So the day has come. I promised I'd say more when the jacket actually arrived but, to prolong the suspense a little bit longer, let's start with an FAQ because, haunting this place for over a couple of decades now, I know the kind of things that some of you will want to ask or will just flat out say to me
(It might also be a useful thing for people to find in the future, rather than relying on older threads about buying Westeds. I know I love using this place as a reference from time to time.)
Why did you go with Wested?
To begin with - personal nostalgia. It's true, it runs deep. Even though Peter is gone... even though the patterns used over so many years were never quite right, even when they got tweaked from time to time... even though there are plenty of options on the market these days... there was something about going back to Wested after 20 years (not that I knew the exact timeframe at the time I ordered), that I found really appealing, so I did. It might not seem rational to some of you (I know some of you feel very strongly about Wested and I notice the tide has changed A LOT over two decades around here regarding the company on a number of levels), but emotions are seldom rational, so sue me
But... but you know about S&J, right?
I do indeed! It was never a thing when I was last buying jackets, so I took a crash course in all things S&J and I'm really impressed with what they do. If I went for a cheap leather option with them, I wouldn't even be paying THAT much more than Wested, relatively speaking. But... something I noticed was the focus on extreme screen accuracy, weathering, and so on. And that's not actually what I needed right now. I wanted a 'normal', unweathered jacket in a light leather that I could wear to work. So, with memories of how the standard Westeds were cut to be very forgiving day to day jackets, at the expense of some screen accuracy, plus the waiting time of getting an S&J put together, it just didn't make enough sense to go with S&J at this time. Going basic just felt right. I've never even owned an Indy jacket in lambskin before. Isn't that nuts? In the future, if I want something cut a little different, that wears a little different, and maybe that looks like the Smithsonian jacket... hey, great, get S&J on the line. They look gorgeous, and they'd do a great job for me, I know.
OK, so what did you order up from Wested?
Standard Raiders 48"
Back Length : 27.5"
Sleeve Length : 25.5"
Skin Option : Brown Lambskin
Lining: All Brown Cotton
Side Straps: Brass Buckles
X-Box Stitching: Yes
Extra Inside Pocket: No
Gussets : No
Um, you basically got an OTR. Only the cotton arms, buckles, and X-Box stitching are variations?
Well spotted. Maybe you can start to see from the order above how basic I was aiming with this jacket? It's not meant to be tailored to the 'nth degree', in an exotic leather, with weathering to match scene 27 in Raiders, specifically the first 20 seconds of that scene. I have always had the utmost respect for people who go to those degrees but it's just not where I was aiming, this time around. It's not what I needed this jacket to be. And, yes, could I have saved some money by going full-on OTR and ignoring the X-Boxes, going with D-rings (which I could change to buckles later on if they really bothered me on a Raiders jacket), and sucking it up and just having satin arms instead? Sure. But I didn't, LOL. And yes, I recognise the oddness in making a slight custom job of something that didn't need to be a custom job. Again, sue me
So, just confirming, you didn't want a hero cut? Did you at least consider it?
Considered it, yes. It wouldn't have cost me much more, but I found plenty of examples on here of people saying if they had their time over, they'd have ordered a regular Raiders jacket, rather than the legacy hero cut due to x, y, and z reasons. I noticed quite a few comments like that - usually relating to how the jacket sat on them. While it might be more screen accurate in some areas (and again, kudos to everyone who follows that dream), I noticed some folk just didn't like it as much - for their purposes, primarily - versus a jacket that fit more like a regular jacket and which has touches as simple as leather facing on the zipper (the original Raiders jacket missing that facing was a goof not a design feature, LOL). So while I like the idea of the hero jackets conceptually, and I respect what they're emulating, and I REALLY like the look of that Berman and Nathans tag, I thought it would be safer - again, for the jacket I was trying to create for the situations I wanted to be wearing it in - to go with the regular Raiders cut this time.
But you know about S&J, right?
We've been over this
OK, but getting a custom is always risky with Wested.
I wouldn't say 'always' as plenty of people on here... on YouTube videos... and elsewhere, have clearly got jackets they love through the custom process. So 'always' is an overreach. But I acknowledge others have had total disasters. I myself had a Wested disaster around 2013 when I ended up with a real 'waiters jacket' kind of cut on a jacket I ordered. Combined with me being at my heaviest - way heavier than I am today - I just looked absurd in the thing and I sent it back, taking a bath in the process with postage back to the UK and also a restocking fee Gemma slapped on me because of the strange measurements the jacket had. Fair play to them. I was probably the reason custom jackets were banned from returns, LOL. At least I got some money back although, looking back, it did put me off dipping my toe into Indy jackets again for over a decade.
What I did this time is use the measurements for an OTR jacket in the belief that if they were going to get something right, it's going to be the kind of jacket they make for OTR sales, so I stuck to the OTR measurements for everything, notably back length and sleeve length. My take is that when custom jobs have gone off the rails it's because folk have tried to tweak a number of areas and I think it's just bamboozled the person putting it together, working from a standard pattern, and it's ultimately thrown the whole design out of whack. If I used the OTR measurements, surely it would be hard for them to muck up the kind of jacket that they already make, quite successfully, for their OTR range?
But you know about S&J, right?
I'm ignoring you now. Let's take a look at my new jacket! (Click the pics to enlarge them!)
Straight off the bat... the arms are right... the body is right... I'm only 6' tall, but that 27.5" back wouldn't want to be any shorter.
And it feels GREAT. Having never had a lambskin before, I can't believe how 'second skin' this feels, and how unlike my Wested horsehide it feels.
I've been sitting for a few hours in it now and, particularly on my arms, it doesn't even feel like I'm wearing a jacket. Feels more like a cotton Harrington jacket.
On we go and... uh oh... a mistake did creep into the order. Can you see it? I'd requested buckles... and got D-rings. I've dropped Wested a line to let them know.
Not the end of the world by any means - as the text above ought to show, screen accuracy was
not the goal with this, so D-rings on a Raiders? I think I'll live, folks.
(EDIT: I've spoken with Mick at Wested and in addition to apologising, he's more than happy to send out some buckles to swap over. So it's a total non-issue to me now.)
And apologies for the clothes I was wearing - that polo shirt is ridiculously long. The jacket is absolutely sitting at belt height. 27.5" is basically right... for me!
Something else I noticed is a snugger fit than my Wested horsehide, which is a Last Crusade pattern. It's true when they say the LC is more accommodating, but I like this fit.
That's probably enough show and tell for now. Congrats if you actually kept reading this far. I am REALLY happy with how this turned out.
Can't wait to naturally weather it over time
