Club Obi Wan

Friday - 2/13/04 – 10:45am
I was at home taking care of my one yr. old son (I work night shift,) when suddenly the doorbell rings. “Hmm,” I thought, “ the plumber must be here early to fix my water heater…” I answered the door to find no one there – just a rectangular box on my doorstep. I thought, “No, it can’t be – it should be at least another two weeks before –“ But the tag on the box dispelled my doubts – “DHL EXPRESS - WESTED LEATHER…”
I tore off the plastic, already smelling the leather - opened the box and… it was gorgeous! Even my son was drooling (oh wait – he does that all the time…). Authentic Lambskin Raiders with a Grail inside pocket (man, it’s deep!). I quickly tried it on – the sleeves were spot on – the front length perfect – fit on the body is roomy but good - the back… hmmm… a little long, hitting me in the middle of my back pockets. I checked the length from the bottom of the collar to the bottom of the jacket and it measures 27 ¼” instead of the 26 ¼” I had specified – am measuring it correctly? Anyways, everything else is perfect – I will probably wear it as long as the Florida winter will let me (another month or so) and send it back to be fixed, but otherwise it is an AWESOME jacket!

P.S. I’ll post pics ASAP

Congratulations, brother. Can't wait to check it out. What size was it BTW? Just curious about how the length was off by an inch.

I asked for a 44 reg with a back length of 26.25" and a storm flap length of 24" - the actual measurement of the jacket is 24.5" on the front and 27.25" on the back. I'm fine with the front of the jacket, but the back is a little too long and gives it that "front shorter than the back" profile - not too badly, but enough that I notice. It's still an awesome jacket regardless...

I got word back from Peter at Wested and to shorten the jacket they would have actually make a whole new jacket and I'd have to send back the one I have now unworn so it could be resold. He also said the changes I wanted would not really be that noticeable and it would be an awful lot of trouble for not a lot of results - so although they are willing to redo the jacket, I'm going to keep it as is and be satisfied with what I've got. It really doesn't look bad - and nobody notices the length being an issue. It kinda looks like a ToD jacket - maybe an inch past the top of my back pants pockets. I've fallen so in love with this jacket, I couldn't bear to send it back anyways!

I'd be willing to bet that after you've worn it for a while, the regular riding up of the material will probably eliminate most of the length problem. Just wear it and see what happens over time!
Congratulations! Regards. Michaelson

I was goofing off and looking at the indygear mainpage and noticed the flightsuit/wested comparison again -

The fit on mine is identical to the fit off the flightsuit jacket on the left - so I guess it's not too long after all...

Hey Tom,
If it fits like that it's fine. As we all know, you can go crazy obsessing about these things. The sleeves on mine were a bit long to me when I got it, but after some time the sleeves began to crinkle, and now I think they fit wonderfully. Can you post some pictures? Then we can all obsess over it.

Unfortunately, I'm still in the dark ages and don't have a digital camera, but my in-laws are going to be in town in a few days and my Dad-in-law has an awesome dig. cam., so I'll get him to snap a few pics and then I'll post them...