Club Obi Wan

This one is a bit special.
Early in 2011 I decided I'd like another Indy jacket. I think at that stage I'd sold all that I'd owned.
I wanted to give Wested another go, since I liked their Temple of Doom jacket. I'd owned one before, in 'authentic lamb', but wanted something
different.

I emailed Peter with a few questions about sizing, and he has pretty helpful.
The I left it for a while, before asking about the possibility of getting the jacket made in a leather more similar to that used on the jacket shown
on the Wested website (modelled by KT!). With no reponse, I gave up on the idea and forgot about it.
Imagine my surprise then, when a member of another forum advertised a Temple of Doom jacket he wanted to give away FOR FREE.
Not just any jacket either; the very same jacket Temple of Doom jacket featured on Wested's site that I had enquired about.

I was on vacation at the time and reading the post on my smartphone. I quickly replied, and after a few clumsily typed messages (from me; I'm terrible
with a touch screen), the deal was done and the jacket was on it's way. Wouldn't even let me pay postage, not a cent.
It was a very kind gesture, and I was and am still most grateful.

The pictures below are only a few days old, taken inside but in good natural light.
The lambskin leather is incredibly light, but in my opinion, stronger than I was led to believe!
It looks smooth, but you'll notice some 'shrunken lamb-like' patches on the chest, and also on the pockets, though the camera didnt pick up the pocket
grain very well.
It's a beautiful light brown, though darkened a bit but leather treatments from the former owner.
It's drape is so much like the film jacket. I think it looks more like the screen jacket than any replica I've seen.
Being an early prototype, it's not got the correct 'vent' configuration, but otherwise I'm informed it's as close a copy of the NH jacket Peter had that we're
likely to get!
The sleeves are shorter than I'd prefer, only 24", but the shoulders are wide for a size 40 (7.5 inches from collar to shoulder), meaning the sleeves end
where they should anyway.
I can't help but feel the jacket has the ol' Wested problem of overly large armholes too. I look at the screen jacket, and they look small to me.
The sleeves on this prototype are narrow mind, it's only the armholes that are too large. They're not quite Wested Last Crusade big, but they're not
as small as they should be.

I haven't worn this jacket for months, but I wore to constantly when it first arrived.
I may even pass it on to another worthy Indy fan, someone who will actually wear it, as the original owner intended.
It's far too nice to be hanging in a closet..

great jacket! theres some real nice grain coming through.I too have a wested TOD (a later version) in washed goat and i love it .its light weight so ideal for hot summer wear.congrats on yours and what a generous offer from the original owner !

Agreed. A very nice jacket outdone only by the kind and generous efforts of the previous owner!

Congrats on a lovely acquisition, Kevin (I just wish it wasn't sounding so dead-on to my size - yer KILLIN' me, man!)

May you always wear it in good health.

Beautiful jacket!! I love the character it has from the grain.

It should be noted too that this lambskin is very different to Wested's usual 'authentic lambskin'.
It's much thinner and lighter, and with the nice subtle grainy patches, not so uniformly smooth.
It drapes far better than the thicker lamb, but it's not as sturdy.
The previous owner said Peter called it 'plonge'.
It's much more of a 'fashion' leather, I would say. It's a shame Peter doesn't offer it as a regular hide,
though I can understand it's safer to sell a leather that will put up with a bit more punishment.

cool seeing how that jacket has aged since I first saw it.

Lots of leather treatment and lots of wear I guess.
Fella I got it from said not to use Pecards, he used something else I can't recall. Something just for lambskin?

Was it Lexol leather lotion, perhaps?

I think that's the stuff, yes. It's so thin, this leather, that I imagine Pecard would soak right through.

Kevin Anderson wrote:The sleeves are shorter than I'd prefer, only 24", but the shoulders are wide for a size 40 (7.5 inches from collar to shoulder), meaning the sleeves end
where they should anyway.

Was the prototype meant to be a 1:1 copy of the NH jacket? If so, did the previous owner mention whether they had the sleeves shortened or if they shrunk over time? (actually the shorter sleeves make sense because like you say, they'll end up lower since the shoulder is cut wider...) Also, do you know how much extra room is in the chest? (sorry for all the questions, I've been procrastinating ordering a copy of the nh jacket for a long time now but have been a little confused with the different numbers out there...)

The chest measures in at 22 inches across, so 4 inches of room for a size 40.
However, because of the lower armholes, the chest measure is a pretty inaccurate way to guage the fit of this jacket; imagine measuring your chest below your 'pecs'
and you'll get the idea.
As far as the sleeves go, the original owner didn't say if they'd shrunk or been shortened, but my guess (only a guess) would be that they have shrunk a little.
They seem shorter than they'd need to be for Ford, and yes, this prototype was supposed to be a 1:1 copy of the NH jacket. Wested did fail to copy the side vent
configuration though, so who knows how accurate it really is compared to the original. If nothing else, the pockets look perfect to me!

..although, I gotta say, after looking at screenshots of TOD again, the sleeves look pretty short, compared to LC and Raiders.

VERY cool jacket! A ToD jacket is the last on my list. I have been considering getting a Wested but didn't like their leather choices for the ToD...but this one looks awesome!

A few pics of the jacket being worn.




I love the way the collar lays so flat in the side-on pic. Just like it looks when Indy first enters the village.
Measurements too, in case anyone was curious are:

Chest across 22"
Sleeve 24"
Stormflap (not including collar stand) 22.5"
Back height (from base of collar) 25.5"
Half-shoulder 7.5"
Back across 18.5"

I was going to give this away since I don't wear it much, and because it was gifted to me, but it's too nice for that and I'm not made of money! I am however open to trades.