provide any proof of ownership in the 80's. Not 1 photo. Photos with peoples heads cut off prove nothing. Someone clearly made a series of very good fakes sometime in the early to mid 90's. If the jacket had been produced by Guess we would all know about it. There would be tons of them showing up, just like all the other Guess jackets from that time period that show up all the time. There is never any one moment where there is not a Marty "Style" jacket for sale on ebay. If Guess produced them there would have been 10's of thousands of them made, just like all the other ones. And those would be showing up for sale regularly. It would also have been mentioned in the BTTF Almanac that the jacket was available.

I have sourced the buttons Guess used at the time. I have figured out their color fading process though some expensive trial and error. I own both styles of jackets that were combined to make the Marty jacket and I will be making a dead on replica myself before October. But its still not a "real" jacket. Believe me, I WISH they had made the jacket, we all do.
If you are going against the word of Deborah Scott you better bring your "A" game. She is highly respected.

Like I said, there are others better suited than me to refute these claims. But not all are on these boards, and not all want their information out.

I will say, that I have seen very compelling evidence this jacket existed in the 1980's, but it is not mine to share.

What I can say is that the film's timeline itself provides a compelling reason to believe the jacket was not custom-made: Eric Stoltz. Once MJF was brought in to replace him, they would have had a limited time to create a new costume. Off the shelf pieces (Those requiring only slight mods like the addition of an inside pocket to fit the walkman) would have been the easiest to use in that time frame.

...and this wouldn't be the first time a "source" was wrong...and it won't be the last.

-Nick

Besides, the way I always heard it was that the original jacket was a Guess KNOCKOFF made in Mexico. Nobody has claimed (to my knowledge) that Guess had a factory in Mexico. I've only ever seen it explained as a knockoff Guess jacket, which makes enough sense and it would definitely be harder to come by now if it was.

Back to the Shah Safari shirt. Did marty wear a small or a medium? I'm not sure how these shirts fit for their respective sizes but the shirt does look a little too big on him.

I have a small and it's baggy for a small, really not slim fit. I'm also 6 feet tall and 170 pounds, I usually wear Medium in shirts.

MitasTouch said:

Back to the Shah Safari shirt. Did marty wear a small or a medium? I'm not sure how these shirts fit for their respective sizes but the shirt does look a little too big on him.

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As I am always willing to discuss the shirt outside of replication; and since I own at least one of every size, I took some out of their packages (S,M,L) and scaled them based on the screen used pic. The shirt is a medium. Based on MJF size and the size of a medium I would say this would be accurate accounting for the bagginess. Notice how the shirt rolls off MJF's shoulder.

I am 6'0 195 and I wear a large.

BTTF Forum said:

As I am always willing to discuss the shirt outside of replication; and since I own at least one of every size, I took some out of their packages (S,M,L) and scaled them based on the screen used pic. The shirt is a medium. Based on MJF size and the size of a medium I would say this would be accurate accounting for the bagginess. Notice how the shirt rolls off MJF's shoulder.

I am 6'0 195 and I wear a large.

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Thank you. It might be a good idea to add that to your description for selling your shirts that it's more accurate to the movie to wear a medium if they're around MJFs height. He's 5'4".

MitasTouch said:

Thank you. It might be a good idea to add that to your description for selling your shirts that it's more accurate to the movie to wear a medium if they're around MJFs height. He's 5'4".

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I would like to see people wear a shirt that fits them. Having someone try to squeeze into a medium just because its the size MJF wore will make their costume look all wrong. Match what you wear to your body size. If you are buying a shirt for a manikin or a prop display I guess it doesn't matter. Since the Vest is so hard to come by, if I was just making a display I would match the shirt to the size vest I had.

To me its more fun to wear. A large is a 42-44 mens. These shirts are long for you to tuck in. Roll the sleeves to match your arms. Remember to wear over a maroon t-shirt.

BTTF Forum said:

I would like to see people wear a shirt that fits them. Having someone try to squeeze into a medium just because its the size MJF wore will make their costume look all wrong. Match what you wear to your body size. If you are buying a shirt for a manikin or a prop display I guess it doesn't matter. Since the Vest is so hard to come by, if I was just making a display I would match the shirt to the size vest I had.

To me its more fun to wear. A large is a 42-44 mens. These shirts are long for you to tuck in. Roll the sleeves to match your arms. Remember to wear over a maroon t-shirt.

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I only meant thay for people who are around 5 feet 4 inches. I wouldn't recommend someone who wears larger than a medium wear something uncomfortable.

Found this on ebay. It's more accurate than my current shirt and it was at a good price. Listing says it was handmade.

I know you don't support replicas, but would you say that the shirt I found has the correct shape BTTF Forum?

BTTF Forum I have a question. If you asked Shah Safari to lighten the hash lines do you think they would do it, or keep it as is to save time and money?

MitasTouch said:

@BTTF Forum I have a question. If you asked Shah Safari to lighten the hash lines do you think they would do it, or keep it as is to save time and money?

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They are receptive to my input. But, and this is a big but, they wont deviate from the original designs. I know there seems to be debate about some images showing the lines lighter than in other shots. I have a bunch of Non-filtered still shots that show the lines much darker. Now keep in mind, and this is important. The current release from Shah Safari is NOT on the same grade of cotton as it was in the mid 80's. That does effect the way the shirt absorbs the printing. With that being said, there are minimum runs that have to happen when a new batch is made. These runs cost about $18,000. That is part of the reason they happen every 5 years. If I was convinced that a lighter run was correct I would make a case, but I am not convinced based on the unfiltered photos I have. And due to those pictures existing I doubt that Shah would take the risk or buy my argument. Remember they still have originals in the archives. This shirt is the pride of the company; its not about time or money to them.

BTTF Forum said:

They are receptive to my input. But, and this is a big but, they wont deviate from the original designs. I know there seems to be debate about some images showing the lines lighter than in other shots. I have a bunch of Non-filtered still shots that show the lines much darker. Now keep in mind, and this is important. The current release from Shah Safari is NOT on the same grade of cotton as it was in the mid 80's. That does effect the way the shirt absorbs the printing. With that being said, there are minimum runs that have to happen when a new batch is made. These runs cost about $18,000. That is part of the reason they happen every 5 years. If I was convinced that a lighter run was correct I would make a case, but I am not convinced based on the unfiltered photos I have. And due to those pictures existing I doubt that Shah would take the risk or buy my argument. Remember they still have originals in the archives. This shirt is the pride of the company; its not about time or money to them.

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I understand. Thanks for the reply.

You should start a kickstarter for another run.

joelgoodson said:

You should start a kickstarter for another run.

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The 30th anniversary run is still available in some sizes.

BTTF Forum said:

TI have a bunch of Non-filtered still shots that show the lines much darker.

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Do we actually get to see them this time? Because what you posted previously supported the light-line hypothesis.

-Nick

I got my shirt replica today. It is very well made. Here are some costume pics. Excuse my sunburnt face.





From a distance the hash lines look light, but up close they are solid black. They look a little darker on my phone. In real life it's lighter. The size says it's a small, but it fits like a medium.

This shirt has 15 lines in some places and 16 in others only by a very small part coming off of a corner of a square.