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Tiger Jacket
A tiger jacket gives the animal the biggest stage in an outfit, and in this collection that stage is usually the back. Gold thread climbs across a black bomber, a white tiger and a dragon share a satin souvenir jacket, and a tiger scales a mountain on washed denim. The range also covers tiger stripe camouflage, faux fur patterned like the coat of the animal itself, leather and varsity styles, so the tiger appears as embroidery, as print and as texture.
Embroidered bombers and the souvenir jacket
Embroidery runs through much of the range. The Golden Embroidered Tiger Bomber Jacket is a black bomber with a soft sheen and ribbed collar, cuffs and hem, and a large tiger stitched in gold thread across the back. The tiger is drawn in a low, coiled pose with its head turned and its jaws open, and its body is filled with a checkerboard of diamonds and stripes that catches the light at every angle.
The White Tiger Embroidered Bomber Jacket follows the classic souvenir jacket pattern: a black body, cream satin sleeves, a zip front and striped rib trim at the collar, cuffs and hem. On the chest a white tiger roars among pink cherry blossoms and falling petals, while a dark dragon coils over the opposite shoulder. It comes in two styles, Japanese Wakata Yokosuka and Black Classic.
That style traces back to the sukajan. After the Second World War, embroiderers around the naval base at Yokosuka, in Japan, began stitching tigers, dragons, eagles and maps onto satin jackets for American servicemen, and the name is usually explained as a blend of Yokosuka and jumper. The tiger and the dragon became a favorite pairing. In East Asian tradition the pair is read as two opposing forces held in balance, often compared to yin and yang. Another bomber in the range stages that meeting across its whole back, with a blue-gray dragon wreathed in red flames above a roaring white tiger and sprays of blossom.
Denim, faux fur and leather
The Tiger Denim Jacket moves the embroidery onto washed blue denim. Across the back, a golden tiger climbs a rocky outcrop beneath a white, snow-capped peak, with a small cloud scroll drifting beside it, and a patch sits on the sleeve. It comes in two washes, Blue and a gray-blue.
The Faux Fur Tiger Jacket Korean Style turns the pattern into texture. Its long, shaggy pile is golden tan with black stripes, the cut is roomy with dropped shoulders, and a wide collar folds open at the neck above the front pockets. The options name two versions, Bengal Tiger Faux Fur Coat and Siberian Tiger Faux Fur Coat. Because it sits between a jacket and a coat, it is also listed in our tiger coat collection, alongside a long hooded tiger print coat with a fleecy lining in the hood, offered in flame and stripe versions.
The range also includes two very different tiger jackets: a black leather jacket with a large white tiger head on the back, its mouth open in red, bold white lettering above and below it and striped ribbing at the hem, and a bomber printed from collar to cuff in golden tigers prowling and roaring through dark foliage.
Tiger stripe camouflage
The Tiger Stripe Jacket Military ECWCS takes its name from the US Army's Extended Cold Weather Clothing System and its shape from a military field parka: a full hood, drawcords at the hood and hem, tabs at the cuffs and a pocket on the sleeve. Its single colorway, Tiger Golden Stripes, is tiger stripe camouflage in gold, brown and black. The pattern was developed for jungle warfare in Southeast Asia, where its long, broken stripes helped dissolve the outline of a body among leaves and shadow, and it has stayed popular with collectors and in streetwear ever since.
A tiger jacket for men and for women
Most of the range is built on shapes that began in menswear: the flight bomber, the denim work jacket and the military parka. Sizes run from XS to 5XL across the collection, and each jacket lists its own range in its options. The Golden Embroidered Tiger Bomber Jacket goes from S to XXXL, the faux fur jacket from M to XXXL and the White Tiger Embroidered Bomber Jacket from S to XXL. For women, the collection includes a red baseball jacket with cream sleeves, striped rib trim, snap buttons and a small embroidered tiger with script lettering on the chest, offered in red or white.
Our apparel size chart includes a table for jackets, with chest, shoulder and length figures from M to 5XL, given in both centimeters and inches. A jacket usually goes over other layers, so the chest figure is the one most worth comparing.
Where a jacket ends and a hoodie begins
The line between outer layers is not always sharp. A zip-up tiger hoodie does part of a jacket's job, and our hoodies carry the tiger as prints rather than embroidery, from fur patterns to photographic portraits. Our article on whether a hoodie counts as a jacket sets out the differences in cut, fabric and warmth, and the coat collection mentioned above covers the longer pieces.
Patches, shirts and belts to go with it
A jacket also makes a base for other tiger pieces. Our tiger patch collection holds embroidered tiger heads and full figures, among them large back patches, for adding a tiger to a denim or bomber jacket already in the wardrobe. Underneath, a tiger shirt keeps the theme going, from a men's Hawaiian shirt to long-sleeve tiger stripe shirts, and a tiger belt brings it to the waist, with gold-tone tiger buckles on tooled and textured straps. Everything else, from t-shirts to caps, sits in our wider tiger clothes collection.
Why the tiger so often goes on the back
The back of a jacket is the largest flat panel in any outfit, which makes it the natural place for a full-length figure, and the souvenir jackets of Yokosuka made the most of it. The choice of the tiger carries its own meaning. In Chinese tradition the tiger is the king of the beasts, and the dark markings on its forehead are said to form the character wang, meaning king. It is also believed to guard against evil, so for many people a tiger on the back is a kind of protector riding along with the wearer.
Common tiger jacket questions
Are the tigers embroidered or printed?
It depends on the jacket. The Golden Embroidered Tiger Bomber Jacket, the White Tiger Embroidered Bomber Jacket and the Tiger Denim Jacket are embroidered. The Tiger Stripe Jacket Military ECWCS carries its stripes as an all-over camouflage pattern, and the Faux Fur Tiger Jacket Korean Style has them in the pile itself.
Which jackets offer a choice of color or style?
Several. The Tiger Denim Jacket comes in two washes, the faux fur jacket in Bengal and Siberian versions, and the White Tiger Embroidered Bomber Jacket in Japanese Wakata Yokosuka and Black Classic styles.