By now every Philadelphia Eagles fan has seen these iconic photographs of the late Princess Diana sporting a beautiful Kelly Green Philadelphia Eagles Jacket.
Personally, I’ll never forget seeing these flics resurface while I was in college over 12 years ago. As an Eagles fan and lifetime collector of vintage sportswear, my goal was clear… I needed to track down an original version of the jacket and add it to my vault. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I live for the thrill of the hunt.
My roots in vintage sportswear run DEEP. I started collecting jerseys at age 7, thanks Dad! Pops is a HUGE jersey aficionado and started collecting when he was 12. My Dad was a frequent shopper at Mitchell & Ness when he was in high school. He bought all his hockey equipment there back in the day. Many people don’t know M & N started out as sporting goods store similar to a modern Dick’s, Sports Authority etc. Through my fathers relationship with Peter Capolino (former owner of Mitchell and Ness) I became obsessed with sportswear and jerseys.
Flash-forward to 2012. I’m a fresh college grad unsuccessfully looking for a full-time job. Loans/bills were stacking up so I decided to take my college side hustle (selling on Ebay) full time. And….. BOOM Rare Vntg was born.
While building and growing my business, I continued the search for a Lady Di Eagles jacket. For years, my search turned up dry. I couldn’t even find pictures of the jacket on the internet, outside of the one Diana was wearing of course.
During my search, I heard many conflicting stories about how and when Diana obtained her jacket. Outside of that, there was very little information about the jackets history anywhere to be found. I would consider myself to be an expert in regards to vintage sportswear clothing, the lack of info was rattling my brain.
I was confident the rumor about the jacket being custom-made for Diana had to be true. I mean If I couldn’t even find a photo of the jacket, it couldn’t have actually been made & sold at retail right?!?
Well, this all changed last February 2023 when my friends over in London National Vintage League posted a snippet on their instagram story. I could tell the mysterious photo they teased on their story was indeed an ORIGINAL Diana Eagles jacket. HOLY CRAP!!
Before we continue, let me provide some context…. this was a week after our crushing Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. I was sad like really sad but this photo provided a major spark of excitement that helped me get over the Super Bowl defeat (only a true Philly fan understands the pain of a loss)
I immediately contacted my friend Chris over in London and inquired about the jacket. We went back and fourth but managed to work out a deal that made us both very happy. I mean who turns down a Pro Cut He Hate Me Las Vegas Outlaws XFL jersey right?!
And the rest is history, an OG Philadelphia Eagles Lady Di jacket was headed back to Philly. Now in my mind I’m thinking, this has to be her original jacket right? It’s coming from London and I’ve never seen another. I’M HYPE!! But after speaking with Chris from NVL he filled me in on some exclusive info from across the pond. He claimed to have seen 2 others listed for sale in London over the years.
With the jacket in hand I was able to do some more research. The jackets were originally made by Campri, a UK based company who held an NFL license during the early 90’s. They were only sold oversees, produced in extremely limited quantities and most likely retailed for $400-$500+ during the 90’s. This explains why the Princess opted for a higher quality jacket over the common Starter jacket.
This was still the only Princess Diana Eagles jacket I had seen. I was extremely grateful to own this piece of Eagles history. And in my mind, it could potentially be Diana’s actual jacket since hers has never popped up!
Flash-forward to October 22nd 2023. The Birds are rocking their iconic 90’s Kelly green uniforms for the first time since the 90’s and ESPN pops on a story about the jacket:
While watching, I noticed a photo I had never seen before clearly showing the Campri wrist label found on my jacket, could it be a photo match?! It’s nearly impossible to confirm, but hey I keep telling myself I have her jacket 🙂
The ESPN story broke the news that fans can pick up a retro version of the jacket from Mitchell and Ness starting on November 9th. While it’s cool fans can finally obtain a replica version of the jacket, nothing will ever top a Rare Vntg original.
The search for our next piece of history continues. GO BIRDS!
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