I just got my jacket about 2 weeks ago, i bought it from a member here who had it made in Aug this year. It is a Raiders auth. brown lambskin 80's cut. When the jacket arrived & i took it out of the box the action pleat was folded open.
I soaked the jacket & threw it in the dryer to shrink it some more & tried to see if the pleat would stay closed. I also tried to adjust the straps a little loosre to see if that would work. But every time i put the jacket on they open too wide. Has anyone else had this problem & what can i do to try & fix this?
it's very usual... the only way to solve it is to put elastic between the pleats (inside the lining... kind of difficult to describe in words) to hold them shut. This is what USWings and G&B do. I believe TN does this as well but I'm not 100% sure
It's all in how you look at it. SA? Yes, as it 'blows out' in the film, and is thereafter not actually an 'action' pleat....but just a pleat.
Elastic does keep it closed, and the practice of installing this feature in action pleats goes clear back to the 1930's, so it's not a new 'fix'. It's an old one for an old problem.
So, if you want 'SA', you're there. If not, go with what the jacket makers do and have elastic installed.
Speaking strickly for myself, I LOVE the elastic installation. I can NOT tell you how many store displays I've hung myself up on with blown out action pleats in the past.
TN uses elastic too, two wide strips. It doesn't keep the pleat "closed" it prevents it from inverting itself and staying open. I think it's the most frustrating part of the jacket, despite being "screen accurate"!
Of all the Indys that I have owned in the past, at least half of them opened full time like this. Truth be told I never really paid it much attention.
I don't think you should have a problem snagging it unless you have a known tendency to run into things. I've had a couple coworkers where walls tend to hit them rather than the other way around.
For me, Wested jackets issues were the slim bicep areas. They were always a bit tight for me.
When you buy a piece of “Indygear” it helps a lot if you know what camp you fall into. Are you a “screen accurate” guy or a “real world” guy? Unfortunately sometimes you don’t really know until after you buy the stuff. But it does help if you at least have an idea of what you want before hand.
I personally have been all over the place. Today I would say that for the most part I like stuff that works, but I am still interested in the pursuit of what is “screen accurate” just for fun.
The original jacket was an unbalanced, cheaply made, piece of junk. But it looked “cool” on the big screen. It was made from lambskin (the weakest leather out there, except for rat belly). I could read you the riot act on what is wrong with it from a practical perspective. But since we’re on the subject of pleats, I’ll just say that the film jacket pleats were pretty much always open. But they don’t look bad (open) in the movie. This is because the pleats are not too wide. As was mentioned before, they’re pretty much a cosmetic feature on the film jackets. Unfortunately what has happened in an attempt to make the pleats work, is that some have specified deeper pleats. The end result is a really “unpleasant”, large, open pleat.
I have a TN Indy 1. The pleats stay open. There is no elastic. But I think it looks cool. On the flip side I also have several Gibson & Barnes Expeditions that have the 2 bands of elastic between the pleats. The Expedition also has pleats built into the lining, which is a necessary component to a pleat system that will actually work. I like this as well. The G&B is the epitome of a real world working Indy jacket. If a bell goes off in your head when you see your pleats not doing the job that they were originally intended to do, you might want real world stuff that actually works. Buy accordingly.
The wrench in all this is that no matter what you like, your tastes may change at any time. At one point I was in dogged pursuit of what I thought the Raiders hat to be. I got to a place where I was satisfied with what I had. I then moved on to other fedoras and stopped liking the Raiders hat altogether, which I perceive to be rather “oafish” these days (Harrison barely pulled the look off in Raiders and really couldn’t as an older guy in Crystal Skull). I then moved away from fedoras all together. They’re just not me.
But where I can appreciate a “real world” jacket, a “real world” fedora made out of “real world” beaver doesn’t work for me. They are simply too hot and heavy. You need to know yourself. This stuff will be around. Do your research. What’s left after you buy all this stuff anyway? Take your time. Cheers
Too true Rundquist. I have a Wested Lamb Skin Raiders, and although I love it and wear it every day, the few times I've fallen against some hard New England granite while wearing it have shown just how weak it is.
A year ago I would have though that anyone who wanted more than one Indy jacket was a freaky eccentric. Now I find myself wanting a nice Novapelle or HH so that I can really beat on it, in addition to my lamb (for sleeping in )!
I'm not going to worry about the pleats really. As stated this is my first & i havn't really read up to much on the jackets except for some specs & distressing. I still want a few other jackets as well the two main ones being a TN Raiders & the new Holt spec Wested Raiders. Now i just have to convince my wife that i need these, as well as a few more hats. Thanks for all the input guys.
One thing you can do to 're-crease' the pleat to lay correctly, if it bothers you that much, is to soak the leather well with some water, get four stiff rulers or paint stirrers, and several metal binder clips (the black ones to hold a big pile of paper together) and after wetting down the pleat area, place a stick on either side of the crease, and clamp the crease closed with the binder clips. (making sure it is alligned corrrectly) and wait until it dries. (note that first sentense may be a world record for longest ever...)
Once dry, it should be 'set' with a permanent shape the way you want. Well, it will be set the way you clamped it, so make sure it's right!
Note that it will 're-open' if the jacket is too tight in the upper shoulder area...
I say leave it alone, but if you HAVE to close it, this should work for you.
Action pleats indeed! ;-) 
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