HEMA Ratings Nr. 1 Longsword Fencers Review of the IN MOTU St. George Jacket (from 2022 and 2023)

This is a Review from actual HEMA Ratings Longsowrd Nr. 1 Fencer Steven Cheny who made this Review in 2022 and 2023 on the first version of the IN MOTU St. George Jacket. And after 4 years he is still using it at his longsword tournaments.

In Motu Jacket Review

This is a review of the St. George Fencing Jacket by In Motu and Uhlmann. As of writing this review, I have been using this jacket 3 times a week for about 2 months, including one tournament. I originally bought this jacket because I was in the market for a new one, and it seemed like an interesting choice. The things that really drew me in and made me pull the trigger on it were the CE level 2 standard rating, and the stretch fabric. I will separate this review into four sections: mobility, protection, practicality, and aesthetic. For each section I will give a quick list of pros and cons, and then go into detail below. My previous jackets have been the SPES AP standard and the SPES AP light, so this review will be an implicit comparison with them. For a description of the jacket and its features, check out In Motu’s website: https://www.inmotu-shop.com/collections/fechtkleidung-erwachsene/products/in-motu-fechtjacke-800n 

Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that while I am trying to be impartial in this review, it is impossible to be 100% unbiased, so I will list some possible biases that apply to me: 

• I chose to spend money on this, so I have a vested interest in it being worth the investment

• I like modern Olympic fencing

• I think it would be cool if other people owned this jacket so I am not the only one

I am not affiliated with In Motu or Uhlmann, and I did not receive this jacket for free or at a discount for the purpose of reviewing. I paid full price for the jacket, and wrote this review because I wanted to. 

Mobility

The mobility offered is the strongest thing going for this jacket. For the amount of protection offered, the mobility is second to none, rivaled only by jackets with much less or no protective padding. It offers more freedom of movement than my AP light, particularly in the torso and chest area, where the AP light with foam inserts feels a bit stiff. The arm mobility is comparable for both of them, though the in-motu has more protection on the upper arm, and the stretch fabric makes it slightly more forgiving. 

The lack of break-in period is a good bonus, though I don’t consider it a huge selling point since break-in period is temporary. Though I do find that the AP variants get their stiffness back after being washed and still require a mini-break-in period, which you don’t have to worry about with the In Motu.

The most uncomfortable aspect of this jacket is the armpits. Because the padding layer comes all the way to the armpit from both the torso and arm side, you can feel it in your armpit when you put your arms down. I had this problem with the AP light as well, but I was able to solve it by cutting the foam inserts a little shorter on the sides. You wouldn’t be able to do that with the In Motu without cutting it open and re-sewing it. Though this was worth listing, I only find it a minor annoyance, and I quickly forget about it during fencing and don’t notice it anymore.

One year update: I’m not sure exactly when it stopped, but the armpit issue eventually went away and has not been an issue for a while.

The riding up I feel is a minor problem, it only really happens when I stretch my arms straight up in the air, which I never do in fencing. When I hold my normal high Vom Tag or any other high guards such as ox variants, it is perfectly fine. This can also be mitigated with the crotch strap, though I stopped using it because the hook that holds it on is quite loose, so it frequently falls off. It is clear that the crotch strap is a vestigial afterthought included only to qualify for the CE rating, which I think is fine since most of the HEMA market is not interested in it anyway. 

Overall, if mobility is your main or only factor in choosing a jacket, I would recommend this one.

Protection

One of the main selling points of this jacket is the 800N stretch fabric, and the fact that the jacket has received a CE level 2 certification. Without going into a huge amount of detail, CE is a standard by which equipment is tested and rated in order to receive certification as personal protective equipment in the EU. While the standard only applies to the newton rating of the fabric, there are several other things that a fencing jacket must have in order to receive the certification, such as the aforementioned crotch strap, a blade catcher (standard on all HEMA jackets as well), and a ring to attach the electrical line that is used in modern fencing scoring. 

What we get in exchange is the assurance that the fabric does actually have 800 newtons of puncture resistance, and the ability to look up exactly how it was tested. If you look at a company like SPES, even though they are advertised as having a newton rating and use newton rated material, we don’t have the ability to look up exactly how that rating was ascertained, and as a result SPES is required to display a disclaimer on their website that warns that their equipment is not meant for PPE purposes, even though it clearly is. That’s not to say that their advertised newton ratings are not trustworthy, I’m sure they are, I’m just trying to put it into perspective (and also there are less reputable companies out there selling newton rated HEMA gear than SPES). 

I’ve gone off into the weeds a little bit on the rating aspect, many people don’t believe that 800 newtons is necessary for longsword, which is a perfectly valid stance and may be true. The 800 newton was not a particular selling point for me, just the stretch material (if they had a 350 N option I probably would have gone with that, since it would be more stretchy). Keep in mind that this jacket is made by a German company, designed by German fencers, where tournaments require 800N jackets. It’s unlikely that we will have a standard like that here in the US anytime soon, but it’s possible, and also keep that in mind if you ever want to do a tournament in Germany. 

The 800N aspect is purely for puncture resistance, and does not offer any reduction in how much a hit hurts. This job is done by the padding layer of the jacket. The padding layer sits between the outer 800N stretch material and an inner lining. The inner lining floats freely, being anchored to the other layers at the seams. The padding seems to be a honeycomb-like structure of a soft material like rubber or silicon. As a result, it does a good job of dampening cuts, but is less effective with thrusts. One of the issues I had been having with the AP light was painful hits on the collarbone and upper shoulders, which though rare, were a nuisance when they happened. I have gotten hit on that area several times with the In Motu and I find it protects quite well. 

The thrusting aspect can be an issue. I do not wear a plastic chest protector, and I have found that you can feel thrusts slightly more with this jacket than through the AP light with foam inserts. While I personally still don’t wear a chest protector with it, if you fence with people who use stiff feders or you just don’t want as many bruises, you may want to use a plastic chest protector with this jacket. 

One year update: I have been using a plastic chest protector for the past several months, and it mitigates all issues with thrusts with no trade-off in mobility. 

The padding layer ends at the elbows, so you will need extra elbow and forearm guards, which is also true of both AP variants and most other jackets on the market. I personally prefer it that way, I like having my choice of hard outer shell. 

Practicality

I have found the practicality of this jacket to be a mixed bag. This will mostly be a comparison with my AP light, which I found to be very practical. The AP light has velcro and arming points on their jacket, which allows you to securely attach elbow guards to them. With my previous setup, I kept my elbow/forearm system more or less permanently attached (only removed for washing), which allowed me to simply slip on the jacket and be ready to go. The In Motu does not come with any kind of attachment point, so I need to add a step to my gearing up process to put on my elbow/forearm guards. Velcro does actually stick to the jacket material, but I do not recommend this because it will damage the fibers. My current setup for elbows and forearms are SPES elbows attached to DMZ forearms via a velcro strip added to the inside of the forearms, which I find to be quite secure with the new jacket. 

One year update: My setup is now long cuff sparring gloves mittens, and only the SPES hard elbows. This setup makes the gearing up process a bit easier, elbows moving is never an issue, and there is plenty of protection. My next gloves will probably be the HF armory gloves, so I will have to go back to the extra forearm guards.

Even if I could keep the elbows and forearms permanently affixed, I would not be able to because of the difficulty in removing this jacket. Because the inner lining floats freely inside the jacket, it sticks to your skin when you sweat, and makes it so you have to flip the sleeves inside out to remove them (I have tried very hard to remove it without flipping the sleeves, it is literally impossible). It’s possible that this issue might be mitigated by wearing a rash guard or other long shirt underneath, but I don’t want to have to do that. This issue also makes it difficult to put back on when you are sweating, but I have always found it possible to do. The issue with removing the jacket is my biggest problem with it. 

As far as weight goes, it is slightly heavier than the AP light, which I feel is a fair tradeoff considering how much more protection it offers. It is lighter than the standard AP. The pliability of the stretch material also makes it easier to fold and pack in your fencing bag. 

I wash all of my jackets the same way, machine wash cold, hang dry. Compared to the AP light, it is an easier process because I have to remove the padding from the AP light before I wash it. Hang drying takes less than a day, which is comparable to the AP light, and much less than the standard AP, which I found took about 3 days to dry. This is helpful since you don’t need to be as strict with your planning when you wash it to make sure it will be dry in time for your next practice. 

The price is another downside to this jacket. When I ordered my jacket in January 2022, it was 230 euro for an off-the-shelf size and 313 for made to measure, which is slightly more expensive but still comparable to the AP and AP light, which are listed on Purple Heart at $216 and $215 respectively for an off-the-shelf size, plus $60 if you want a custom size. Unfortunately it appears that the price has increased to 319 euro off-the-shelf, 373.50 for made to measure, which puts it firmly at a higher price point than the 350N AP models. The 800N AP models are almost comparable though still cheaper, at $320 for the standard and $279 for the light, still adding $60 for made to measure. In light of this, if you don’t care about the 800N aspect, you might be better off with the 350N SPES if cost is a major factor for you. If you do care about 800N, I would consider getting this over the SPES, especially since if you care about 800N, then you probably also care about how that rating was ascertained. 

One year update: The base price is now 360 euro, custom size price is now 410.

Aesthetic

I’ll start with the obvious point here, this looks like a modern Olympic fencing jacket. It makes sense that it would, because it is made by a modern fencing company to meet a modern fencing standard. I personally like this aspect about it since I like the way MOF gear looks, but I realize that this can be off-putting to many HEMA practitioners, and a lot of people will probably avoid it for this reason alone without looking into it any further. So that’s pretty much all there is to that point - it looks like an MOF jacket but slightly puffier because of the padding, if you like that then it’s a pro, if you don’t then it’s a con. 

A cool aspect about this jacket is that they offer to print any design you want anywhere on the jacket. It costs 16 euro, and you can print whatever you want, wherever you want, in color or in black and white. I chose to get my name and my club logo printed in black on the back of my white jacket. They do not provide a template, I just sent them a high resolution PNG of my design along with a rough diagram done in MS Paint of where on the jacket I wanted it, and it turned out exactly as I had envisioned. 

One year update: The print on the back has slowly faded over time. Here is a before and after (February 2022 vs February 2023):

An aesthetic downside is that it only comes in two color options, white or black. This is because the 800N stretch material that they use is only made in black and white, and making more colors is not as simple as dying the material due to its nature. This was okay for me personally, because I had already been planning on my next jacket being white. However, I know people in HEMA like to get creative with their gear colors, so for those people this would be a strike against. 

Conclusion and Recommendation

I will conclude by giving my two favorite things about this jacket and my two least favorite things about it, and then my conditions for recommending it. 

Favorite things:

• Mobility, I believe it has the best mobility for the protection offered

• Better cut protection than AP light

Least favorite things:

• Difficult to take off 

• High cost

It is difficult for me to give a blanket recommendation for this jacket, since everyone is looking for something different in a jacket. I personally like it a lot for myself. 

That beings said, I recommend this jacket if:

• Mobility is the most important factor to you

• It is important to you to have an 800N jacket (IE required for tournaments in your area)

• CE rating is important to you

• You like the way MOF gear looks

I don’t recommend this jacket if:

• You are on a tight budget

• Avoiding MOF aesthetic is important to you

• You really want something in a color other than white or black

• It is your first jacket and you have not had the opportunity to handle one in person yet

Thank you for reading, and I hope this review was helpful.