Why do most buckskin jackets and coats have fringe?
John Burgess
Charleston, Tennessee
Fringe (also used on shirts and pants) prevented rain from soaking the body at the seams by draining the water off the garment. It was also used for string; if you needed
to tie something, you just cut off a piece
of fringe.
Secondarily, it was used for decoration. A mountain man re-enactor told me fringe projected a menacing appearance when one was under attack—much the same way as when an eagle ruffles its feathers.
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Marshall Trimble is Arizona’s official historian and the Wild West History Association’s vice president. His latest book is 2018’s Arizona Oddities: A Land of Anomalies and Tamales. Send your question, with your city/state of residence, to marshall.trimble@scottsdalecc.edu or Ask the Marshall, P.O. Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327.