Club Obi Wan

I recently picked up a 2nd hand Wested LC jacket made of washed goat. The jacket fits great but the sleeves are an inch or two too long. The jacket is pretty much brand new. Could a taylor shorten the sleeve length without ruining the jacket or should I sell it and buy a new custom jacket from Wested? The jacket fits well except for the sleeves.

Thanks in advance for the help

A tailor can fix that problem. However you may want to reconsider it, you may want that extra length in the future when the sleeves start to wrinkle up as you wear them, I've had sleeves that were about n inch to long also but as i wore the jacket I ended up needing that extra bit of length. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info, that is very helpful. What causes the sleeves to shrink? Just standard wear? Water? Maybe I will just leave them for now.

Over time, and with wear, the sleeves will naturally wrinkle and cause the sleeve length to "shorten" or ride up a bit. While a good tailor could easily take up the sleeves (just be sure to specify you want the sleeves to be seamless at the end, or they might stitch it!) I'd agree to hold off a bit and wear the jacket for a while to allow the sleeves to settle in for you. Depending on how long the sleeves are on you now, you might not need to have them altered in the long run.

Just as a rule of thumb, you usually lose anywhere from 3/4" to an inch in sleeve length in the natural bunch up of leather at the elbows with regular wear.

That's why tailors and sellers of jackets recommend buying a jacket with sleeves that go down to your first knuckle of your thumb, as when the sleeves naturally ride up, the cuff will will eventually end just below the break of the wrist after regular wear.

Regards! Michaelson

Yes, wear it for while it needs to relax and soften up.

I'm wearing a washed goat today, the arms didn't wrinkle on mine and believe me I tried! You may even find that it stretches a little as it relaxes. Mine is a couple of years old and it's remarkably soft now. Fab leather.

Note on getting the sleeves shortened: Really, REALLY, make sure the person doing it knows what you want. Explain clearly that you MUST not have stitching on the outside. Repeat it. I had my favourite jacket ruined by a guy who thought he knew better. I can't bear to wear it, still debating whether to get the arms taken off and replaced.

Explain that if they get it wrong it will cost them $500 to get it replaced.

Great info guys. Thanks for the help. I'm going to wear the jacket a while and see what happens. Hopefully it will shrink about an inch.