Around June 2010 I ordered my first Wested Lambskin to join me on a job overseas. After a slight hiccup with delivery (my order was accidentally sent to a customer in Scotland) the jacket reached me in about two weeks.
My first impression - one I'm sure has been shared by many on receiving their first fresh from the box, unspoiled Indy jacket - was a little disappointing. I couldn't imagine how this smooth, pristine, shiny thing could ever become the weather-beaten second skin I was looking for. It hung unflatteringly (is that a real word?) from my frame; the sleeves were too long, and the side straps pointed firmly outward at a 90 degree angle, making it look like my waist had sprouted little leather wings. This is how it looked on the day of delivery:
With just a week remaining before I left the country I began lightly distressing the jacket. While I had no interest in artificially recreating the kind of wear seen in the movies I was determined to get the 'new' off it, so with various grades of sandpaper I gently troubled the seams, pockets and collar, concentrating on points of natural wear (elbows, wrists and the seams close to the D rings). My memory is a little hazy but I also remember climbing into the shower wearing nothing but the jacket, soaking for a few minutes then wearing it as it dried. Not quite sure from where I got that tip, or for what purpose, but it didn't seem to do any damage.
After the initial light weathering I took the jacket out into the field to get a little of the real thing. For the next four months my shiny new thing was beaten to within an inch of its life on the Mongolian steppe. It lived through two near fatal car accidents, days on the back of a horse, weeks of constant sandstorms in the Gobi Desert, heavy rain, heavier snow and a temperature variation from +40 to -15 Celsius.
This is the jacket post-adventure:
My observations:
The Good
1.
Peter makes a darn good jacket. I've heard mixed reviews of Wested and of course I can only speak for this one example, but despite the stress I've put the jacket through (seriously, those were some violent car accidents) there isn't a single broken stitch. Well done, Wested.
2.
This jacket only improves and develops character with age.
The Bad
1.
The sleeves and body shorten dramatically with wear. I ordered a 42 regular, and while the sleeves were a little too long as new they are now about half an inch too short (no big deal, though, and an inevitable result of, y'know, bending your arms and producing natural wrinkles).
The body itself has shortened by about an inch. This, I guess, is a result of wearing it with the side straps constantly pulled in as tight as they will go. When I was breaking in the jacket this produced a flattering silhouette, but months of sitting down with the jacket zipped halfway up the body forced it to conform to my seated shape (read 'love handles and slight gut') even while standing, so now the pockets bulge out a little and make me look a little chubbier than I deserve. Again, no big deal.
N.B. Of course this is not so much 'bad' as a tip. If, like me, you have freakishly stumpy legs and an unusually long torso you should probably go for a custom size rather than standard. I'd love to magically gain an extra inch of length on the body of the jacket so my shirts don't occasionally peak out.
2.
Wested's communication and reliability seem to trouble a fair number of customers by the look of the various forums that discuss the company, and my experience with them has been less than perfect. Personally, though, I've decided to give them a bye on this. Any business small enough that its customers give each other advice such as 'You need to speak to Peter. Here's his phone number.' is expected to run a little less smoothly than you'd ideally like. I'm so pleased with the product I can accept a little unreliability as the cost of doing business with craftsmen.
All in all I'd have no problem recommending Wested. I'm off in a few weeks on assignment to India, so I've ordered myself one of the special offer ROLA jackets to break in along the way (hopefully, this time, without any car accidents).
I have half a mind to plant a couple of mousetraps in the pockets to remind me not to touch them. Saying that, a combination of the temperature in India and the prevalence of light-fingered folk along the way should discourage me from using them on the next trip 
The one That's headed my way now is from a fellow fan, so it has a bit of old already worn in. Nice to know they'er tough.
steamed goat?...anyway I love the way yours turned out, and can't wait for mine to look the same.
