WASHINGTON — Five years ago, Russ Lease decided that what the world needed was historically accurate, reasonably priced reproductions of Beatles clothing: stitch-for-stitch copies of the distinctive outfits the famous musicians wore in concert.

He was in the position to provide them. With his brother, he had owned the Pants Plus clothing store in a suburban Maryland mall from 1976 until the mall closed in 2001. Lease knew the clothing industry. And he knew the Beatles. A fan since childhood, he's a leading collector of high-end Beatles memorabilia: signed letters, rare albums, old performance contracts, one of "The Beatles" drumheads from the front of Ringo's bass drum.

At a Sotheby's auction in 1994, Lease paid about $5,000 for a tailored tan jacket, size 39 regular, with epaulets and Nehru collar — the "Shea jacket" that Paul McCartney wore when the Beatles performed at Shea Stadium on Aug. 15, 1965.

Recently, Lease, 50, slipped on a pair of white cotton gloves and eased a headless mannequin out of a locked display case. He removed the Shea jacket from the form. The fabric was clean and unwrinkled, although there were sweat stains on the acetate lining.

Russ's idea was to reverseengineer the jacket and create an exact duplicate.

"All of the tailors I spoke with wanted to take it apart," he said. "I said, 'No you can't do that.' "

Finally he found Pete Camioni, a master tailor in Lehighton, Pa. For four days the two pored over the jacket, taking measurements, making sketches. Today, you can buy your own Shea jacket — in tan or black, sizes 38 to 50 — for $295 from www.beatlesuits.com.

Next, Lease duplicated the frock coat Ringo wore on the cover of the "Abbey Road" album. Russ also sells the collarless suits from the Beatles' early days, the jackets and trousers they wore on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and the velvet-collared sharkskin suits seen at the end of "A Hard Day's Night."

These outfits are a godsend for hardworking Beatles tribute bands. These groups, with names such as the Mersey Beat, the Beat Club, BritBeat, the Beatalls, the Beatlads, the Fab Four and Almost Fab — were cruising thrift shops looking for clothing that could be altered and made to look vaguely Beatlish.

No longer a problem.