Canada Jones wrote:Castor Dioscuri wrote:
I can't answer this for everyone, but my take on it? Two reasons: While Peter makes a great costume jacket (keyword COSTUME) that's not built for the long run, Tony makes a great jacket made purposely to last through the stunts.
I just wanted to chime in on Peter's jacket and this comment I read in this thread.
I had the privilege of going to his shop several years ago and meeting him and his staff. He struck me as a real friend to the fan community and certainly took time out of his day for me without hesitation. I have 2 of his jackets - a lamb Raiders jacket and a sheepskin bomber coat. Both of which i have been very pleased with, especially when you consider the price he charges. I asked him for several things on the jacket which he did without hesitation and without extra charge. The person that made my jacket was one of the people that had been with him for years and who had made some of the original movie jackets which I thought was neat.
In terms of his jacket being a "costume" piece, I think this is an insult to his work. Seriously out of line. I have been to the store. He is not a "costume" shop - Peter has a store full of all kinds of non movie jackets he sells to real people to wear every day. I think he makes a good product at a very fair price. He is also a leather jacket maker who happens to make items for movies because he does custom work. He did stuff for Raiders, Star Wars (I think he did part of Darth Vader’s costume), James Bond Films, and Memphis Belle etc. so obviously Hollywood has been happy with his work. He has a bulletin board full of pictures from various Hollywood folk testifying to how happy they were with his product. I think this should speak for itself. Oh, and this board was not out on display in his shop as some kind of brag board - instead it was up on his office wall discreetly.
Someone mentioned that Tony makes jackets you can do stunts in. While I am sure this is true I would love to do a poll of our members and find out how many of us are actually doing this. For most of us, I suspect, Peter's jackets would last a lifetime as well.
Anyways, I am in no way related or affiliated with Peter or Wested but I wanted to respond to those comments about Peter's jackets.
best
Canada
Since my quote has been repeated a couple times, I just wanted to comment on it before we get back on topic -Sorry Holt...
I based what I said mainly on a fairly recent post by _, in which he said (and correct me if I'm wrong) something to the extent of having had a conversation with Peter in the past, and when the subject of jackets was brought up, Peter said that the jackets were purposely not made to last, so that fans would have a reason to buy another one.
Again, please correct me if I'm wrong, as I don't want to put words in anyone's mouths. I admit that I did quite impassioned and carried away in my response to Jakob, but stand by what I said. To a certain degree, anyway.
My very first Wested was a custom Horsehide (non-Indy) jacket that hit the nail out of the park. It is one of my toughest jackets, and I'm fairly certain that I'll have it with me decades from now... However, with my other Wested's, I was less than impressed. The stitching always seemed quite lacklustre, and while the jackets seem fairly sturdy, I have had a few split seams, and have read many folks complaining about their Westeds coming apart just from a general lack of reinforcement. The leather isn't necessarily to blame, but rather the way it is stitched together. What I believe makes a jacket for me, the average city slicker, is not whether the leather can hold up through stunts - since I won't find myself being dragged behind a truck or falling off a cliff-, as that is more a sign of the leather's quality rather than the workmanship that goes into it... No, I believe what 'makes' a jacket is whether a jacket's stitching can withstand the constant abuse that we cause it, shoving our hands in and out of pockets, loading and unloading goods, etc...
Some of us treat our jackets as costume pieces, and this even includes the rough and tumble of us. By that, I mean all that jackets are used for is to be slipped on and off. Those of us who are hard on our jackets include the folks who wear them only on the jungles of a metropolis, but are hard on their jackets in that they test the stitching of the jacket through constant shuffling, pocket jamming, adjusting straps, etc. This is not to say that Wested's jackets are bad, per say, but rather that in my own opinion, Tony's jackets are built better.
Anyway, I'm sorry for the off topic response Holt, but perhaps these responses about Wested work in way in answering the question "Who is Tony Nowak" by allowing us to compare and contrast the two vendors, and hence better understand him this way?