I am going to show I1 in February for the first time in 6 years, and not only does my original shadbelly no longer fit, it is made of wool(I live in Florida)…I have really come to love my tech fabric jackets. I have not checked any tech fabric tailcoats out before as I didn’t use mine too regularly. I always sucked it up and sweated in it. Since I don’t fit in it, I have to buy a new one, and I’d rather not be miserable! So what are your favorites??
I have the Alessandro Albanese Motion Lite Shadbelly in the black and the navy. It’s incredibly comfortable and easy to ride in. I changed the buttons, and put extra weight in the tails, but no other issues. It was downright cheap compared to what some of them go for these days.
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I haven’t bought a shadbelly, but when I wanted a new tech show jacket I started shopping the European websites. Got my EuroStar jacket from Germany. Instead of $475 it was about $200 incl shipping. Things may have changed as this was 3 years ago, but sleuthing online can really make a difference IF budget matters (it does for me). Plus there are a lot more options, styles and colors.
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Ooooh, I’m so glad you said that! I hadn’t thought about that for clothing but I have gotten plenty of tack etc from Europe! Thank you!
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I’ll second this! Love my AA shadbelly. It’s comfortable, cool, and looks nice as well!
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I just purchased a Fair Play shadbelly made with their Comfimesh fabric. Their sizing is pretty small - I wear a US size 10 and I only fit into their largest a size 46 - the online retailers I was shopping at tried to call that an EU 46 which should be a US 14 and that hurt my feelings lol I think it’s actually more like an Italian 46 which is more like a US 10. In any case, I did have a bit of a hard time finding someone with a size 46 in stock (after ordering and trying on the 44 which I could get on but was just a bit too tight) and ended up ordering from some random site from France maybe? In any case all in with shipping was about $425 USD - much better than the options I’d been seeing for navy shadbellies with a little bling.
Another vote for the AA shadbelly!
I have 0 reason to be looking at shads but came across this Etsy posting (this is for the short jacket though they do shads too) and would love to enable someone else to get a very pretty jacket 
If I remember correctly, SE Sporthorse/Jo McCracken has a mesh side insert that sounds like a great compromise for those of us who like structure but need to breathe.
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