Build a Letter Jacket at Burghardt This Season | BSG
Posted by Burghardt Sporting Goods on Aug 28th 2026
Build a Letter Jacket at Burghardt This Season
Your athlete earned the letter this year. Here is how to turn it into a jacket they will keep.
The chenille letter comes home in a plastic sleeve, and then it sits on a dresser for a month because nobody is sure what to do with it. That letter is the whole point of a jacket. Getting it onto one is easier than most families expect, and we handle the whole thing at the custom counter in New Berlin.
Start with the patches
The letter and any sport pins or bars come from the school. The athletic or activities department hands them out once a student meets the lettering standard, and different programs award them at different times of year. Hang on to every piece. A first-year letter, a sport patch, the little year bars, they all end up on the jacket, and they are a lot harder to replace than to keep in one envelope until you are ready.
When the envelope has what it needs, bring it in. You do not need an appointment. The letter jacket service runs out of the same custom counter where we do team uniforms and embroidery, and it is a walk-in at our New Berlin store.
How the order works, step by step
Bring your patches
Bring the chenille letter and whatever pins, bars, and sport patches the school has given you so far. If more are coming later, that is fine, you can add them down the road.
Place the order at the counter
A retail team member walks you through the choices and writes up the order. This is the moment to ask questions about colors, sleeves, and anything specific your school requires.
Get fitted
We fit the jacket to the student in person. A letter jacket gets worn for years, so a fit that has a little room to grow beats a fit that is snug on day one.
Choose the jacket
Pick your school's stock jacket or go with a custom build. The stock option matches what teammates wear. A custom build gives you more say over the details.
Map out the placement
We figure out where each patch lands before anything gets sewn. Lots of schools have a set layout, and we keep placement guides at the counter so the letter, the sport patches, and the year bars all sit where they should.
Bring this to the counter
- The chenille varsity letter from your school
- Any sport pins, bars, or patches already awarded
- The exact spelling of the name you want embroidered
- Your school's colors, and a placement guide if the athletic office gave you one
Placement and timing, the two things people ask about
Two questions come up more than any others. Where does everything go, and when will it be ready. Here is how we think about both.
Do
- Ask your athletic office if the school has a required layout before you decide anything.
- Leave room on the jacket for patches a younger student has not earned yet.
- Order with a few weeks of cushion before a banquet or senior night.
- Keep spare pins and bars in one place so next season's additions are simple.
Skip
- Guessing at placement and sewing everything on at once with no plan.
- Waiting until the week of the event to walk in.
- Sizing tight on a freshman who has three more years of growing.
- Tossing the small award pieces. They are the hard part to replace.
On timing, plan on roughly 2 to 8 weeks from the day you order to the day you pick it up. Fall and awards season are our busy stretch, so the earlier you come in, the more comfortable that window feels. We have been outfitting New Berlin families since 1881, and you can read more about the shop on our About Us page.
What we can add, and what it runs
The jacket price depends on the style and on whether you take the stock school jacket or a custom one, so we quote that at the counter. The decoration is where the jacket becomes your student's. Sewing a patch or numeral on is $8 each. A name embroidered on the jacket is $12. Lettering across the back runs $20 per line, and a full school backpatch is $49.99. If you want help turning a rough idea into finished artwork, our design team can start from a logo or a sketch, and you can browse design templates to get going.
One more thing worth knowing. The jacket is never really finished. A sophomore who letters in a second sport, a junior who adds a year bar, a senior who earns a captain's patch, all of that gets sewn on as it happens. Bring the jacket back whenever there is something new to add.
Burghardt Sporting Goods
15333 W National Avenue, New Berlin, WI 53151
Phone: (262) 790-1170
Hours: Mon–Fri 9 AM–9 PM, Sat 9 AM–7 PM, Sun 10 AM–6 PM
Bring in your patches and we will help you build a jacket worth keeping. When you love the seasons like we do, you can't beat Burghardt!