Stretch steps up to the firing line

To the nonparticipant, a trap- or skeet-shooting jacket is simply a jacket with a shoulder patch and brass buttons made of shotgun shells. But to the 100,000 or more men and women who compete in these events the comfort, the fit, the utility that is built into their competitive apparel is as important as the balance of a gun. Such details of shooting clothes as the pleats which support the weight of shells have evolved over years of target competition, and it is rare that any sudden change is made in them. This fall, however, the dramatic qualities of stretch fabrics (SI, March 9) have been incorporated into shooting jackets for the first time. The ease and give needed on the firing line—in the past furnished by bulky pleats and gussets—is right there in the body of fabrics that tailor into clean, trim-fitting garments. These innovations were tested and warmly approved at the three-day trapshoot of the Atlantic Indians, held earlier this month in the burnished foothills of the Poconos of Pennsylvania, at Shawnee Inn, Fred Waring's sporting resort.

Bill Remmey, one of Pennsylvania's top guns, wears a new suede-trimmed shooting jacket of tan Dacron, cotton and Lycra stretch poplin. Bellows pockets hold 25 shells.

Nancy Remmey, Bill's wife, sometimes outshoots him. Her jacket is of same fabric but is tomato red. Both jackets are at Saks Fifth Avenue Active Sportswear Shop. The man's is $78, the woman's $70.

At shawnee shoot, Julie Bishop wears high-style shooting costume of black-trimmed stretch flannel. Sleeves are of wool knit, and short skirt is actually a culotte. Designed by Irving of Montreal, well-known maker of ski clothes, outfit is $78 at Saks Fifth Ave.

Sage-green jacket of wool-and-nylon stretch gabardine is worn by Phil Mayher Jr. It is $100. Julie Bishop here displays more conventional corduroy, with shoulder patches for both right- and left-handed shooters. It sells for $35. Both are at Abercrombie & Fitch.

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J. FREDERICK SMITH

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