Your Opinion: Pros and Cons of Wested hides

afrayedknot · Post by **afrayedknot** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:15 am

What are the pros and cons of each of the hides available from Wested?

I'm sure most, if not all, of the answers could be found scattered through various threads, but I thought it might be more convenient (especially to those, like myself, considering a jacket purchase) to post them under a single topic.

Odo · Post by **Odo** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:24 am

I've got an Authentic Brown Lambskin, and I think the colour is perfect, and it is a very light but tough leather. I don't find any cons in it.
But maybe Peter should tell us the differences, as he knows them better than any of us (as he has all of them to compare, insted of just telling what your's is like, but maybe -like me- don't have another to compare).

Neolithic · Post by **Neolithic** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:30 am

My Goatskin Wested looks and smells exactly the same since I bought it brand new three years ago. It's stuck in some sort of temporal time warp where nothing ages... if Peter could harness this power for Hollywood film stars, he'd make a mint.

Seriously though, my jacket is not wearing down at all... to distress it, you may have to use dynamite.

nicktheguy · Post by **nicktheguy** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:51 am

I've got a lambskin which is great - and a HH on order. Once it comes in I'll post how it seems to me.

jones the whip · Post by **jones the whip** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:51 pm

I recently received my first Wested, custom LC in authentic brown lambskin. I'm in agreement with the previous postee, I wish the Wested website was a bit more descriptive regarding their choice of leather. The authentic brown lamskin was, in my opinion, rather disappointing as I was expecting something a bit more durable. I have since distressed it, and brought the color down a few shades to a deep dark brown, and it now looks fantastic, as if I pinched it from the set.

There was never an issue over the style, as far as I can tell Wested have it down pat, but as far as hide is cincerned, if I could go back in time, I would probably choose a heavier hide, either horse or cow.

JTW.

DanielJones · Post by **DanielJones** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:06 pm

This is good information. Does anybody out there own both a lamb & a goat authentic brown version of the jacket? If so could you post the comparisons between the two as far as durability & weight? This information would be absolutely helpful in an informed decision on what one would want in their jacket.

Cheers!

Dan

Post by **Michaelson** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:10 pm

I have had both, and in terms of durability, you're talking about two completely different ends of the scale.....lambskin is lowest, goatskin highest tied with horsehide.

The weight is just a bit more for the goat, but the drape is great.

With this new goatskin that Peter says he has in hand, it's supposed to be lighter in weight, so it may be comparible to lamb now, but those who have one will have to report to that.

Regards! Michaelson

DanielJones · Post by **DanielJones** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:41 pm

Ok. So basically Goat has the durability of Horsehide but the weight is slightly more than Lambskin, correct? Sounds good to me. Wested's goat is priced a little bit more than the lamb, so I think I have found my perfect combo. Thanks Michaelson!

Cheers!

Dan

Post by **Michaelson** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:59 pm

That is correct, and you're more than welcome!

Regards! Michaelson

afrayedknot · Post by **afrayedknot** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:03 pm

Does anyone want to tackle the Pros and Cons of horsehide? . . .

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

Nebraska Brad · Post by **Nebraska Brad** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:41 pm

I have been loving my authentic lamb. Great drape and color and it has naturally distressed very well in just a couple months. Of course this helps if you wear it 24/7 like I do.

-Nebraska

Castor Dioscuri · Post by **Castor Dioscuri** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:51 pm

Since I have in my possession a horsehide, novapelle, lamb, worn-look lamb, and a veg-tanned lamb Wested, I would have to say:

Authentic lamb or Worn-Look lamb would be the best choice for a Raiders jacket. Depending on your preference, I'd recommend the former for the color, and the latter for the thin drape.

Worn-look lamb would be my pick for a ToD jacket.

Vegetable-tanned lamb would be the best choice for a LC jacket. However, unless Wested offers a more SA color leather than when I ordered (which was a caramel/brick brown color), then I would recommend going with either horse or goat. If the new goat offered is very thin, then I'd recommend either horse or novapelle (since it would give KotCS continuity), depending on personal preference.

Novapelle would be obviously the best choice for a KotCS Jacket.

Vivli · Post by **Vivli** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:42 am

afrayedknot wrote:Does anyone want to tackle the Pros and Cons of horsehide? . . .

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

I can try and sum them up. Hi everybody, by the way, this is my first post here. I found this forum browsing for info when I wanted to order an Indy jacket, but I never posted here. (To be honest, I was a bit intimidated!).

Anyway, I ended up getting a Wested horsehide, and although it's the only Indy jacket I own (well, unless you count a cotton one too, which I got cheap thanks to fading on the arm), I visited Wested and got to see a few, so might be able to argue the pros and cons over other jackets.

The problem is, one man's pros is another man's cons, in the case of this type of jacket anyway.

For example, I'd list 'heavy' as a pro in the case of horsehide, because it makes the jacket feel tough, and to me, it feels like I always imagined Indy's jacket would. I mean, I know he actually wore a very light jacket, but that was for costuming, and I always pictured as a character, he'd wear a very tough, heavy jacket. (As little sense as that makes to wear in the desert!). And that's how horsehide feels to me, but obviously, to other people, that could easily be a con.

It's tough, and again, that's a pro to me, because I only want one jacket, rather than end up owning lots of jackets (as fun as that'd be, I can't afford it), but it does mean (or so I imagine, I've only had it for a week and a half so far!) it distresses less quickly, which could be a con to some people. I might be wrong there though. It feels like the type of jacket that wouldn't distress easily, but I haven't worn it out in the rain yet (due to a lack of rain!) so that might change once it's gotten wet. So whether that's a pro or con is subjective again.

The colour, at least, to my eye, is very accurate, so I guess that's a more obvious pro. It's less screen accurate than the lambskin though, so that's a con I guess.

But with jackets like this, it's down to what the wearer wants. I will say this though, I didn't think I wanted horsehide at all until I tried it on, I was planning to get lambskin. Once I tried it on though (it was an ex-custom, that fitted me perfectly too), I really loved it, and have never been happier with a jacket. But it isn't what every Indy fan is going to want. If you want tough, long lasting leather that feels like adventure wear and like it could stand up to what Indy gets up to, and looks close anyway, horsehide is a good choice, whereas if you want something perfectly accurate to what is on the screen, or a lighter jacket, then lambskin is a better choice.

I hope that helps, and I hope I don't sound too arrogant posting a big post like that on my first post! Obviously, most people here know better than me, since I only own one jacket and have only just got that. But I thought since nobody replied about the horsehide and I own one I'd try my best and help. Thanks, and sorry again if I sound like I'm talking about things I don't quite understand!

Post by **Michaelson** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:48 am

Arrogant?! Heavens NO!!!

NO one knows their jacket better than the person who buys it, so who cares what everyone thinks? Its YOUR jacket, and your reasons for ordering what you did are yours, and are totally 100% correct for what YOU want in an Indy jacket.

WELL done, and show us photos when you get it!!

HIGH regards! Michaelson

Vivli · Post by **Vivli** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:30 am

Michaelson wrote:Arrogant?! Heavens NO!!!

NO one knows their jacket better than the person who buys it, so who cares what everyone thinks? Its YOUR jacket, and your reasons for ordering what you did are yours, and are totally 100% correct for what YOU want in an Indy jacket.

WELL done, and show us photos when you get it!!

HIGH regards! Michaelson

Thanks. I actually have it now, and have some photographs if you're interested. It was actually a 21st birthday present, which makes it pretty special to me. Always have wanted Indy's jacket, now I have it! Well, mostly.

I don't really want to hijack this thread, but I can show some pics, might help with pros and cons anyway. Sorry the pics aren't great, there's a lot of shadow in the first two, and the second two were taken fairly casually, so might not show it off brilliantly. I have a Magnoli bag in the second two as well, another birthday present (which is really cool, too).

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/5967/frontxu1.jpg

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/9025/backlt7.jpg

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3033 ... 034gc8.jpg (I apologise for my facial expression in this one, but it was one of those 'take the photo already!' moments!).

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7669 ... 015fd1.jpg

Post by **Michaelson** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:47 pm

Mighty fine looking jacket my friend! Should prove to be an old friend in very short order!

HIGH regards! Michaelson

TonyRush · Post by **TonyRush** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:50 pm

That's a great looking jacket!

Which leather did you choose? Is that lamb?
Tony

Vivli · Post by **Vivli** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:57 pm

TonyRush wrote:That's a great looking jacket!

Which leather did you choose? Is that lamb?
Tony

Heh, no. Pretty much the opposite, horsehide. That's why I was trying to respond to the question about pros and cons of horsehide, since I owned one.

Thanks for the compliments, by the way, guys!

coronado3 · Post by **coronado3** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:53 pm

Fantastic jacket! I know I am going to have to break down and buy one of these HH jackets!

Also, the pocket flaps on these newer Westeds are really quite nice! Peter is really fine tuning the raiders jacket. Way to go Peter!

c3

Vivli · Post by **Vivli** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:03 pm

coronado3 wrote:Fantastic jacket! I know I am going to have to break down and buy one of these HH jackets!

Also, the pocket flaps on these newer Westeds are really quite nice! Peter is really fine tuning the raiders jacket. Way to go Peter!

c3

Thanks! I don't know how many details on my jacket are custom ordered, because I bought it from the shop, and it was somebody's custom order that they had sent back because the size was wrong. Fitted me perfectly though, and I got a jacket with custom modifications for the standard price, so I did pretty well too.

But I think that's why the pockets are smaller than standard for example, as I think the standard Wested Raiders still has bigger pockets, and it's an '80's fit' too, Peter said. It also has one really convinient little modification, which is a zipper on the inside pocket. Comes in very handy since I've had stuff fall out of that pocket on jackets before!

IndyBrit · Post by **IndyBrit** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:50 am

I have;

1. Lamb of the peg Raiders. Great jacket for "the look", lovely deep brown colour. Purchased in August 2007 and now breaking down nicely. Not a jacket for the winter or "real" adventure. Good for posing at the pub or outside the nearest place where the new movie breaks on May 22.Women love the feel of the thing!

2. HH. Custom. Just arrived a few weeks ago. In English we would say that this is " The dog's B*clocks". Tough, a good winter jacket. The one that real adventurer would wear. Will take some years to distress and breakdown. I see a long relationship with this jacket.

I am glad that have both, but if pushed to choose one it would be the HH by long way.

Choose wisely!

Swindiana · Post by **Swindiana** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 5:03 pm

Neolithic wrote: Seriously though, my jacket is not wearing down at all... to distress it, you may have to use dynamite.

Indeed. The only downside I could think of is that the auth. goat is a bit hard to distress with acetone.
At least mine was (and still is), but people have had better results than what I could come up with.
It really is tough as nails. I love mine now after some long wear, and some sandpaper treatment in order to make it look at least a bit worn in.

Regards,
Swindiana

Indiana Johnson · Post by **Indiana Johnson** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:37 am

I've had the Wested HH for almost a year now. Pros, very durable, heavy weight, but with a very nice drape. Cons, the color is flat and somewhat lifeless, and it doesn't take to distressing very well. So it doesn't have that "adventure look" that a lambskin or cowhide develops. Maybe in a few years ???