A
club or
group which may
permit (some) members to wear an emblem,
usually on the back of a
vest or
jacket. Traditionally the patch club form
of organization is used by
motorcycle and
leather groups. New members
are admitted by a vote of current
membership (usually after serving a
pledge
period).
Many modern patch clubs differ substantially from this basic formula and some
ogranizations which are fee-membership based have started to bestow the right
to wear colors on members who undertake significant work or projects for the
club or their larger community.
Those who belong to more than one club may wear small vest patches to indicate
those memberships, and will choose to wear the larger back patch or colors
to indicate their primary affiliation.
Clubs which organize runs (usually annual events) will also often create
small patches or pins for the attendees noting the year of the event.
Many clubs change thier focus over a period of years. Groups which may have
been S&M oriented may change focus to simply being a motorcycle club or
(less often) vice versa.