Hmm. Ive never seen that top picture before. But I remember reading that someone looked into Guess's patents and they do not hold one for that jacket design. I do not know how to access such information so i cannot confirm nor deny this claim. My personal belief is that we would have seen a lot more of these pop up for sale if it was a real item.
It seems I hadn't visited these forums in quite a while, but after receiving a notification because I'd been quoted by
67Beatle88, I decided to pop in here to see what was up...
After a couple of less than pleasant interactions with a member here (who has apparently since been banned) while discussing the "Shah Safari" shirt, I kinda stopped posting. But as I mentioned in that thread, after about a decade of searching I finally found THE jacket. Not the screen used one, but the actual off the racket jacket.
For a variety of reasons I've been very leery of posting photos of it online, partially because there are so many replicas and fakes out there now, that I didn't really want to give away the few identifying details that conclusively separate the authentic from the many lookalikes, and also because while I know there have been '80s photos of what appear to be the jacket uncovered (I even found some of them), turns out those weren't
THE jacket. As far as I know, I'm the only person to own one currently.
I've decided to share a photo here, because I really do want to help the BTTF fan community and finally put everyone's curiosity about if it was a real jacket or not to rest, but I just want to make a few things clear upfront...
-I absolutely am not interested in selling it. Ever. I know it's tempting, but it's simply not for sale even for a "great offer". Any inquires to purchase will be ignored.
-I'm not interested in letting anyone examine it in person, measure it to make a replica, etc. It's literally under lock and key, as it's one of my most cherished possessions.
-I don't want to answer any questions about where I got it or how I much I paid for it (short answer: an insane amount of searching, and a lot).
-My choice not to answer those questions isn't an invite to debate me on whether or not it's authentic. I know it is, and if that's not enough to convince anyone, I'm sorry in advance. As anyone can hopefully see by reading through my old posts, I spent a decade meticulously researching this jacket and sharing all the info I had up to that point about it on here, I literally went driving around California thrift stores, emailing every used clothing store I could find, having conversations with BTTFs wardrobe stylist, Universal's wardrobe dept, etc. So I'd hope that you guys can take my word for it, but if not, that's totally fine too.
Sorry if all that came across really harsh, but I'm just here to share this with the community and want to stay drama free.
With that out of the way, the moment you've all been waiting for! Pics!
So first, we've got the jackets that have been found, the "close but not exact" jackets. This one has several things off about it which I will point out now:
-The color appears to be considerably lighter on the gray areas, and considerably darker on the blue areas. (This could just be photos though).
-The single stitch along the blue shoulders, should be a double stitch.
-The buttons which have the Guess logo on them, the screen accurate jacket doesn't have this detail. Based on the timeline we've been given for the two '80s photos ('85 and '88) this appears to be a later release, which explains the better detailing.
-The Guess logo patch. This is the real big one for me, you'll see why in a second.
And here it is! My authentic Guess Marciano jacket, purchased off the rack, in the United States, in 1984 (original retail price: $69.30
Marty had expensive taste!)
(PS: Sorry for all the watermarks, I know they suck).
-Right off the bat it should be clear that the color is a much closer match to what we see on screen, especially knowing that BTTF is a very "warm" looking movie.
-The stitch patterns and buttons are an exact match in every place.
-But the real big one...the triangle Guess patch on the bottom left pocket. Much like the one on the back of Marty's jeans, you can clearly see (especially in the scenes where Marty and Jennifer are walking towards Save The Clock Tower) that there is a ghosting effect/label scar where the Guess patch once was. I don't think I've ever seen this detail mentioned anywhere before now, and would hope this should provide the smoking gun as to the authenticity of the jacket being an off the rack purchase, and not custom.
A few other little things:
-It is surprising how similar in color the blue and gray areas appear in person, the colors aren't as different as the movie might lead you to believe. To the point that if you squint at it they almost blend together.
-The paisley lining, I've always been convinced this was something added after the fact, and remain even more convinced with the amount of research that everyone has done on this jacket.
-The two buttons pictured on my jacket, were placed there by me, I figure it goes without saying, but they are not a part of the actual jacket.
That said, hope this was informative! If you guys have any questions beyond what I said, feel free to ask.