Busy week for gear...

Been spending money I don't have (between jobs), and none too wisely. But once the gear bug bites, one can't help it.

I bought a Raiders jacket from a member on COW. It's a Wested Goat and more SA than my previous jacket.

• no leather facings
• mis-aligned arm to yoke seams
• x-box stitching and black rings on the straps
• all cotton interior

Pictures soon-- but I love the fit of this thing.



Also was at an antique mall the other day with the intent of looking for an MK VII bag in the military booth there. Didn't find one but the guy did have an MK VI (preceding model) bag prominently displayed in a case.


I hope you're all sitting...



...he wanted $120


Obviously I didn't buy that. But I did get some pinks, shirt and pants for $25 and $15 respectively. I wasn't able to try them on ahead of time and they weren't labeled with sizes. But much to my delight, my eyeballing paid off-- they fit PERFECTLY. The pants are even hemmed to my exact length. Fate.


Shirt fits great except in the collar, but that's any shirt for me. It also needs two replacement buttons that I'll have to track down.


Don't know yet if I'll wear either, but either way they're great finds. The pants especially scream Indy.


I'll try and get some pictures up soon...

you can get original bags at http://onlinemilitaria.net/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=176&cat=Indiana+Jones+Gear

they are only 45 bucks.

teampunk said:

you can get original bags at http://onlinemilitaria.net/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=176&cat=Indiana+Jones+Gear

they are only 45 bucks.

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I know where to get them. I already have one.

Wested goat - I'm wearing mine as I write this.

Yeah, mine is a Wested goat. Love it, love it, love it.

Lots of nice buys there. Can't believe the guy wanted 120 for the bag. Doesn't sound like it even had the gas mask with it, just the bag for way too much.

RA, what do you mean about mis-aligned arm to yolk seams? That's new to me.

goodeknight said:

Yeah, mine is a Wested goat. Love it, love it, love it.

Lots of nice buys there. Can't believe the guy wanted 120 for the bag. Doesn't sound like it even had the gas mask with it, just the bag for way too much.

RA, what do you mean about mis-aligned arm to yolk seams? That's new to me.

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I mean the seam on the arm doesn't align directly with the yoke seam. It falls about an inch below.


Here:





On a lot of jackets, those two seams meet up (check yours). On the Raiders jacket, they didn't.

It doesn't align on the raiders goat, but it does on the raiders lamb and on the predistressed raiders cowhide. A goat anomaly it seems.

Mickiana said:

It doesn't align on the raiders goat, but it does on the raiders lamb and on the predistressed raiders cowhide. A goat anomaly it seems.

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Nah, just your lamb and Cow aren't SA.

I have two Wested Goats. This new one is correct. My old one isn't.

You are right, actually, RA. I asked for the goat to be as SA as possible. Longer collar for starters, as well as the sizes to pick from in the custom sizing chart being a bit different from the last previous jacket I bought from Wested meant a better fitting jacket. The goat almost feels a bit small, but only because the lamb and cow are a tad big. I'm talking by half an inch, mind you.

Mickiana said:

You are right, actually, RA.

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Did everyone hear that?! Once again, RA is RIGHT!



Yeah, I only bought another Goat because this one was more SA. I was really wanting my second jacket to be lamb. But I'm not sorry at all; I adore hell out of this jacket. And all those little SA details really go a long way in defining that aesthetic. It just exudes that little extra something and all from very tiny little differences like the placement of an arm seam.

Hmm. Well, you weren't wrong anyway. I'd hate to accidently feed anyone's ego. Just kidding of course.

Yeah, the goat is a great type of leather. It takes to naturally distressing very well. On COW I watched one of the guys distress his wested raiders jacket by whipping his gravel driveway with it, then hosing his driveway and throwing the jacket into it and then whipping a dry part of the gravel driveway again and I have to say it looked spot on. Such a succinct method and perfect results. He wanted his jacket to look like Indy's from the flying wing scene and he really achieved that. I'm trying to get brave enough to do that. I've got a wested predistressed cowhide raiders jacket that I've already taken the sandpaper to and it doesn't look too bad. I might practice on that one first. I just have to find a gravel driveway somewhere.

Mickiana said:

Hmm. Well, you weren't wrong anyway. I'd hate to accidently feed anyone's ego. Just kidding of course.

Yeah, the goat is a great type of leather. It takes to naturally distressing very well. On COW I watched one of the guys distress his wested raiders jacket by whipping his gravel driveway with it, then hosing his driveway and throwing the jacket into it and then whipping a dry part of the gravel driveway again and I have to say it looked spot on. Such a succinct method and perfect results. He wanted his jacket to look like Indy's from the flying wing scene and he really achieved that. I'm trying to get brave enough to do that. I've got a wested predistressed cowhide raiders jacket that I've already taken the sandpaper to and it doesn't look too bad. I might practice on that one first. I just have to find a gravel driveway somewhere.

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Saw that too.

But artificial distressing isn't my thing. I'd rather let time take its toll.

ResidentAlien said:

But artificial distressing isn't my thing. I'd rather let time take its toll.

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Man, do I hear that. I am just not a fan of artificial distressing, I mean in every realm... I hate how clothing designers are seriously getting away with selling some artificial faded looking hole ridden jeans, stamp the label "vintage" on them, and turn around and sell them for over 100 dollars. I can do all that myself just by wearing it for a year or two. Especially pre-distressing jackets distresses me.

Anyway, this thread is quite helpful to me because i'm in the market for my first Raiders jacket and I had no idea about the seams. So I should definitely go Wested?

ResidentAlien said:

Saw that too.

But artificial distressing isn't my thing. I'd rather let time take its toll.

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I agree about artificial distressing, to a point. As I said in another thread where someone was asking about how to distress, "Buy some plane tickets and take your jacket on a lot of adventures."

But I had to do some major distressing of my Wested goat. When it came it looked like it had been pressed, and it was such a dark brown it was almost black. Used a whole can of acetate to get to a medium brown, lots of crumpling, sleeping in it, using it as a pillow, wearing it in the rain, tumble drying (no heat, of course), light sandpaper, etc., etc.

I didn't plan on artificial distressing, but I knew as soon as I got it that it would take 10 years to break it in naturally. Didn't want to wait until I was Old Indy for my jacket to look good.

The Westeds are tough, especially the goat, so you've got to do something with them.

Dr. Gonzo said:

Man, do I hear that. I am just not a fan of artificial distressing, I mean in every realm... I hate how clothing designers are seriously getting away with selling some artificial faded looking hole ridden jeans, stamp the label "vintage" on them, and turn around and sell them for over 100 dollars. I can do all that myself just by wearing it for a year or two. Especially pre-distressing jackets distresses me.

Anyway, this thread is quite helpful to me because i'm in the market for my first Raiders jacket and I had no idea about the seams. So I should definitely go Wested?

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I've bought both of my Westeds second-hand. I don't know that I'd ever deal with them personally-- I've heard a lot of bad things. I messaged Gemma once about a clearance jacket and found her utterly unhelpful. Between that and all the reports of poor customer service and not following directions, I can't imagine personally doing business with them. From my understanding, you'd have a lot of difficulty getting them to make an SA jacket. But I suppose you're welcome to try...

I can't recommend any other jacket makers as the only other one I've personally dealt with is Todd. I have a lot of great things to say about Todd, but I'm in the minority of those really underwhelmed by his jacket offering. But they're very affordable and your mileage may vary, so that would be a viable option.

His current batch of jackets isn't SA, though as apparently there was a screw-up at the factory and all the arm-yoke seams align. So if that's a big deal for you and you do want a Todd's, either find an older jacket second-hand or wait for the next batch. But you may be waiting awhile...

ResidentAlien said:

I've bought both of my Westeds second-hand. I don't know that I'd ever deal with them personally-- I've heard a lot of bad things. I messaged Gemma once about a clearance jacket and found her utterly unhelpful. Between that and all the reports of poor customer service and not following directions, I can't imagine personally doing business with them. From my understanding, you'd have a lot of difficulty getting them to make an SA jacket. But I suppose you're welcome to try...

I can't recommend any other jacket makers as the only other one I've personally dealt with is Todd. I have a lot of great things to say about Todd, but I'm in the minority of those really underwhelmed by his jacket offering. But they're very affordable and your mileage may vary, so that would be a viable option.

His current batch of jackets isn't SA, though as apparently there was a screw-up at the factory and all the arm-yoke seams align. So if that's a big deal for you and you do want a Todd's, either find an older jacket second-hand or wait for the next batch. But you may be waiting awhile...

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I am lucky enough at the moment to be in a position where the cost of any of these jackets are not a problem. I was looking into Todd's but I have heard that it is a thin thing that doesn't really retain heat that well (but I guess that doesn't really matter as I live in Los Angeles). I have also heard about Wested's problems like some of the jackets or jacket sleeves are discolored and the customer service is shotty. I'm not familiar with many other vendors so I guess I'll make a call to Todd and see when the next SA batch comes in... only because I have heard that if you buy from wested what you receive is a throw of the dice and I don't like to gamble when it comes to my jackets.

Dr. Gonzo said:

I am lucky enough at the moment to be in a position where the cost of any of these jackets are not a problem. I was looking into Todd's but I have heard that it is a thin thing that doesn't really retain heat that well (but I guess that doesn't really matter as I live in Los Angeles). I have also heard about Wested's problems like some of the jackets or jacket sleeves are discolored and the customer service is shotty. I'm not familiar with many other vendors so I guess I'll make a call to Todd and see when the next SA batch comes in... only because I have heard that if you buy from wested what you receive is a throw of the dice and I don't like to gamble when it comes to my jackets.

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There's always Nowak and Magnoli if cost is truly not a factor.

ResidentAlien said:

There's always Nowak and Magnoli if cost is truly not a factor.

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I thought Nowak passed on? Are they still selling his jackets?

Actually I once talked to Peter from Wested Co. when I bought my Raiders a year ago about such differences between a standad raiders and the "copy" raiders.

The standard lambskin raiders has slight modifications to the movie to make it more durable and more street wearable. As an option he offers the "copy" Raiders that is more SA, but also more lightweight and less durable (don't know how less). From his site:

"Unlike the Standard raiders which has slight modification to make it durable and street wearable this 'film jacket' although equally wearable is more lightweight.
There are no inside leather facings, the body is slimmer and the sleeves more tapered. The zip is a smaller 5 gauge nickel and the action pleat depth is narrower with two piped inside pockets."

I personally don't care about such small details. But good to learn about them (thanks RA ).
As for the mis-aligned arm yoke seams I think Peter should have done it the same way in all the jackets (aligned or not) since it doesn't alter the fitting of the jackets.
I prefer the nickel rings rather than the black ones. Prefer also the leather facing which gives the jacket more resistance (as I was told).

Dr. Gonzo said:

I thought Nowak passed on? Are they still selling his jackets?

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Riley, his step-son (?), took over the company. I've heard great things about the jackets they've released since then. They're now called Tony Nowak Originals.