Club Obi Wan

I've pulled together a list of Wested's (current) standard jacket specs & all available options to help out anyone navigating their way around a new jacket order:-

Jacket style

The Wested Indy jacket is available in 3 styles:

The Raiders jacket - the standard collar size is approx. 3 1/4".

The Temple Jacket – 1” longer body

The Last Crusade jacket – larger 4” collar and press studs on storm flap.

All three styles have common standard features, the only variations in design being listed above.

Leather type

Your choices are:

Authentic brown lambskin, dark brown lambskin; Authentic or dark brown goatskin; standard dark brown cowhide; pre-distressed brown cowhide; horsehide*.

*Horsehide costs £10 extra

The dark brown colour was standard up until a couple of years ago, at which time an unfinished Raiders jacket (originally intended for use in the movie) was discovered in the Wested stockroom by Peter Botwright. Peter now offers both lambskin and goatskin jackets in this 'authentic brown' colour.

The jackets for all 3 movies were produced in Lambskin.

Lining

The authentic lining is the brown Cotton Silesia. An all-Satin lining is another option.

The most commonly chosen option is the Cotton body with Satin sleeves.

Leather facings now run down each (in)side of the zipper as standard.

Hardware

The standard is brass D-rings and brass zipper.

Very nice! Seems you did your homework my friend.

Thanks MJ, glad you approve.

Man... Excellent summary, Al!
Just what I would have loved as a newcomer.

Schplendid!

Sticky, sticky, sticky...

Regards,
Swindiana

There'll still be questions, you know... tis the nature of gearheads

Great post, Al! This deserves a pint! You're buying, right?

bink

Nice! This should be made a sticky or added to the main site!

Thanks al for all the info, now one can feel satisified for a while

10 points right off !

Best regards
Fred

LOL, thanks Fred.

I don't know about points, but all pints will be gratefully received!

Regards,

Al

You didn't mention the nickel zipper.

Thanks for the list!
I am going to need it as I am soon to order my first Wested. It will be a goatskin Raiders. I have been reading and culling the necessary specs for my jacket from all the posts.

EDIT:

VP, please see Michaelson's post below.

I've included the option of an aluminium zipper, as per AC's post.

Cheers,

Al

I thought I understood Peter to say the nickel zip is no longer offered. As to the addition, there never WAS a nickel zip. The original zip was aluminum, painted brass color. When the paint wore off during production, it revealed the silver aluminum zip, which was a cheap last minute addition that Wested installed as the production folks literally ran through and grabbed the jackets for the shoot practically off the sewing machines. Folks who wanted 'screen accurate' in appearance requested the silver colored zip, and the nickel zip was offered at that time. As I recall, the source for those zips has dried up, and Peter decided to drop it as a substitute. Regards. Michaelson

Thanks Michaelson.

I know it was a headache for Peter when we originally pushed for this nickel zip, as finding sources with large enough units was next to impossible, but he soldiered on and found a few. I believe he finally gave up. (grins) Yep, if it's available again, I'd be interested in knowing. Regards. Michaelson

I remember Peter saying that the Aluminum zip is available. He just tried to clarify that the Nickel was never used and NOT an option as it was hard to obtain, but the aluminum was easily gotten.

I just ordered a jacket a few months back and received it with no problem.

AC

Aha, thanks for clarifying that then AC. I'll make the relevant changes above...my 'edit' buttons getting worn out!

Ah, another question I would've liked answered is why leather facings were added on both inside breasts along the zips?

I don't get it. Looks like more work to me.

AC

I don't know to be honest, but I suspect it might have had something to do with avoiding the lining getting snagged in the zipper?

The lining was constantly getting caught in the zips, as well as the lining around the collar wore out quite quickly without the facing. It was requested of Peter to add them, and eliminate this potential hazard (which a LOT of folks were experiencing many years ago). Peter made it standard, and that problem went completely away. FS kept to the original non-facing construction, and those problems crop up occasionally with their jacket for the same old reasons. Regards. Michaelson

I got my jacket in '97 I believe. Wore it every chance I got and still do without any problem. Of course I never zip it up.

Also, I thought the new liner he went with was stronger and more durable so it wouldn't wear out?

AC

Fascinating info. Thanks Michaelson.

The lining was updated as well, as folks were going through the old lining pretty quickly. I'm sure the facing situation was a problem that was either experienced all the time, or not at all. I can say that I HAVE experienced it with my FS, as the way it draped, the zipper would try to catch on the lining. My eldest has an OLD Raiders lambskin that does NOT have the facing, and she hasn't had any problems at all, so go figure. Anyway, it was a nice change, and all and all for the better.

Bear in mind, what we have now is an evolved costume jacket that was never designed as one for daily use. It can now handle the real world in all it's glory in not only it's screen appearance, but as a jacket that one can wear and expect it to perform as a REAL adventurers jacket. Regards. Michaelson

How about this:

Why don't you send this off to Peter for a review and comment? Peter knows what he will do more than ANY of us. If he gives the stamp of approval, then it SHOULD be posted on the main page. The main page is out of date, unfortunately, as I have learned when I ordered my jacket.

GREAT job Al! I wish this was posted when I ordered mine. It is perfectly comprehensive. I agree with the others though, it won't stop folks from performing hours of research on COW and bringing up new (and old) questions and comments. Kudos!

TJ

There has already been a discussion between Peter and the folks updating the main page as recently as last week, so this is already in process as 'we speak'. Regards. Michaelson

Awesome. Any idea of when the mainpage will be updated? I know I was looking forward to seeing Texas Action Gear on there...if you already said so and I missed it then I'm sorry...

TJ

I understand it's in the 'que' when the main page is revealed. You'll have to talk to the 'site gurus' as to THAT date, though. Regards. Michaelson

GREAT job Al! I wish this was posted when I ordered mine. It is perfectly comprehensive. I agree with the others though, it won't stop folks from performing hours of research on COW and bringing up new (and old) questions and comments. Kudos!

Thanks, but I can't take credit for much of the actual content of the post - all I've done really is group together everyone's ideas, research and experiences from the rest of the 'Leather Jacket' forum, make (some) sense of it all and put it together in one 'user friendly' place.

The mainsite is outdated for now, so I'm really glad to hear things are moving along with it.

In the meantime my hope is that the thread will at least provide accurate information (to new folks in particular) to enable them to know their choices when ordering a jacket, until the new mainsite page is finished.

By the way, if any of our mods or admin want to jump in and edit the original post / add content or whatever, feel free to do so!

Regards,

Al

PS - I certainly hope it doesn't stop anyone spending the hours of research and discussion on COW - in fact I hope it promotes it! The gathered info still leaves oodles of room for discussion of leather types, sizing, care, durability, distressing and a million and one other 'jacket' topics - but at least we can discuss these things whilst all 'singing from the same hymn sheet' regarding the standard jacket specs and available options.

Yeah, Admins, change his posts so everytime he says "option" it reads "buy bink a pint of beer."

bink

You wag!

WOOF!!!

Thanks for putting this all together AL. This is something that has needed to be posted for quite sometime. You should see if Peter will let you update his website for him.....and for us.
Thanks bro,
'Blues

Also, Al, how'd you go with asking Peter any of those questions which we made that thread for, but most people just took the **** instead of treating it like a real opportunity?

First, Al Rules! (Michaelson, please slide over a bit for just one day. Al Rules, you can have it back tomorrow.) That is just an AWESOME amount of information, but made oh so much more valuable in the compilation of said awesome information. That is a huge service you have performed! :tup::tup::tup::tup:

EDIT: (P.S. Thanks for the emoticon tips, Swindy!)

Second, although it was stated much of this is culled and collated from COW, I was under the impression that Al did in fact run some of this by Peter, as in that thread Rob mentioned, this was the very question I posed to be run by Peter - what in fact is standard on the jacket patterns now, so we know from where we are starting? (Al, correct me if I'm wrong and the was not ample opportunity to have that kind of q&a w/ Peter a couple weeks back.)

Third, did I mention Al Rules???

Gawsh, thanks fellas....

Honestly, the vast bulk of the info already exists on COW, and I knew some of it from personal experience with my own jacket orders. A few snippets of info were indeed gathered from our trip to Wested - but unfortunately in the rush and excitement, not as much as I would have really liked. For instance, I didn't get the chance to chat to Peter about Blues' arm placement/angle question, which was a great pity in retrospect.

Indypip is visiting Wested again this week, so I was considering PMing him to see if he could tie up a few loose ends with Peter.

Thanks again for the feedback!

Al

ob1al wrote:Indypip is visiting Wested again this week, so I was considering PMing him to see if he could tie up a few loose ends with Peter.

Conscripting IndyPip into the service sounds like a great idea - this might be MUCH easier when Peter can talk about it w/o a dozen gearheads all bumping fedoras trying to get a better view...

Could someone post comparison pics of the different zippers?

i've noticed on my few day old jacket that the hidden stitching behind where the straps attach to the back panel is not there. my jacket from 03 had the hidden stitching

I think they have just missed it on your jacket by mistake!

My new Wested (approx 4 weeks old from the summit trip) has the stitching.

Content deleted by BDJ

Whoa Whoa Whoa!!! What the heck?? So we have to buy either a pair of trousers, or a shirt, in order to get a jacket sent to the US???

'Blues

The discussion (re. Peter's above post) has been continued here:

http://www.indygear.com/forum/viewtopic ... 513#129513

OK, here's the score - Peter didn't make that post and in his own words, 'It's a load of c**p' - he's not too happy about it, let me tell you.

Peter's having a new internet connection installed today (so can't get online himself) and it looks like someone has hacked in and/or posted this as some sort of hoax - Peter asks that everyone please disregard the post entirely and that one of our mods (Peter asked for Michaelson) to delete the post entirely.

Hm... Wonder if there's an IP log for different and certain posts?
Good job, Al! Thanks.

Regards,
Swindiana

Good, it looks like the "fake Peter" post has been removed. Some of you folks who responded to the original post here might want to edit your above comments to avoid confusing newbies or future onlookers. Just an idea, anyway.

bink

binkmeisterRick wrote:Some of you folks who responded to the original post here might want to edit your above comments to avoid confusing newbies or future onlookers. Just an idea, anyway.

And a good idea it is. Might as well clean up this thread too...

Hey, I just submitted my big order with Wested and boy do I wish I would have seen this thread 15 minutes ago. Well, that's what I get.

I have been having a heck of a time working through these decisions. I finally just laid it out for them to make me a LC jacket that is as authentic as humanly possible. I figured that I couldn't got very wrong there.

Do you think that it is better to telephone them to discuss your submitted order so that you can amend it or change anything, or do you think that it is just fine to converse through e-mail? Like everyone else, I figure that we all want everything to be perfect and flawless. I don't know if I have ever been so anxious about anything in my life.

I plan to fly out to the UK the first or second week of January to visit their site in Kent so that I can try everything on at the factory. Jerry told me over the phone today, that they could ensure that my order was ready to take home with me. I can hardly wait!

I am going to take lots of pictures to share for when I get back! Yay!

Yossarian, if you just placed your order yesterday, I think it's a good bet that your jacket isn't done yet. I'd call Peter and tell him what specs you sent and how you want to alter them from your original order. I'd call over e-mail since there's no way in knowing when they'll read your e-mail as opposed to recieving a call. Personally, I prefer to have most of my Wested contacts be via phone, since there's much to be said about real time conversation. Good luck!

bink

If it were me, I would communicate your desire to put off ordering via the phone (since it appears that you have spoken with them over the phone at least once already) unless you know exactly what you want to order since you seem to be expressing some concerns that you possibly did not. I know the wait would be hard, but it seems to me if you are going to visit Wested anyway, I personally would rather check out the hides and get whatever advice Peter has to offer (and possibly a fitting) and order it while you are there. You can read as much as you want about the jacket’s Peter offers, but there is nothing like seeing and trying a on a few of them in person, ...you might find that you may change your mind on certain things you requested.

Look forward to seeing those pix!