We’ve come a long way in terms of improvements and standardisation of fencing gear for sparring and competition for Historical European Martial Arts in the last ten years or so.

This series of pictures are a very rough representation of some of those changes in gear among historical fencers over this period of time.

England 2003. Around this time we see combination of fencing masks, gambesons and ad-hoc armour elements here and there. People would fence with blunt steel longswords or weighted shinai.

Finland 2004. Some of the earlier club attempts at uniformity, their steel gauntlets, white jacket and leather vests are still commonly found in this country.

England 2005. Blue trousers is wearing the standard starter kit of anyone still to this day, and the fencer on the right has motorbike armour, which was a popular choice for many, and remains in use by some. Nylon swords start to be introduced.

USA 2006. This is just a picture of ARMA doing something or the other with wooden wasters. I don’t think they’ve changes much since then in terms of sparring gear, other than the fact that the wear fencing masks and gloves.

Italy 2007. The fencer on the right has the typical characteristics of Mediterranean fencers; leather vest, white sports fencing jacket and some sort of coloured sash. Notice the steel gauntlets, which are barely used currently in competitive circles.

The Netherlands 2008. This is typically the sort of hybrid gear from clubs that also do re-enactment, so you see steel armour elements not usually associated with blossfecthen. This is not uncommon in some American and UK groups still nowadays, including the period footwear.

Germany 2009. Hammaborg probably pioneered the black fencing coach jacket look. Around this time the best gloves were lacrosse gloves, despite their shortcomings. They might have also been on the forefront of the choice of using coloured socks. Black kniebundhosen become increasingly popular.

Poland 2010. The all black (or ARMA PL red and black) with leather plastron with lengthy thigh cover is common with all Polish fighters. This cool look and their fierce fighting style become highly influential. Most people became aware of the possibility of fencing with steel federschwerts around this period, making most of the community gradually move away from steel blunts and nylon simulators in years to come.

Sweden 2011. The Axel Pettersson fencing jacket by SPES (pictured on the right) was perhaps the single most popular and revolutionary piece of historical fencing safety gear developed in modern times. The Swordfish tournament is also one of the most popular gatherings to showcase and test new weapons or equipment, as it attracts some of the most competent swordsmen and women of the modern age.

France 2012. A more eclectic mix of gear compared to other countries. In the Dijon HEMAC gathering we see a mix of hockey, motocross, fencing and other sports equipment. They also favour artfully painting their fencing masks and tend to prefer lack of uniformity.

The Netherlands 2013. Here we see two fencers, one from Finland and the other from Canada, wearing the top of the range competitive safety gear of that time. The fencer on the left has an Absolute Force fencing mask, very popular in the USA, and the one on the right has the SPES padded skirt.

Denmark 2014. By now there is pretty much a standard HEMA longsword outfit, with fencers such as these two Nordic champions settling on discreet elbow and knee guards, black fencing breeches and standard soccer or field hockey shin protection, Sparring Gloves and padded mask, favouring perhaps mobility over layers of padding and armour.

There are a number of noticeable ongoing trends, with some items becoming pretty much the de facto standard, such as the ubiquitous SPES AP jacket, knee length fencing breeches and padded covers with BOH (back of the head) protection for fencing masks, gorgets, federschwerts and mitten or ‘hoof’ Sparring Gloves, with hard plastic for knees and elbows replacing any steel armour and black becoming the primary colour of choice, though that may be gradually changing with more groups choosing different accent colours to identify their club and/or country.