Stowe Vermont Snowflake Patch (Black Ground) — c. 1970s-80s

A vintage Stowe ski patch, probably late 1970s or early 80s, round on a black ground inside a white merrowed border — a six-arm blue snowflake with a small white hexagon at its center, STOWE arched in white across the top and Vermont around the bottom.

Black grounds arrived late in the patch business and they changed how everything sitting on top of them read — colors came up sharper, white went properly white instead of faintly cream.

They have also aged far better than anything else from the period. Set this next to a pale twill patch of the same year and the pale one will have gone the color of weak tea, while this looks about four seasons old.

It is also one of the few patches here you could put on a modern jacket without it looking like a costume.

Embroidered on twill, merrowed edge. Photos are the condition report.