I received my Gibson & Barnes dark seal, goatskin Expedition jacket today. It is a beauty. This is my second “Indiana Jones” jacket. My first jacket was an official Indiana Jones jacket that I ordered from a magazine ad years ago. I learned from this website that it was a Cooper. I wore that jacket for many years. When the lining wore through, I had the lining replaced by a tailor/dry cleaner. Unfortunately, I also had him clean the jacket. It came back totally bleached out. He tried to “paint” the color back in, but it ended up feeling like vinyl. It was unwearable after that. I replaced it with a nice Eddie Bauer leather jacket, but it wasn’t the same.
I didn’t realize that Indiana Jones jackets were still available until I did some searches on Google. My search led me to Indy Gear. I had to decide between G&B, U.S. Wings and Wested. The U.S. Wings distressed Cowhide jacket would have been closest to my old jacket, but the sizing was quite broad. The Wested looked very nice plus they would size it to me. Then, I read about the G&B jacket. Many on this website consider it to be the ultimate Indiana Jones jacket. It was more money than the others, but I was willing to take the plunge. I normally wear a 40 Short. I learned that G&B did not have a 40 short, but might be willing to put 40 short sleeves on a 40 regular. The earliest they could ship was July 29th. I was just about ready to place my order, when I read about how Indydawg had bought a clearance G&B jacket for $249. I checked the G&B clearance web page. There were two jackets that looked promising. One was a dark seal, goatskin 40R with slight grain mismatch for $299. The second one was a 40 long torso with 40 short sleeves for $249. When I called I was told that they had already been sold, but that they had a made to measure jacket that was a 40R torso and 40 short sleeves for $249. I couldn’t believe my good luck. I immediately ordered it.
The jacket fits perfectly. The extra torso length is actually a plus because I have an REI down vest that I used to wear under my Cooper so that I could wear it well into winter. The jacket just covers the vest. There are some obvious differences between my old Cooper and the G&B. The most obvious is the much lighter weight of the goatskin. Also the Cooper had a heavily predistressed finish. It looked like it had been dragged behind a car over a dirt road. In fact, my sister-in-law commented that I had bought an old jacket. The G&B looks brand new with a very dark finish. I haven’t decided whether I will try to “age” the G&B. The other differences are the authentic touches on the G&B. These include the left-handed zipper and lack of storm flap snaps. I’ll have to get used to the zipper.
The only downside is that it is 85 degrees F outside. It’ll be months before I will be able to wear it out.
Axel
