Club Obi Wan

Has anyone had sleeves replaced on a Wested because the sleeves were too short? I sent mine back to Wested for that reason, but the problem now is matching the color of the sleeves with the jacket. Has anyone had any experience with this situation?

Yes, an ex member from here did and it proved impossible to match as the leather is fractionally different in colour from batch to batch.

The quicker it is sent back the more likely you might get a match, (ie if they still have the same batch).

But in practice due to the high turnover of skins it may not be possible. You could to sell the jacket and get another. Or if the jacket is unworn ask for a replacement.

By fractionally different, do you mean noticeably different? Would you notice the difference once the leather started to wear?

Gemma also suggested letting the sleeves down, but mentioned there would be a slight crease.

I'm leaning towards replacing the sleeves with a slightly different color, but only if the difference wasn't too noticeable. But I was wondering what your thoughts were on letting the sleeves down. Can something be done about the crease?

If all else fails, I'll have her return it to me as is.

When he was wearing it he didn't notice the difference. But when he saw some flash photographs of him it became apparent, and once you know it's there....

If you can have them let down I would suggest doing that. Yes, there will be a line, but I feel it better than having mismatching sleeves. As time passes the leather vendors they use may have changed so there may be a big difference between the stock they have now and what your jacket was made from. Not just the shade, maybe even the thickness and the grain.

That said, I've seen a few jackets form other vendors here that came with different shades on every panel. To a certain extent all washed and 'less processed' leather naturally has a bit of variance between skins so they have to skillfully match panels to minimise the effect.

I think KT's right on this one. A crease would be less noticeable than having sleeves that are off a tone or two in color. Hopefully, you could massage the crease and lessen it over time.

Does anyone remember who it was that had their sleeves replaced?

Eg of colour matching, compare the upper and lower panels on the sleeve...

wow those are the best CS pockets and placement I have seen from wested.

Indiana Holt wrote:wow those are the best CS pockets and placement I have seen from wested.

Lol, that IS a CS production jacket! A Nowak.

oh my god thats funny


you had me there...

Kt Templar wrote:Eg of colour matching, compare the upper and lower panels on the sleeve...

It's distressed leather. What's supposed to match ? I don't see a problem with that jacket that's supposed to look like it's survived a few decades of hard use.

More than one hide goes into the making of a jacket, and each hide even if from the same 'batch' can have slight variations in colour. It's a natural product after all, not a man made piece of vinyl. The variations may not be that noticeable but they will be there. I'm referring here to non distressed hides.
The first ToD I had has slight variations in colour of the different pieces, they are noticeable in certain light. The second does as well, but less so.

An exact colour match may never be possible when replacing sleeves, but I think a close and reasonable match could may be made with careful selection of hide.

an exact colour match is rather difficult, but i saw the jacket that is in question......it was a really, really bad job. it looked like a varsity jacket imo.

Indiana G wrote:an exact colour match is rather difficult, but i saw the jacket that is in question......it was a really, really bad job. it looked like a varsity jacket imo.

Are you talking about the repaired Wested?

Baldwyn wrote:

Indiana G wrote:an exact colour match is rather difficult, but i saw the jacket that is in question......it was a really, really bad job. it looked like a varsity jacket imo.

Are you talking about the repaired Wested?

yuppers.

Indiana G wrote:

Baldwyn wrote:

Indiana G wrote:an exact colour match is rather difficult, but i saw the jacket that is in question......it was a really, really bad job. it looked like a varsity jacket imo.

Are you talking about the repaired Wested?

yuppers.

It would have to be done with very careful selection, even making sure perhaps that the sleeves were slightly different in exact match to each other, so that 'varsity jacket' effect wouldn't happen.
Maybe there'd have to be a little distressing go on too.

RCSignals wrote:

Indiana G wrote:
It would have to be done with very careful selection, even making sure perhaps that the sleeves were slightly different in exact match to each other, so that 'varsity jacket' effect wouldn't happen.
Maybe there'd have to be a little distressing go on too.

Repeat, he wore it for a while and only noticed it was different when seen with flash photography. I'm sure the same happened when they were making it. It was only that apparent with the flash.

The moral is, don't try to change the sleeves, leather can change colour from batch to batch. It is a natural product.

The Nowak was a jacket for the production. Whilst individual jackets were different to each other, that difference in the sleeve is 'surprisingly' big for one jacket, especially as it was for the production.

RCSignals wrote:

Kt Templar wrote:Eg of colour matching, compare the upper and lower panels on the sleeve...

It's distressed leather. What's supposed to match ? I don't see a problem with that jacket that's supposed to look like it's survived a few decades of hard use.

More than one hide goes into the making of a jacket, and each hide even if from the same 'batch' can have slight variations in colour. It's a natural product after all, not a man made piece of vinyl. The variations may not be that noticeable but they will be there. I'm referring here to non distressed hides.
The first ToD I had has slight variations in colour of the different pieces, they are noticeable in certain light. The second does as well, but less so.

An exact colour match may never be possible when replacing sleeves, but I think a close and reasonable match could may be made with careful selection of hide.

You're not talking to some noobie here. I just told you that.

If I decide to let the sleeves out, other than the crease, should I be concerned about anything else?

hopefully you don't run out of lining material.

Should I ask if they can replace the lining in the sleeves when they let it out?

afrayedknot wrote:Should I ask if they can replace the lining in the sleeves when they let it out?

that would definitely make it a bigger job. based on the tailor i use, and she is one of the best that i've used, altering my sleeve length (shortening them) was about $40 CDN. i do not know how much it would be to replace the lining of the sleeves. i replaced the entire lining in my overcoat for about $100 CDN so the sleeves should be alot less.

good luck. i suggest taking it to a good tailor so they can examine it and give you a cost.

Well I'm not an ex member, but I did send my Auth. Goat back for the same reason, they were a tad short. I spoke with Peter about my situation way back then and I was in luck as he still had leather from my batch.
Heres a pic, it's been acouple year since I had it done, but you certanetly can't tell that the sleeves were replaced. I was lucky.
[/img]
Croft

Has anyone had the sleeves let down on their jacket? I'm leaning towards having this done, and, if necessary, replacing the lining. I'm just wondering if there are any other concerns I need to take into consideration.

Hey afrayedknot,

I've had the sleeves of a Wested special veg-tanned let out (sent it back to Wested). I've attached a link to show the result. A darker leather may not show quite so much, but it only really got me an extra half to 3/4 inch.


http://s701.photobucket.com/albums/ww16 ... sleeve.jpg