Over the years there has been much debate. I say, the debate is over and has been for some time. We've just never seen anyone do the research fully and present it all here. That is my intention.
Here is the list:
1. Leather- Authentic brown lambskin leather.
2. Pattern- 919 (Chris King/80's/thinner) pattern.
3. Lining- Cotton Silesia lining / body and sleeves.
4. Zipper- 5 gauge aluminum zipper with small zipper pull that extends to the bottom of the jacket.
5. Leather facing- NO leather facing on the zipper.
6. Storm Flap- 1.5 inches (3.8cm) width; ROUNDED top corner.
7. Collar stand- Leather collar stand.
8. Collar- 2.75 inches (7cm)on the tips, tapering down to 2.5 inches (6.4cm). The left collar should also extend to the midway point of the top of the storm flap, or .75 inches (1.9cm) from the edge of the flap.
9. Right Pocket- 1.5 inches (3.8cm) from the zipper seam (edge of jacket).
2 inches (5.1cm) from bottom.
Width of pocket: 6.25 inches (16cm).
Length of pocket (including pocket flap) :7.5 inches. (19.1cm).
Scalloped pocket flap.
Pocket flap length in middle o f flap, 2.75" (7cm)
Aluminum or nickel snap.
10. Left Pocket- 1 inch (2.5cm) from storm flap.
2 inches (5.1cm) from bottom.
Width of pocket: 6.25 inches (16cm).
Length of pocket(including pocket flap) :7.5 inches. (19.1cm).
&nb sp; Scalloped pocket flap.
Pocket flap length in middle of flap, 2.75" (7cm)
Aluminum or nickel snap.
11. Side Strap- Legnth : 8.75 inches (22.3cm)
Width : 1 inch (2.5cm)
Side straps sewn with X pattern AND box pattern, double stitched.
12. Side strap buckles- BLACK OR GUNMETAL rectangular 2 piece rings.
13. Side vent stitch- NO stitch holding the side vents closed.
14. Pleat depth- 1.25 inches (3.2cm).
15. Yoke seam- The arm seam should be 1 inch (2.5cm) BELOW the yoke seam.
16. Back panel- The back panel should extend all the way out to the sleeve seam.
17. Inside pocket- Left side, slit (less leather) pocket.
18. Underarm Gussets- 1 piece (small) underarm gussets, or no gussets at all.
As already stated, Wested has made many changes over the years. Most of them at the request of the consumer, basically us.
The great thing about Wested is that even though they've incorportated some changes for the better of the jacket we can still ask and receive any of the mods we ask for to brin g it as close to the sceen used jacket as possible. I wanted to reiterate what some of the design changes were, why they took place over the years and the choices that remain. These have all been explained in past post, but I thought it beneficial to host all of this info in one post.
Here goes.
1. Leather - The authentic brown was made available after the Wested jacket had been on the market for some time. Peter located the original color to source out what we now know as Authentic Brown. The leather used to be processed in a different way and as you can notice from pics, is quite a bit more grainy than what is currently available. For screen accuracy, I feel you need the thinnest and grainiest leather Wested can source. Many people comment on how light it looks comparred to what we see on the screen, but if you distress is properly, you can achieve the look as if Harrison Ford himself handed you hi s hero jacket.
2. Pattern - The original patterns that were used by leather Concessionaries to make the original Raiders of the Lost Ark jacket were refered to as the '919' pattern and were tailored to fit Fords thin frame. When Leather Concessionaries later formed Wested and began making the Indy jacket they loosened up the size of the coat so that it could fit a wider range of customers. It wasn't until Chris King discovered this in a conversation with Wested and asked for this pattern to be used on his jacket in August, 2002. Wested now offers both the standard and 919, or what is sometimes called the 'Chris King' or '80's fit' pattern.
3. Lining - Peter has stated that the entire Raiders jacket was lined with Cotton Silesia but over the years Wested began using satin as an alternative. Customers found that sometimes their arms would get hung up on the cotton in the sleeves and that the satin let the arms slide through with ease. Although not screen accurate, a cotton body with satin sleeves has become the norm.
4. Zipper - The orignal zipper was made from aluminum and broke easily. Wested began using an 8-gauge nickel zipper to get the silver color and did not extend the zipper all the way to the bottom of the jacket as it was in the film. The reason for this is if you move the zipper up a few inches from the bottom as they did, it would reduce stress and lessen the result of tearing the leather. Although the moved up zipper placement is standard, Wested will take both requests. They do not however, still use the nickel zipper. At some point there was a problem with them and they now only use brass. I always thought the 8-gauge zipper teeth looked too thick when compared what was seen on the screen and when Wested began production of the cotton Indy jacket they used a 5-gauge zipp er, which has smaller teeth and to my eye is more screen accurate. In the end if you want the real deal you want 5-gauge aluminum, but you'll have to buy it yourself and send it to Wested to have them install it. God Bless them for allowing us to do so.
5. Leather Facing - The original jacket had no leather facing along the zipper track. This is one thing that lead to the characteristic of the wavy zipper we see on the jacket in the film. Early on Wested began adding a leather facing along the zipper track because some customers complained they kept getting their zippers stuck on the lining, which was the best and smartest decision from a technical standpoint. Although the change to add the facing was considered standard, Wested would continue to take requests to leave it off.
6. Storm Flap - From years of combined research and from what Wested attested to, the width of the s torm flap has always been 1.5". One thing Wested will only do as a request is to round off the top corner of storm flap as it looked in the film on at least one of Fords hero jackets. The standard is a more squared corner, which from a professional point of view, is probably more correct.
7. Collar Stand - The original jacket most worn thoroughout the film clearly had a leather collar stand. There were some stunt jackets that definitely had a cotton collar stand but I can find no evidence that any of the hero jackets did.
8. Collar - One early complaint of the Wested was the collar. Many thought it too big, sometimes over a width of 3". You can request any size collar you like but from our collected research a size of 2.75" at the tips rounding off to 2.5" looks better on a standard sized frame. If you are a larger person you may want to go with a 3" collar or maybe slighty larger. If the rest of the jacket gets sized up the collar should to to be kept in perspective. Another important screen accurate spec that is only done by request is to make sure the left collar extends to the midpoint of the top of the storm flap as seen in the film. As standard, Wested keeps the collar fairly flush with the storm flap seam so you have to ask if you want it as it was on the original jacket.
9. Pockets - In 2002, Wested began using a standard pocket size of 8.25" by 6.75" based off of vhs caps from a customer. I've found that on an average frame these specs are much too big. At 5'10", I asked that my pockets be at a size of 7.5" by 6.25" and that seems to make a big difference. If you are over 6' tall you should most likely go with the standard pocket size Wested offers so that they are in proper perspective with a larger sized jacket. There are also more and less scalloped pocket flaps in the fil m, so thats all up to personal preference.
10. Side Strap - The original Wested strap was at a good, long length and at some point a change in the side strap hardware reduced the length of the strap. Based on years of collected research the width of the strap is considered to be 1'. Since the strap is barely seen on film and when it is it's never loose, we don't know the exact length. Later on after the discovery of the rectangular black buckles I moved the length of the strap on my jacket back to the original, 8.75" standard size length Wested made them at. Another thing to note is that with the way the side strap is configured it will face forward when put through the buckles. In order for it to be as we think it was on the film jacket was to take the leftover strap and force it back through the back buckle, thus leaving the strap facing backwards. That reinforcement makes it much tighter and much less likely to come loose.
11. Side Strap Buckle - Based on info from a screen used stunt jacket and the caps from the dvd's, it was evident that the side strap hardware were four (2 on each side) black or gunmetal gray rectangular buckles. The stunt jacket also had silver buckles painted black. That's all up to you to do that.
12. Side Vent Stitch - The side vents on the original Raiders jacket open up with ease which is one of the telling characteristics of that jacket. At some point (maybe from the start) and most likely for technical reasons, Wested began putting a stitch at the top of the vent to help keep them closed. If you want the vent to open as it di din the film, ask that they NOT stitch the side vent up.
13. Pleat Depth - The orignal pleat depth of the Raiders jacket was shallow. Because the jackets used in the film were brand new the pleats stayed flat. When yo u wear a Wested for a while, some of the pleats start to become slightly wavy. This caused Wested to deepen the pleat depth up to 3" and later adding elastic under the lining to help keep the pleats closed. I've found that there were different sizes of pleat depths on the original jacket but the two you'd want to stick with are 1.25" or 1.5", which is what my original Raiders jacket made in 1999 had and they reflect the look of the original jacket well.
14. Yoke Seam - The original jackets had the yoke seam around 1" above the arm seam as can be seen in many frames of the film. The yoke are in general appears to be smaller than in the sequel jackets but Wested will not make the yoke smaller as they've been asked to do so several times. If I recall, it had something to do with modifying the existing pattern. This would also extend the length of the back panel as well, but instead I believe what Wested does is move the ar m seam down so that it is below the yoke seam and gives it the look as in the film.
15. Back Panel - You can clearly see in any frame of Raiders where the back of the jacket is exposed that the back panel ends right at the arm seam. Early Wested jackets had the back panel ending 1" off of the arm seam, which actually helped keep the action pleats flatter. But, it didn't take long before fans asked that their jackets now come with the back panel extending all the way to the arm seam, or as close as possible, just as can be seen plainly in the film.
16. Inside Pocket - We know for a fact that there was only one, left, inside 'slit' pocket in the original Raiders jacket with a very minimal facing. At some point Wested started adding more than just the small slit of leather and added a much larger facing, which effected the drape of the jacket. Wested still does both versions of the inside p ocket and you can have more than one, but you must specify exactly what you want at the time of ordering.
17. Underarm Gussets - Some of the original Raiders jackets had underarm gussets and some didn't. I assume some of this was determined by whatever scene was being filmed and what they needed the jacket to be able to do for any particular scene, such as stunts. I can only find evidence of a 1-piece gusset being used as can be seen in the film, but some have requested a 2-piece gusset which Wested will accomodate. However, if it's film accuracy you're interested in then a small, 1-piece gusset or no gusset will do.
I already ordered a regular pattern jacket because I thought it would be fine and it wasn't.
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