This thick quilted gambeson, crafted from thick cotton can be adjusted with leather straps and brass buckles on the front. Its sleeves are laced to the torso and they can be removed and replaced with half sleeves instead. These half-sleeves are included. Alternatively, the sleeves could be left off altogether to create a gambeson vest.
The interior of the gambeson is lined with cotton felt. As this gambeson is crafted from organic material, it will breathe better than other poly-fill gambesons on the market.
This gambeson is handcrafted, sizes will vary slightly – so these measurements should be taken as approximations.
A thick, padded jacket common to Medieval and Renaissance warriors, the Gambeson was a protective layer beneath chain or plate armor – it served both as a shock absorbing layer and chafe protection for its wearer. Poorer combatants and lightly-armored archers and skirmishers might wear only the gambeson as their major piece of body armor.
Gambesons first began to be common in the 10th century and were largely intended to be a layer beneath chainmail. By the later years of the Medieval era, it became common for soldiers to wear a substantially thicker gambeson, sometimes called a padded jack, as their main armor. Quilted with many layers of fabric, typically linen, a padded jack could act like a sort of kevlar and give its wearer excellent protection from cuts and slashes. It could even stop arrows in some circumstances. Additional protection could be added to such gambesons with jack-chains, a sort of partial-plate protection which could stop a strong slash from cutting into the shoulders and arms.
SIZING
SMALL
Chest Size: 37 1/4 (94.6 cm)
Length from Neck to Bottom of Coat: 33 3/8 (84.7 cm)
Weight:
MEDIUM
Chest Size: 40.5 (102.8 cm)
Length from Neck to Bottom of Coat: 35 3/8 (89.8 cm)
Weight: 6 lb 8.2 oz
LARGE
Chest Size: 43 1/2 ( 110 cm)
Length from Neck to Bottom of Coat: 35 3/8 (89.8 cm)
Weight:
X-LARGE
Chest Size: 46 3/4 ( 118.7 cm)
Length from Neck to Bottom of Coat: 35 3/8 (89.8 cm)
Weight: 6 lb 11 oz
XX-LARGE
Chest Size: 49 7/8 (126.6 cm)
Length from Neck to Bottom of Coat: 35 3/8 (89.8 cm)
Weight: 7 lb 10 oz
Erick H. –
A high quality gambeson at a reasonable price, no more weeks of bruises after sparing! Protection:
I have had this gambeson for several months now and I have done some fairly aggressive sparing with it on and I have been impressed. I have taken several hard hits on my forearms, torso, and hips. I even received a decent blow the abdomen with a blunt steel sword and had no bruising or swelling. I attribute this protection to the thickness of this gambeson.
Fit and feel:
“Wow, it’s thick” was the first comment from most of the others at my HEMA school. That thickness provides more protection (thicker is also more historical), but it also makes it a little stiff at first. It is warm, but not uncomfortable even when fighting outdoors on a nice spring day. I can wear it for a whole sparing session without the need to take it off to cool down. I also found that it was very fitted (sizing is accurate) making wearing armor over it more feasible. The option to add the short sleeves is also great to have and sets this gambeson apart.
gabriel –
value for money excellent quality . thanks
M. Y. –
Good Buy Decent gambeson. Good stitching. Thick but can still get my chainmail over it. Wouldn’t reccomend wearing this outside in the heat of summer if you are planning on doing any sparring. It will be hot. Good for cooler weather.Does decent job of distributing force of a blow.
bswain –
Great for Heavy SCA combat I’ve been fighting in this since August 2017. It offers a great deal of protection to the torso. I usually wear this with the half sleeves. The Long sleeves are a little short and don’t completely cover my wrists. In cold weather this is very comfortable to wear, but not so much in hot weather.
Wes Cobb –
Much higher quality than expected! I honestly expected a much lower quality product for this price point. However, this is a very nice, thick gambeson.
The description makes it sound like the inside is just the bare cotton felt. Not true– the inside is lined with the same material as the outside. I’m 5’10”, 200 lbs, 42″ chest and the Large size fits pretty much on perfectly. The sleeves are a little snug (I’d say so they don’t bunch up under armor), but they don’t inhibit movement. With the option of half or no sleeves, this is a versatile piece that can be used with multiple kits (which is why I selected this one). The only suggestions I have would be to add arming points at the shoulders and behind the biceps (where you would attach arm armor), and maybe offer it in dark brown. I wish I could add a pic of me wearing it for this review!
I probably won’t get much use of it this summer, as I live in hot and humid Tennessee, but I plan on using it it as padding for my maille SCA kit in Fall and Winter, as well as under a full plate kit I’m thinking of assembling (I saw some Lord of Battles plate armor at an SCA event a couple weeks ago and was impressed).
I’m 100% happy with both the gambeson and with Kult of Athena’s always stellar customer service.
Sophia Caldwell (verified owner) –
{LEVEL 42 GAMBESON}
ARMOR: 1000
POISE: 500
DURABILITY: NaN
COMFORT: TRUE
VALUE: 9954 Gold
COST: [12 silver for some reason]
EFFECTS:
+50% Frost Resistance
+1000% Lightning Resistance
+60% Flirting Resistance
-95% Bra Necessity
-50% Swim Speed
+500 Frustration Damage to knife wielding attackers on hit
CLASSES: [WARRIOR] [PALADIN] [ARCHER] [DRUID] [GEEK]