Club Obi Wan

Can a man be happy with lambskin?

Depends......

It's not for me. My favourite jacket is from calf. It's an Italian jacket I picked up in Rome and it's veg-tanned. Not heavy like cow and not as thin and soft as lamb - hard to describe - fairly light weight but tough without feeling plasticy like goat. Wonderful grain too. I wish I could find an Indy jacket in something similar..still looking though.

did you get a lambskin? what jacket?

Texan Scott wrote:Can a man be happy with lambskin?

Absolutely.-

...as seen on film....light weight, breaks in an distresses easy, and more that one wants to find THAT very jacket...

....but can a guy be happy with lambskin?

Once again....it depends.

In my experience, if someone is an urban adventurer who has absolutely NO strenuous activities that would require anything more than a light weight jacket, then sure. It more than serves that purpose. Easy on/easy off, light and requiring little to no maintenance.

If you're just wanting a 'film jacket', it's as good as it gets.

Anything more, I personally don't think so.

They're great as a backup, but as a 'mainliner' for a more active life style? Too low on the leather manufacturers tensile strength scale to suit me.

Ironically, my eldest daughter has lived with her 2007 Wested lambskin since it was brand new, and has been completely satisfied with it....weariing it to digs and work. Every lambskin jacket seems to be different. I've had some that have completely fallen apart in just a couple years with light use.

If you can get hold of one that holds up as good as my daughters jacket, you'd be crazy NOT to be happy with just 'one', but hers has been the exception to the rule in my experience.

So, I say again.....it depends.

Tell me, are you having second thoughts already? viewtopic.php?f=2&t=61633" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Regards! Michaelson

I think a lambskin jacket is a great option to have, but I wouldn't want it to be my only leather jacket. It is great for when it isn't so cold, when the weather is fairly pleasant. When it is a bit colder, or it raining a bit, I'd rather have goatskin or cowhide.

Forrest For the Trees wrote:I think a lambskin jacket is a great option to have, but I wouldn't want it to be my only leather jacket. It is great for when it isn't so cold, when the weather is fairly pleasant. When it is a bit colder, or it raining a bit, I'd rather have goatskin or cowhide.

! Agreed -- completely! W>

My first A2 was a lamb "mall jacket" as they are called. Over sized, hand warmer pockets, bad quality map in the lining. The lamb was incredible, it was thick, and heavy, and it wore in beautifully. I wore that jacket all around the world on business, rolled it up and tossed it on top of equipment when I was working on it, or under it. I only got rid of it when the zipper blew out, and I started researching A2's. I moved up in the A2 world, but if I could get an Indy style jacket in that lamb, it would be a keeper and all the rest would be gone.

B

I personally L-word lambskin jackets. "L-word" in this case being "love."

As a fashion accessory whose biggest action it sees is running down a city street, it's perfect for me, especially considering I don't make a habit of leaping off trucks or dodging gunfire...

Living in Canada I can hardly ever wear a lamb skin but I can wear horse or goat for three seasons.

I reserve my L-skin jacket for gearing up because lets face it, it looks the part. My G&B Expo gets the 'real world' use.

Well, I have a prototype G&B lamb and goat from 2001-02 and have to say both have survived 'real world' use for the past 12+ years with no issues....with proper between season care, of course.

Regards! Michaelson

15°C this morning. Perfect lambskin weather.

93F with heat index of 101F today. NOTHING made of leather is good today.

LOL well at least you don't need to stock up on vitamin D.

Well, I 'live' in a 6 foot by 24 foot windowless video production control room at work, so yeah, I could use some sunshine piped in most days.

Regards! M

What...a hundred degrees in the shade and a new leather jacket arrives! There's nothing like it!

Yep! A man can be darn happy with lambskin, especially this leather! I have been consistently surprised with the quality of leather jackets being cranked out o' that barn in recent years, and this one is no exception! Rebecca informed me that they had their best leather technician working on it, and with a new batch of shrunken lamb and a few choice skins, the guy did such an outstanding job! Minus a tweak, it is at least as good as any they have ever made. A touch of old school, vintage Wested. Now that I have it, it's quality is worth much more than I paid.

Pics to follow once I get it past its shell shocked package confinement!

Michaelson wrote:Well, I have a prototype G&B lamb and goat from 2001-02 and have to say both have survived 'real world' use for the past 12+ years with no issues....with proper between season care, of course.

Regards! Michaelson

It's so true and curious that some lamb is tough and some very fragile. I had a shrunken lamb in the 1980's (a bad wannabe A2) as a close enough Indy. It had a harder surface than most butter soft lamb and wore well for many years. I would never risk a lamb jacket these days as I tend to ruin everything I like. Besides goat (which you rarely see in Australia and you have to order from other countries) has many of the great qualities of lamb (softness and lightness) but with the added benefit of real life robustness. Lamb may photograph well and be screen accurate but Indy would probably not have worn it if he were real. I see him an a 1930's goat or horse hide half-belt as you used to buy at Sears for about $8.

Most of the period catalogs I've seen from the '30's that advertised leather jackets were available in horse or cowhide. I don't recall any goatskin jackets myself. I'm sure they had them, but not in the mail order catalogs I've looked through.

Honestly, I think it has to do with where the lambskin is sourced regarding toughness. Dave Marshall once told me the lambskin they got for the Expo was sourced from New Zealand. Tough stuff, that leather.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson wrote: Dave Marshall once told me the lambskin they got for the Expo was sourced from New Zealand. Tough stuff, that leather.

Regards! Michaelson

Pretty sure because it is tanned with Hobbit tears.



Regards,


Indiana Jeff

I had a goatskin back in the 30's big dawg! Its a fact in the library o' congress.

then there is that jacket you wished you had from the start!

Never said they didn't, Tex. I just said I'VE never seen one advertised in a 30's catalog.

Regards! Michaelson

Certainly seen more pony-hide and horsehide in those ads too. I just imagine that a real world Indy would have wanted a tough hide and only worn it in the colder places. Actually, I can't imagine him buying it, I imagine him wining it in a poker game.

I'm not at expert on jackets. I'm far from that and I only have 2 hero jackets from Wested, both SL and the new one (got it in may) is great.

I love the drape, the color, the texture et all.

You already saw it Tex .

Is different from the one I got 8 month ago. That jacket had a plastic look and it wasn't very dark. The texture was great although

I think we are getting closer to what the film leather might have been. I bought one on clearance about 1 1/2 ago, and you are right, the leather is different.

Pics? All these threads with new jackets.. and then we never see them. It'S torture!

Some pics would be nice, true!

Amen to that, Moses!

Not sure why.

This thread is a philosophical discussion of whether or not an individual can be happy with just a lambskin jacket. Photos of the jackets mentioned above are scattered all through the jacket section, and can be easily found by simply doing a search. They would just be a duplication of those efforts here.

Use the search function. It actually makes it more fun to navigate this site. You may discover things that aren't even being addressed here. I always do.

Regards! Michaelson

Well Texan has been praising his new jacket in a new improved batch of SL lamb and he hasn't posted pics of it anywhere yet. I'd certainly be interested in seeing some. I thought that was what sparked the question concering lambskin.

I thought so too, but was corrected in a PM from him last week, so no, that was not the point of this thread.

That discussion is supposed to be taking place here.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=61633" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

THAT'S the thread where we need some photos, Tex.

Regards! M

Yes, you're right - I stand corrected.

Sorry guys Ive been oit of the game lately. Tstorms and lack of sun has prevented photos but for sure next week.

This is a thread about if a guy can be happy with lambskin leather as an Indy acket. If the original was lamb, can you be happy with that or do you need something else?