Club Obi Wan

Apparently this jacket was made by Willabee and Ward. I don't think I've heard of the seller. Anyone else?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KzTBEO6R2fY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No COD's????

Wow, 8 payments of $32.06 in 1991? That's $256 back then. $471 in today's dollars.

I think the jackets were just sold by Willabee and Ward. They started out as a mail catalog company and now are on the web for cheap jewelry and house decorations.

The tag on the jacket is familiar, I want to say the same tags from old Disney park sold jackets. If memory serves, Cooper sub-contracted those jackets for a time.


Did a quick search and came up with this thread. http://indygear.com/cow/viewtopic.php?f ... t=willabee" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Nice post! Really cool to see.

"Masculine, Handsome, Durable"

Great commercial ... thanks ... haven't seen this before ...

Yep, that's the same label as the Cooper/Disney jackets... still have mine (bought not long after this commercial came out, though this is the first time I've seen it). Thanks for sharing!

Here is a scan of an ad for this from Cycle World Magazine in 1992. Surprisingly pricey at $239.

temple_runner, that is awesome! Thanks for posting!

OMG THAT IS AWESOME! I have to ask, did anyone call yet??

The TV ad and product description make it sound like the jacket we all want. Comfortable and light for summer, but warm enough for the harshest winter, able to withstand all those action sequences in *all* the movies. This magical jacket must have sold like hotcakes.

Not sure if they did, as not many of them ever showed up 'after the fact', but the label appeared in a LOT of other spin off products during the time period in stores like J. C. Penney's and Sears.

Oddly enough, those jackets were usually fleece lined bombers with knit cuffs.

As has been said above, these were usually contracted through Cooper (now USWings).

Regards! Michaelson

At the price point they were charging I can't imagine too many of them moved. The commercial was definitely aimed at a younger audience, it sounds like it's advertising an action play set, but the price was for real adult type people who had the discretionary income. I know my parents would not have sunk that kind of money into a jacket that I would either destroy playing Indiana Jones, or grown out of in a year or two. Same reason I wouldn't spend $400 on a leather jacket for one of my kids today. And I have greater access to secondary markets to sell an outgrown jacket that were not available in 1991.

I remember seeing Indiana Jones branded jackets in department stores back around this time period. I didn't have the keen eye back then to remember how much they may have looked like A-2s.

The thing I do remember is the ones I saw were distinctly grey in color which was what turned me off from wanting one.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

temple_runner wrote:"Masculine, Handsome, Durable"

Just like Indy himself.

I thought the ad was very well produced - lots of great clips from all the films. I actually bought a jacket from Willabee and Ward years ago but it was a goat skin A2. As I remember it, the jacket was made by Cooper and not them so it seems to me that this is a mail order company and not actually a jacket maker.

EDIT - so after I posted the above, I then checked the Cairo Bazaar and saw that someone sold a Cooper A2 like the one I was talking about. Funny coincidence:

viewtopic.php?f=40&t=69248" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Canyon wrote:

temple_runner wrote:"Masculine, Handsome, Durable"

Just like Indy himself.

Canyon, you are irrepressible!

I love these throw back commercials, consumerism in its infancy!

whipwarrior wrote:

Canyon wrote:

temple_runner wrote:"Masculine, Handsome, Durable"

Just like Indy himself.

Canyon, you are irrepressible!

So, what else is new?

Whoever edited the film clips to go with the announcer was one sick puppy. "Draws admiring glances wherever you may be," indeed!

It's also interesting back in the day they could show and make any connections and comparisons they wanted with no legal disclaimer.

Every jacket we saw depicted in the film scenes in the commercial were made by Wested Leather, so you had to assume what you were receiving was what they were showing Indy wearing in the movies.

They didn't say a thing about the fact it was 'patterned' from the film jacket. You thought you were getting THE jacket, which you weren't.

Regards! M

Crafty 1980's consumer marketing deception. The old bait-and-switch. Thank goodness for the Internet, and the revelation of Indy's true gear suppliers!

That's why we got into this work, isn't it, whip?

Regards! M

Yep, and our finances have never been the same since!

Nope.

Regards! M

Nosirrah wrote:Whoever edited the film clips to go with the announcer was one sick puppy. "Draws admiring glances wherever you may be," indeed!

Well said ! I liked the "head turning" moment and "skilfully buffed"!

Thanks for posting, that was real nostalgia to watch.

Yeah - skillfully buffed by Pakistani sweatshop workers on minimum wage who don’t give a #### about the adventurous legacy of Indiana Jones. They’re just trying to meet their production quota by the end of the day.