The Indiana Jones shirt is based on a typical safari-style shirt. Its distinctive feature is two vertical strips running from the shoulders to the bottom of the shirt tails and continued over both breast pockets. A common debate regards the original shirt color. Surviving samples of the original shirts seem to be darker in reality than they appear on screen. Most fans look for an off-white “stone” color for their replicas. The original shirts, however, may have been more of a “tan” or “natural” color. The shirt varied little from film to film, the only notable difference being the darker buttons in Temple of Doom and Last Crusade. Originally designed by Andreas Dometakis for the films, this shirt was once one of the hardest pieces of gear to find.
Before he passed, Noel Howard offered a lightweight shirt in a fabric and color boasted to be identical to the original. Nowadays, however, there are several companies that replicate this shirt accurately. Wested Leather produces a similar shirt in a lighter shade to match the “screen seen” color. Magnoli Clothiers offers a tailor-made shirt in the same style with several color options. Other vendors include Karolian Dry Goods and Azuma. The most economic choice for a screen accurate shirt is What Price Glory, though the sizing can be a bit tricky.
Many mass-produced “close enough” options have been made over the years by such companies as L.L. Bean, Orvis, Cabelas, and Tilly Endurables. Other intrepid fans have even produced their own accurate copies by buying two “close enough” shirts and using the cloth from one to add vertical pleats to the other.
Slight variations in color and details can be seen in shots of the shirt through the films—
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(Notice how the shirt being wet shows off how thin the material actually is.)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: (note that in the film, Indy never has his jacket off while wearing his “adventure” shirt)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indy returns to action in Crystal Skull with images of his shirt being most prominent through the opening of the film. The shirt debuts in a bit of rough condition—possibly from the previous off-screen adventure, or from being kidnapped by the Russians. It bears a rip on the right shoulder seam. The shirt carries on the tradition of the first three movies, with the exception being that it goes back to lighter buttons found on the Raiders shirt. A departure from Temple of Doom and Last Crusade’s darker buttons.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Indy actually had two types of his adventure shirt in Dial of Destiny. In the 1944 scenes, he wore the classic-look shirt with pleats running from the shoulders, through the pockets and down the front.
For the 1969 era, Indy changes up his look a bit, sporting a similar shirt to the classic look, but without the pleats running from the shoulder down the front. The pleats do still appear on the pockets
