Club Obi Wan

I'm sure I read it somewhere, I just can't find it. In Raiders are the front and back legths the same or different? If different which part is longer and by how much? I'm sure Wested have the front shorter than the back but that seems 'odd'. Please let me know so I get my order as 'SA' as it's going to be . Thanks

If you look at any garment the back of the neck 'must' be higher, because you have to cut the front of the neck lower to accomdate your throat .
look at a person from the side.
The neck is forward and slightly down....
but there is need for some accomadation for the curve of the front of a persons body, chest belly etc.
we are shaped a bit like a capital B, flat at the back, with bulges at the front.
some people have more bulges than others

wested has the front longer then the back. I think they add 1'' to the front. but you can have them make same length at the front as the back.

Sorry I obviously failed to explain fully. My fault, it happens sometimes. I appreciate the fromt being shorter because of the neck area etc. What I MENT to ask was - At the bottom of the jacket ,either hanging off a person or hanger, are the front and back level at the bottom? Holt, my understanding was the back was one inch longer than the front on Westeds.

Does anyone know which is more SA - Front and back the same length, Front longer than the back or Back longer than the front?

Not sure which is more screen accurate, but I like the front to be a little longer than the back.
Having the back longer than the front would look strange, although when you're only talking an inch here and there,
it's probably not too noticable either way.

"The whole storm flap is the same length as the back" thing is a separate issue and I don't want to get into that here.

Talking about Westeds, people have tended to request an extra inch in the front, because, the way they usually cut then the jackets seem to sit higher in the front than in the back. The extra inch is intended to even that out.

Having the front hang lower than the back by a small amount can't hurt. As Dutch said... some of us have more bumps in front than others and that may need a bit more leather to cover it!

Kt Templar wrote:"The whole storm flap is the same length as the back" thing is a separate issue and I don't want to get into that here.

I'm sorry but I don't really understand this. Pleas PM me if you think it important but fear it may start 'problems'.

I've had a jacket where the front is 1 inch (as far as I can tell) longer than the back. The back 'almost' covers tha flaps on my IJ trousers, the side of the jacket sits just above the snaps on my MKVII. I 'feel' the front is too short, but that may be because I'm not used to wearing a 'shirt' jacket, the back was shorter than I had asked. I had thought about lengthening the front by an inch and the back by two to make them even and a length of 26'. However I was told the back is supposed to be an inch longer than the front, so 26 back = 25 front

I'm a 46chest and 40waist, so I'm affected by the 'bulge' myself.

Any suggestions?

I have had many problems with the front length of jackets because of "the bulge." The simple, unavoidable truth is, a screen accurate front to back ratio is going to feel (and look) too short unless you go for broke and get something longer than even the ToD design. Another problem is that Indy jackets, especially the Wested Raiders, has a habit of riding up in front.

My advice, which has served me well, is to throw away concerns about what's right and get what looks right. The front should be at least an inch longer than the back to compensate. Two if you have doubts. When you wear it, it will probably still ride higher in front. On a good jacket, it won't be obvious to the observer that the ratio is reversed. Some may tell you that your jacket is too long for a Raiders, but who cares if it fits right!

wested has the front longer then the back. I think they add 1'' to the front. but you can have them make same length at the front as the back.

Mr Holt you got this mixed up somehow.


Raider Of The Lost Ark, it's quite simple my friend.
When the jacket is laid down flat, the font and back are equally long.
Their ends meet at the same length.
The back and front are supposed to be levelled when you wear the jacket, provided you are slim.

The back is of course longer because it is measured from the back of your neck (collar) while the front is measured from your throat. In a Wested size 40R the front length (storm flap) is 22 inches and the back is 25 inches.

Clear?

PLATON wrote:

wested has the front longer then the back. I think they add 1'' to the front. but you can have them make same length at the front as the back.

Mr Holt you got this mixed up somehow.


Raider Of The Lost Ark, it's quite simple my friend.
When the jacket is laid down flat, the font and back are equally long.
Their ends meet at the same length.
The back and front are supposed to be levelled when you wear the jacket, provided you are slim.

The back is of course longer because it is measured from the back of your neck (collar) while the front is measured from your throat. In a Wested size 40R the front length (storm flap) is 22 inches and the back is 25 inches.

Clear?

When I zip up my jacket and lay it flat on its front the bottom of the front sticks out further from underneath the back. From the bottom of the collar stand to the bottom of the back I get 24, if I carry on untill I get to the 'bottom' of the front I get 25.

Raider Of The Lost Ark wrote:

PLATON wrote:

wested has the front longer then the back. I think they add 1'' to the front. but you can have them make same length at the front as the back.

Mr Holt you got this mixed up somehow.


Raider Of The Lost Ark, it's quite simple my friend.
When the jacket is laid down flat, the font and back are equally long.
Their ends meet at the same length.
The back and front are supposed to be levelled when you wear the jacket, provided you are slim.

The back is of course longer because it is measured from the back of your neck (collar) while the front is measured from your throat. In a Wested size 40R the front length (storm flap) is 22 inches and the back is 25 inches.

Clear?

When I zip up my jacket and lay it flat on its front the bottom of the front sticks out further from underneath the back. From the bottom of the collar stand to the bottom of the back I get 24, if I carry on untill I get to the 'bottom' of the front I get 25.

Then your jacket is exactly what Chewbacca Jones is describing.

I also order my jackets with an extra inch added to the front.

When you wear your jacket, and zip it up, because the jacket has to go over your
stomach, versus just going straight down your back, the extra inch will help to
make it look level when the jacket is viewed from the side.

If you do not have this extra inch added to the front, then from the side, when
the jacket is zipped up, the front will look higher than the back, instead of it
looking level.

This will make the jacket look like its sticking out, and not laying flat against
your stomach, and this makes any jacket look like its too small for you, or
that it makes it look like you have a huge gut.

Yours is fine. Take a picture of yourself wearing it, from the side, and post it
up, and we can see how it looks!!

Flathead

Well that's all fine and good but also not entirely true.

Jackets will also bulge over a persons rear end as well. People have a "hollow" at the small of their back and then move outwards over the buttocks.

Some people who don't have much of a gut have a larger rear end and the back of the jacket will fair slightly there. It doesn't take much or some bubble butt to happen, but jackets don't just come straight off the back.

All depends on how someone is built.

Raider S wrote:Well that's all fine and good but also not entirely true.

Jackets will also bulge over a persons rear end as well. People have a "hollow" at the small of their back and then move outwards over the buttocks.

Some people who don't have much of a gut have a larger rear end and the back of the jacket will fair slightly there. It doesn't take much or some bubble butt to happen, but jackets don't just come straight off the back.

All depends on how someone is built.

True.

But since these jackets are waist length jackets by design, I don't see too many
of them covering up peoples butts.

Just about every jacket I see stops at about 4 inches or so below the beltline,
which puts it well above someones butt.

And even with the small of the back example you gave, a jacket will still go
straight over that, as this area goes inward and thus not effecting the drape
of the back of the jacket like a bump that goes outward would, like a stomach.

That is, unless they have their jackets side strapes done up really tight, and then
I can see what you are talking about.

Flathead

Nope, it's not a waist length jacket. The jackets extend several inches below the waist as most people wear them unless they pull their pants up really high 1930's stlye. This would make that rear bulge I describe even more pronounced as the jacket ends right over the top of the butt. If it went further down the effect would be minimized.

Raider S wrote:Nope, it's not a waist length jacket. The jackets extend several inches below the waist as most people wear them unless they pull their pants up really high 1930's stlye.

Uh, thats exactly what I said here isn't it?

Just about every jacket I see stops at about 4 inches or so below the beltline...

So then you agree with me...

Flathead

Raider S wrote:...unless they pull their pants up really high 1930's stlye. This would make that rear bulge I describe even more pronounced as the jacket ends right over the top of the butt.

How does pulling ones pants up higher make their butt higher?

I don't know about you, but no matter how much I pull up my pants,
my butt doesn't move with them, as my butt is attached to rest of
my body...

What you are describing are high waisted pants, not pants that have been
pulled up.

The pants from the 30's still had the butt part in the same place we have
our butts today.

Its just the cloth parts around the waist that are physically higher up. Thats all.

Flathead

Slightly OT but we seem to be there. Where is the 'proper' waist for a man? I've never really thought about it. My IJ trousers stop a tad below my belly button , not much below. My jeans are lower, but that could be because they are looseing the battle with my belly. I've had them a long time....

The jacket DOES NOT end in the small of the back in most cases, it extends to the top of, and over the top of, the ###. The end of the back panel of the jacket will flair out over a persons butt in most cases. If the person has a butt that extends out more than other people they will see that flair when they look sideways in a mirror - women do it all the time to see if their ### looks big.

Since there's no law that each persons Indy jacket will end at a specific spot, some people will have jackets that will be slightly longer or shorter depending on the jacket as well as their body type. So not only do people need to be worried about how it hangs in the front over thier stomach, how it hits their butt, and how big there butt is, also makes a difference in apparent length and looks.

If you look at the movies, Ford is wearing high waisted pants - at least higher than people tend to wear their pants in 2009. We now tend to wear our pants off the hip, so people are most likely buying jackets longer due to today's fashion and not according to a movie costume.

The length of the back and front will vary based on body type.
People are talking about normal and conventional jacket construction. Problem is the Raiders jacket isn't normal, it was designed for a purpose, access to whip, holster etc.
Convention doesn't apply in a standard way.
The Raider jacket copied by TN had equal back and front, with the back being 23"
A 22.5 to 23 " front length seems to be usual in Ford's size I-J jackets.
After Raiders the back lengths of jackets in the other movies were increased, but because of the 'falling back' of the Raiders jacket the back lengths in subsequent movies appear to be about the same, when they aren't.

Raider Of The Lost Ark wrote:Where is the 'proper' waist for a man? I've never really thought about it. My IJ trousers stop a tad below my belly button , not much below.