Club Obi Wan

Anyone know about these guys? I stumbled on this jacket on eBay, and won it. It came in today and I’m pretty happy with it for what it is.
It seems to be a veg tanned leather, the lining feels like there’s some quilting to it. The outside pockets are on the ‘outside’, and it has some interesting features: 3 piece arms, the back flap is attached at the bottom and the collar is weird.
The fit and the leather remind me of my old Disney/Lucasfilm jacket from 1994...
Here’s the link, but mine must be an older version, it’s not predistressed. The seller didn’t have any info on it, he had bought it off eBay himself a while back, and sold it due to buying a Wested TOD.


https://www.majesticleather.co.uk/colle ... r-jacket-2


I invited the seller to join the Indy nerd squad with us.

Here's the listing, I'll get some more pics up later.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/153665611354

Looks like a decent jacket. Nice find.


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

some more pictures.

English left-handle zipper, double stitched shoulder seams, bottom seam, collar is 3 1/4". The collar definitely is going to need altered. I haven't decided if I'll 'separate' the back panel at the bottom. I love the leather- its going to distress nicely; it has a nice tan base under the dark brown. Its the heaviest jacket I've had except for a Horse Hide Wested.


https://imgur.com/DQ939Jy
https://imgur.com/xQEMHHu
https://imgur.com/oVkCLrU
https://imgur.com/6dcVwnD

I just accidentally stumbled upon this post. After being disappointed with all other jackets to some degree (I had several westeds and a few other makers) I thought I give this one a try, as the pictures on eBay looked good and the price is right.

I asked for a made-to-measure jacket and also (here to me lies the most important detail) I asked them not to distress the leather! There would have been an option on having it made in their frequently manufactured lamb hides back then.
The jacket arrived just as it was agreed on and I loved it right from the start. The fit is still perfect and (to me) most of all: the color is right. The dark brown leather has the white-yellowish-brown undertone right below the surface which might need some colored shoe polish like the film jackets did. The leather ages more or less pretty quick. I am wearing the jacket since 3 years by now (daily use in autumn and spring) for university, city life and international traveling (mainly urban use). Currently, it is starting to look "Indy" used without and artificial work on it.

Down sides:
screen accuracy
For those who are strict into screen accuracy (which I am not), you will not end up being happy with it. Each arm is not made from 2 but 3 pieces of leather. Also, back and front parts of the jacket are connected to each other. I am advising everyone who wants this jacket to have this altered IMMEDIATELY after you get it. If you don't you put a lot of stress to the bottom of the jacket whenever you are seated - causing the lower part of the jacket to stretch in a contra productive way. I had it done by a tailor and I am very happy with it now. No big deal actually.

Lining
The lining is definitely ok, but it is different to what I am used with indy jackets. The is a loosely woven cotton lining as a basis, which had been slightly filled with something underneath. The shoulders are slightly padded, the armpits are supported with an extra piece of leather. There is a inner pocket plus a phone pocket (which I cut out as it just was too much). All together a bit heavy but ok. it is tending to be a sweat producer on warmer days.

stitching and zipper
stitching is nice but I wished the thread was a bit thicker. same counts for the zipper.

Personally, I believe this jacket will need a new zipper after 5 years. I will put some money into it and will have it renovated with a better lining, more fitting to my needs.


All together, the jacket has some negative aspects, but I think it is a very good product. I ended up really liking this jacket and looking forward to wear it many more years.

Long story short: worth a try

Excellent review!

I guess my only question would be, once you factor in the monies you've spent on tailoring, and future planned relining/zipper work in the future.......would it have been a better purchase if those funds had been saved for a better jacket that already had those quality components/fitting installed from the 'get-go'?

Bottom line, if it makes you happy, then that's ALL that matters.

Just tossing that out there for consideration if others are thinking about a purchase.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson wrote:Excellent review!

I guess my only question would be, once you factor in the monies you've spent on tailoring, and future planned relining/zipper work in the future.......would it have been a better purchase if those funds had been saved for a better jacket that already had those quality components/fitting installed from the 'get-go'?

Bottom line, if it makes you happy, then that's ALL that matters.

Just tossing that out there for consideration if others are thinking about a purchase.

Regards! Michaelson

would the money spend on restoration and alteration better be put in a more expensive different model?

If I had found one, the answer was yes

I already spend the same time and money on other "better" jackets. I only give my example with wested jackets (as I had several of them). Often, made to measure where not done right, of the rack jackets in my size (38) always had a bad cut (-> causing the need of altering/restoring them -> causing additional expanses -> resulting to ruined jackets and empty pockets -> concluding to )
I even went to wested myself. The jackets they had where not good at all for myself, the only one I liked in there they did not wanted to sell to me (as it was of a never reclaimed customers possession).
So we had the cost of: new jacket, shipping, traveling, restoring, altering and the need of getting - again!- another jacket, causing more expanses

There is no real perfect jacket out there (not even the screen used original ones in my opinion) and it is always a gamble to some degree.

In some way you might say: how much time and money would I have saved if I had this cheap jacket right from the start, skipping all the other attempts! But could I have been happy with my current jacket without the decades long gear head journey on cow?

I certainly don't think so

The (main) reason I bought this jacket was for the leather. I could tell from the pics that it was veg-tanned brown cow- the same as my old Disney jacket. -I had sold that jacket to another member here because the arms were too short, and I didn't know then about wetting/stretching back then.

As far as I know there isn't a veg-tanned cow option for Indy jackets from the other makers.

eaglecrow wrote:would the money spend on restoration and alteration better be put in a more expensive different model?
.....


I certainly don't think so

All excellent points. We all travel different paths to get the perfect item, be it our hat or jacket.

I’ve had a few custom jackets made for me over the years by different vendors, and ironically found the OTR USW’s Legend pattern to fit me like it was tailored to my body!

All our experiences are different. Sounds like you found yet another path.

FWIW, I believe the USW Cape buffalo Indy is vegetable tanned.

Regards! M

@Michaelson so true

Regarding the leather, I have to disagree on the veg. tanning here. I am working with veg. tanned leather for more than 15 years myself. This jacket, in my opinion, was made from chrome tanned leather which most likely had been colored brown on the surface.