Club Obi Wan

so we all know and love indys 'distressed' look, but does anyone have or keep their jacket, unworn or undistressed 'pristine' if you will...

I can speak for myself and Michaelson. When I spend my hard earned dollars on gear, I want it to last. Prematurely aging my gear such as boots, whips, jackets, fedora's is something that rubs me the wrong way. I am fastidious in making sure all my gear stays tip-top. When I am out in the field, the last thing you want is your gear failing on you. Natural distressing for me. But, I can understand other people doing it. This topic has been discussed here and other forums ad nauseam. You have to decide what side you belong to - whatever floats your boat.

I kept my first Wested in pristine shape until I outgrew it. Then I caught the distressing bug one day while watching Last Crusade, and I went all-out on my second jacket. A couple years later I ordered a HH for a nice dressy jacket. I was recently on the verge of turning it into a CS jacket, and nearly commited to the project until I saw the Wested KOTCS predistressed novapelle. So the HH was narrowly spared from a thorough distressing in exchange for the new jacket of my dreams. Only time will tell if the urge will strike again, but I think that the distressed look is truest to the character. Most will probably agree that the Indy jackets look SO good that way!

Natural distressing for me all the way. It just feels so phony to wear an artificially distressed jacket - it's almost like you're wearing somebody else's clothes and not your own. I like the style of clothing Indy wears, but I want to make it my own, not just completely rip off him. :junior: -M

Au natural for me. I figure I'm throwing down 300 clams for a jacket I want the finish to last for some time. To each their own. I suppose if I found one on e-bay for a killer deal I may dive into the distressing gig to see what I can create.

Cheers!

Dan

Its funny - for me I dished out the money on the Jacket got it - then everyday inspected it for wear and tear hoping it was distressing - a year went by with literally no change! (except for a minor tear after putting my shoulder through a window...oops!)

BUT - I had debated distressing with my friends and girlfriend - but my girlfriend demanded I not do it - she said it was phony... but then she ran away to Canada to become a fire-breather with some other guy and I decided maybe she wasn't so right about things after all - LOL.

So rather then waiting everyday for a year to show some distress I figured to #### with it! - If I spent 300 hundred dollars on a Jacket to look like Indiana Jones - by God I was gonna look like Indiana Jones! - So out came the tools and I beat bloody #### out of it wth sand paper - Rocks - you name it!

And honestly I couldn't be happier - but to each their own mates!

Moony

I can't, and won't distress my jackets on purpose. In fact, I try everything I can possibly do to keep it looking pristine! I just can't imagine Indy sitting outside his front door banging away at his jacket with a rock and a sandpaper!

Since I got my Wested lamb I have been wearing it nonstop and it has been distressing rapidly. I did take the finest grain sandpaper I could find (600 grain)and just knocked off the shine with some light rubbing. The whole thing took me about 5 minutes and it did wonders. I also did not shy away from getting caught in rain and snow a few times. I have always been very rough on clothes and shoes so my gear looks old fast.

-Nebraska

Distressing all the way. When I got my Wested, I babied it for a couple of months - until I got a little tear on the sleeve from rubbing against a flagstone (a medieval one, naturally)... and that did it. I fired up the shower and the tumble dryer, whipped out the acetone, sandpaper and Pecard tub and went to work.



IMO, there's a thin line that sould not be crossed when distressing - the line between "well used" and just plain shabby. Indy's jacket may be worn and torn, but not ruined - and that's the look I wanted for my jacket.

I go through phases. When I got my first Indy jacket, I distressed it. Loved the way it turned out. Then I bought a another, and left it alone.
So, I ride the fence on this one. I do agree with Scandinavia Jones, that there IS a fine line when distressing. I like mine to look like it's basically broken in, not broken. When you start turning the leather into suede, I think you've gone too far.
'Blues

I am distressing mine naturally. Now I DID throw it in the dryer when I first got it just to soften it up a bit but I DO like knowing each mark that jacket has will have a story to it. My liner is shredding from the tools I wear at work so I MAY send it back for a slight modification to fix this.
I have no problem wearing it in the rain and in fact the jacket has conformed to me quite nicely and fits me like a glove, well a good leather jacket really.

Walt, you can count me in on natural distressing too - sans the hat of course - I am a believer in sitting on it very briefly when new to get that reverse taper....

Agreed to what Sergei and Mike just said!

Regards! Michaelson

I just did a distressing job on my movie jacket, my other Indy jackets have never seen something
like sandpaper or a steel brush etc.
Time will do this for me fast enough and for casual reasons it is not my style to look like a manky lion tamer

so safe to assume everyone at least wears their jackets?

Oh, absolutely. My motto is: Live in leather. I wear my Westeds all year except during the summer. Lately I have been alternating between my LC lamb and LC horse with the temperature fluctuations. Sometimes I have the heavy jacket in the morning when it's cold, and then switch to the lightweight lamb on my lunch break in the afternoon. So everyday is a Wested day!

Natural aging for me on everything. My gear is selected to last, period.Some of it is Indy gear and if that ages in an Sa way; that's outstanding. My jackets are everyday drivers depending on the weather and whatever job I'm going to. Now a little off topic; I think Indy's guns were not meant to look as worn and pitted as we now know they actually are. I don't think natural wear and age can be accurately done without having an expert gunsmith reblue with the patina color blueing process. Anyone who who would have two or more S&W large bores custom cut to four inches would probably take great care to protect them as much as possible while they were not in use. In 1936 those guns would have been new production or at the most 21 years old. A chipped grip I can see but I don't think Indy would let his guns wind up the way we have found them; besides, we only get some fairly quick shots of them and the first time I saw it, I thought it was a new gun in an 'old' movie mistake. Regards, Hanson.

I'm going all natural with my jacket. I just can't damage a jacket I paid $350 dollars for. However, I do wear the heck out of my jacket. The storm flap is showing wear, as are end of the sleeves wear the jacket rubs against my desk and whatever else. I actually think that I'm giong to get some pecards and give my jacket a little bit of loving once the cooler weather is gone. I'd like this jacket to last me as long as possible.

As Moonitman knows it becomes really harsh to be forced to distress something brand new! Like Moonie, I also portray Captain Jack Sparrow and dumped well over $4500 into the costume via purchases but mostly making the parts myself. I also invested in a $500.00 screen accurate frock coat and have found it to be rather distressing to distress said frock! Now what would Captain Jack look like running around in pristene pirate garb.

I think the same goes for Indy! BUT if you want to portray Indy BEFORE he goes off adventuring, saving cultures, procuring artifacts more power to you OR if you plan on portraying Indy after said adventuring then distress away! If you are going to dress the part you might as well look the part!! I will distress my jacket when I get it!

Keep in mind you don't necessarily have to destroy your expensive costume pieces to get the distressed look. Washable and removable Hollywood like effects can be used without even damaging any items.

Just thought of this....if your Indy garb is part of your everyday normal wear would you be willing to wear your Wested leather jacket in the pouring rain??? :

bleyd wrote:I have no problem wearing it in the rain and in fact the jacket has conformed to me quite nicely and fits me like a glove, well a good leather jacket really.

That is exactly what US Navy pilots do when they earn their wings and receive their offical A2 style flight jacket! Put it on, jump in some water, and let it dry whilst wearing it!

Natural distressing only for me, and I don't go out of my way to wear it on distressing adventures, either. My Lambskin Wested has seen a great deal of use and is only now starting to show any signs of distressing. I don't mind it at all, but I can't bring myself to, basically, "break" something new on purpose, or even deliberately endanger it. I'm the same way with the hat. I like the idea of my jacket having it's own story to tell (and it won't be "daddy shaved my skin off with his big brillo pad!") To think of it another way; would you dent your car door to make it look more like your favorite car from a movie? I really hope you say no to that...