Club Obi Wan

As many Gearheads who visit SoCal have done before, Koreana Jones, Chamorro and myself voyaged down to San Diego this past Friday (8/15/03) to visit Dave Marshall and the fine folks @ Flightsuits. The difference is that all of us live in the LA area and none of us had been there before!
I arrived last due to the overburdened highway system in this part of California and was informed that everyone had already left for lunch and that I would know where they were. It seems that they were confusing me the just as memorable but significantly smaller Rick Blaine! (we're both named Dan) Once the confusion was cleared up I was able to find the rest of the gang who had been joined by Sergei for lunch.
After much jacket conversation and even more jacket trying on, Koreana settled on an off the rack 46R Expedition in lamb and I ordered 52L Expedition in seal chrome goat (I need extra long sleeves). Chamorro, not be left out, left his Expo there to have the zipper swapped out for a smaller one.
Dave Marshall then gave us a tour of the factory where we saw where it all happens. He even showed us the 70 lbs suits that they manufacture for bomb disposal units! We all had a great day and Dave, Ryan and the rest of the folks @ Flightsuits were very helpful and gave us all the time we needed to make our decisions. I should have my jacket in a little more than a week. Just in time to hang it in the the closet until the weather cools off in December!
I definetly see a FS A-2 in my future but that is the story for another thread.
PBG

Boy...am I jealous. Sounds like y'all had a great visit. I once made it out to San Diego for a conference a couple of years ago and had no idea Flight Suits was located there. Instead I visited San Diego Leather Company. I purchased...nothing. Would that I had known about Flight Suits. Live and learn. Cheers.

Did anyone happen to notice if they had the new catalog in. I received a set of patches (indirectly) that I had wanted a few weeks ago but still haven’t seen hide nor hare of the leather samples I was promised. I called about the samples and the catalog I believe last Thursday and was informed that coincidentally the catalogs had just arrived in the store and would be sent out within the week (for those that requested them.)

Also, if you don’t purchase jackets off the rack, aren’t they considered custom made according to their worksheet, that is, “Made to Measure” which is an additional $125? I’m assuming if they offer ‘even’ sizes 42, 44, 46, etc. in both Reg and Tall, even if the jacket then needed a slight alteration after purchase, it would still be much cheaper than a custom “Made to Measure” jacket unless a person fell into the ‘odd’ sizes category, or as you, PBG, with a 52 L, or am I missing something. I guess I was just wondering why the salesperson wanted me to follow their measurement guide instead of just asking him for the normal size I usually take.

Rixter,
To answer your questions, We were just about to walk out when some guy walked in from off the street and asked about catalogs. The woman behind the counter pulled a new one out of a box and handed it over to him. Well Koreana, Chamorro and I couldn't ask for catalogs for ourselves fast enough! So, yes the new catalogs are in!
My Expo in 52L cost me just over $500, and then I had them add an embroidered nametag to the inside for an extra $28. If a regular expo costs $438+$30 for the larger size, then it should have been $468+tax+S/H so that sounds about right. I don't think they charged me extra for the 38" sleeves.
PBG

Hey all,

I had to pay $30 extra for swapping the zip from brass to nickel. With that charge I was able to shorten the sleeves also. When I received my Expo it said "Made to Measure" on the inside tag or something to that effect.

Regards,

Dr. J

As many Gearheads who visit SoCal have done before, Koreana Jones, Chamorro and myself voyaged down to San Diego this past Friday (8/15/03) to visit Dave Marshall and the fine folks @ Flightsuits. The difference is that all of us live in the LA area and none of us had been there before!

Hmmm, maybe Chamorro forgot he came down to FS when I visited in March. I had always assumed that Koreana has been to FS. Wow, it's about time, Koreana.

Thanks PBG, I’m glad to hear that I might be receiving my catalog soon then, and hopefully my leather samples. And not to assume the assumable, I probably should have a tailor measure me once again rather than just ordering my usual size. I was just concerned they’d consider it a custom “Made to Measure” request, and charge accordingly. I’d measure myself with my trusty Stanley Three Bubble laser level with protractor vial deluxe tape measure, but I’m guessing that it would only work well when measuring wood type things.

I suppose those 70 lb bomb disposal unit suits don’t come in horsehide??? Well..., I suppose their not all that practical anyway.

Indiana Texas-girl wrote:

As many Gearheads who visit SoCal have done before, Koreana Jones, Chamorro and myself voyaged down to San Diego this past Friday (8/15/03) to visit Dave Marshall and the fine folks @ Flightsuits. The difference is that all of us live in the LA area and none of us had been there before!

Hmmm, maybe Chamorro forgot he came down to FS when I visited in March. I had always assumed that Koreana has been to FS. Wow, it's about time, Koreana.

Nope. PBG made a little mistake. I've actually been there more times than my wallet cares to count!

Actually Koreana's been there many times before too.

Aren't they in their new location now? I think I was there right before the move (Thursday before the QM Summit). Aren't they awesome people there? An A-2, huh PBG, going for an Authentic Horsehide in Russet maybe? They're awesome!

And lunch? Let me guess.... La Casita? Hmmm....... good food..... hmmmm......

I am intending to pay a visit to flightsuits myself next year when I return to CA. I have already started saving but hasn't been going to well at the moment, so if anyone knows of any handy banks in the locale which need robbing, please let me know

Ken

I'll be glad to drive the get away car, Ken, provided it isn't required to be to fast. (grins) Regards. Michaelson

Chamorro wrote:Nope. PBG made a little mistake. I've actually been there more times than my wallet cares to count!

Rundquist wrote:Actually Koreana's been there many times before too.

Well, I suppose I'd better get my facts straight before I post! Maybe I was suffering temporary amnesia brought on by "white line fever" but I thought Chamorro told me that they had never been down there. Maybe it wasn't even Flightsuits I visited! I don't know what to believe!

Okay enough of that. Minnesota, I'm thinking about a mohagany horse hide historic A-2. I've got a specific squadron in mind but I'll save the details for another time. Right now I want to concentrate on my Expo!
Sorry about the confusion,
PBG

Minnesota_Jones wrote:Aren't they in their new location now?

Good question...back in March Dave mentioned that it may be around November for the move, but maybe they've moved the date up. What city will they be in...I remember that they were gonna be somewhere that is not as close to San Diego.

ITG... Why do you post as if I still come here? BWAH!

Best Regards,
The Phantom of the Forum

Hey Koreana,
BWAAH to you!

Sometimes UPS tracking numbers are a terrible thing. I just received my tracking # from Flightsuits today and when I entered it, UPS.com says my jacket was delivered! Now I have to sit and agonize about it for the rest of the day and I know that my ridiculously long commute will feel like TWICE as long as it normally does! :evil:
PBG

I am just amazed that FS charge so much for EXTRAS? and you still sing tbeir praises. $30 for a different zip, crazy. A zip is a zip the cost is the same when making a jacket. Extra $130 for custom made. Mugs.
You would not get away with that in the UK especially when you are only buying a rip off.
Unbeleivable

Unwarranted comment removed by author.

Ahhh, there is nothing like waking up in the morning, smelling the freshly brewed coffee, flicking on the old monitor and .... READING SOME GOOD OLD FASHIONED VENDOR BASHING.

Fellas, we just had a fierce episode of one fedora vendor bashing another (one sided, without the other here to defend himself). It wasn't right there, and it's not right here. It's not professional. Let's keep it in between the ditches of the road. Agreed? We do have some serious people reading this forum on ocassion. It really sets a poor representation of what this site is trying to provide. Let the product(s) stand on their own merit and not how well someone can articulate their caustic comments.

-Sergei

Hear! Hear! This is not meant to be a forum for "Jacket Wars". Different strokes for different folks and all that...

Another cool thing about Flight Suits products is that the sizing is the same in every jacket. A size 42 regular is always a 42 regular. You don't have to worry about what you're going to end up with. If you know your proper size, you only have to order it once.
Cheers

So, having been used to ordering say something like a USWings Indy jacket in a Large (42-44) which seem to run larger than normal larges anyway, you would just suggest ordering a 44 if that's what your normal chest measurment was, or ordering a size up?

Never use U.S. Wings sizing as a bench mark. Supply either FS or Wested with your actual measurements and have a jacket made to YOUR sizing. Wings requires the guesswork you're talking about. It's not required when dealing with these other two companies. I've ordered stock 42's (my size) from Wested, and the only thing I've ever had to worry about was sleeve length. To date, that has never been a problem with any off the rack size from Wested. When trying on off the rack 42's from FS, the sleeves were almost 2 inches to short. Now that's just me and my experiences. You need to supply YOUR specs to get a correct sizing. Regards. Michaelson

I think that’s part of the problem after years of collecting vintage jackets, I’ve usually managed to try to fit into them rather than having them fit to me. Often the labels were long worn off, and I never really new exactly what they were originally anyway. I probably have more vintage jackets of all types than some folks here have fedoras. It will be something quite new however for me to actually get a jacket made to measure.

Thanks for your help.

I agree with Michaelson about US Wings. I definitely had to send back a jacket because the sizing was not what I considered standard. You really need to study their sizing chart. My 3 FS Expeditions were all identical and went along with modern standard sizing. All three Westeds that I ordered were cut differently from one another even though they were the same size. Cheers

Reading Runquests jacket postings I get the impression that he rather likes the FS jackets and in fairness they make a good jacket but let me clarify the difference in manufacture.
The FS jackets are bulk machine cut with preformed cutting blades on a swing arm press which is why every jacket is exactly the same. It also explains why they charge extra for made to measure as they then have to be individually hand cut and made which takes longer.
All our jackets being custom made are individually hand cut so may vary slightly but a standard size pattern 42R will be a 42R every time although over the years we have tweaked the patterns to improve the fit.
So in some respects Runquest may be right but as he obviously has not purchased a Wested for several years I think his judgement may be slighly clouded.
Cheers
Peter

PETER wrote: So in some respects Runquest may be right but as he obviously has not purchased a Wested for several years I think his judgement may be slighly clouded.
Cheers
Peter

Peter,
MR. Rundquist was one of the first to purchase the "authentic Lamb". I believe the annoucement was last Dec 8th, 2002. He got his authentic lamb either in January 2003 or February. That was less than 8 months ago.

-Sergei

To be fair all of Flight Suits jackets are made from hand cut hides as well. I've been in the factory and have seen them made. The computer run machinery is used for cutting cloth patterns. You can't really machine cut leather. Each hide is different and there are too many factors to take into consideration (like hide thickness and finish) to use machinery. I don’t know why I have to defend Flight Suits every time I say something nice about them. Sometimes I wonder how many of you guys have even seen them. But it’s cool . Cheers

Rundquist wrote:....snip - rip - cut - tear... I don’t know why I have to defend Flight Suits every time I say something nice about them. Sometimes I wonder how many of you guys have even seen them. But it’s cool . Cheers

Well, like when I was young and just starting out, I would typically complain about “hey, why do I get all the dirty jobs around this ole place,” the rest of the hands would ribbingly tell me “because you’re good at it” which would usually put an end to that with me walking away, head down, nodding to myself.

Seriously, I for one don’t mind these “Jacket Wars,” since there’s always something to be learned from them as long as folks ‘disagree without being disagreeable,’ another oft’ used saying I always heard. I respect peoples strong opinions when they back it up with facts or information that can persuade and convince rather than just throwing out false or malicious attacks on others, or their products. An occasional barb or two can be expected, but it can be handled with a little humor or style without people getting bent out of shape. If everybody agreed about everything here, what would be the point. ...and that’s my opinion.

So y’all keep on saying what you think and I for one will keep coming back reading what you write.

I would have gone, even if I can't buy a jacket right now. I feel so left out...

Cheers,
Jeff