Club Obi Wan

I contacted FS last week to ask the availability of both the lamb and goat jacket. I was surprised to hear the FS person say that he wouldn't recommend the lamb because it was too fragile and it could easily be torn. Any thoughts on the "toughness" of lamb? Thank you!!

The film jackets were lamb, so I figured it would be pretty durable. The jacket that NH has looks like it's been through alot, and held up. Pic's are on MK's website.

Geoff

Welcome to the board, image.

The goat is more durable than lamb, which, on the other hand, is easy to distress and looks very nice when distressed. That may be a reason why lamb was selected for the movie jackets.
Lamb is vulnerable to snags and such - I have a Wested authentic lamb, ToD style, and I do avoid rough surfaces and door handles...

I suggest you take a good look through the "Leather Jacket" section - you'll find a lot of opinions regarding different kinds of leather.

Lamb is in no way 'durable' in the sense we're talking here. I have a lamb FS A-2 flight jacket, and it distresses with a dirty look, let along use. Wested lamb pretty much does the same thing. Peter refers to it as his 'summer hide', simply due to it's light weight characteristics. It's more for the 'urban' adventurer rather than any real rough and tumble useage, so just keep that in mind if and when you decide to go that route. It's a very soft and comfortable material, though. It's just not up to hard usage. Regards.Michaelson

compounded by the fact that peter himself said that the actual lamb used in the movie was put through a much different tanning process than the lamb they have now, its not nearly as durable or full bodied the original jackets.

Go Goat !

GM is right, Peter did say that. GM, you owe me a pint...oop sorry, wrong thread...

Go Wested, go authentic brown goat. I'm gonna have a t-shirt made with that slogan.

I guess this is a bad time to disclose that I actually wear an Authentic Lamb... 8-[

You still owe me that pint, right Alan? I did back you up... right?

Dude, you so owe me 2 pints.

Sorry, back OT...

Authentic lamb. GREAT jacket! Nothing wrong with that! Regards.Michaelson

Just to echo some earlier perspectives, lamb is unreal if you are looking for a nice soft jacket which can be worn even when the temperature starts to creep above where you'd normally feel uncomfortable in a regular cow leather jacket, for example.

But if you are looking for something tough; something that tells the wearer "I'm a leather jacket that you can take to #### and back..." then lamb is definitely not for you.

As stated, the jackets in the movies were lamb... but consider how many they burned through in the process of making the films. Something like 14 or 15 per movie!!! So unless you're going to buy a dozen of them, and have extreme nonchalance at damaging a jacket worth 100s of dollars, there'll be no adventuring for you in it!

It really comes down to whether the jacket is something you're going to wear, say, to the office and the local shopping mall... or whether it's something you're going to wear on overseas holidays, on the back of motorbikes or doing other things which could potentially damage lamb.

I agree with Rob, the lamb is a nice soft casual wear jacket, the goat will take a lickin', and keep on tickin', like a Timex.
Altho, in defense of the lambskin;
I was chatting with Relic Raider the other day, and he has had his Wested lamb for about 4 years, and has never had a problem. He also said he doesn't baby it, either. So I guess it all depends on the wearer, and what he's going to use the jacket for.
'Blues

It also seems the 'luck of the draw' regarding the tanning of each lambskin hide per jacket. My eldest daughter has an OLD Wested that has taken abuse galore, and has achieved that REALLY worn and distressed look that only a REAL used jacket achieves, and has had no problems with it what so ever. In the same breath, I also know and have seen some lambskins jackets that tear with a dirty look. This is why many times Peter is a bit slow in shipping jackets, as he's constantly looking through incoming hides to make sure he's only receiving the best selection of material, as he can't afford to be remaking jackets over and over again due to a poor tanning job. Regards. Michaelson

This is by no means personal, but I thought he was inquiring about the quality of the Flightsuits lambskin jacket. Many members here, myself included, have a Wested lambskin jacket, but I think it would be interesting to hear from anyone who owns a Flightsuits lambskin jacket. Maybe there is someone out there who owns both a Flightsuits and a Wested in lamb. I think possibly MK does, but I'm not sure. Unfortunately, my Flightsuits is a goatskin jacket, so I can only give you a comparison between a Flightsuits goat and a Wested lamb. I don't think that would help you any.

If it's any consolation, when I contacted Flightsuits, they told me the same thing. The salesman asked me what I was going to be doing with the jacket. He recommended that if I were going to be wearing it all the time I should go with the goat. If the jacket was meant to be just a going out on the town jacket, then lamb would be fine. What I did was ask for leather samples, which they gladly sent. I had my wife lay out the samples on the floor and I chose the one that I liked the best. I chose the goat and I don't regret it at all. Maybe you can do the same and get a better idea of the leather colors and thicknesses.

If you'll go up to my ORIGINAL reply, I WAS speaking about my FS lambskin, and said so, and it's comparible to the Wested lambskin experience. That's why this string has gone in this direction, as his question was a 'generalized' question about the durability of lambskin, as it was the last question in his original post. Sorry I lost you back there. Regards. Michaelson

Right, I understand that. I wasn't trying to be argumentative. I was curious myself about the Flightsuits lamb and was wondering if there were any others out there who could give a review. It seems most of the jacket purchases lately on the forum have been goat, both Wested and Flighsuits. I've been considering Flightsuits lamb as my next jacket. I wasn't trying to discount your message at all Michaelson. No disrespect was meant at all.

Not read as such either, my friend. I was just puzzled as to what more you're wanting to know, since the jacket I posted about IS an FS lambskin. Since no one has an FS lambskin, a comparison to the Wested was the only way I could think give an example. Comparing the two, I'd still give a nod to the FS in terms of grain, as it seems to be a lot finer, if that's possible, but then FS gets their lambskin from New Zealand, and Wested from Italy (at least their authentic lambskin does. The dark is an English variety, as I recall). The FS give a VERY nice drape after a short wear time, but the color isn't quite right, so Wested has them beat on that point. Of the two, I'd have to say the Wested is a notch tougher in terms of 'tough', but we all know that's 'relative' when talking about lambskin. Regards. Michaelson

Thanks for the reply. That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for - a more detailed analysis of the two leathers. I've checked out the pictures on the main site, but wanted to read more about it. I thought MK did a review along with those pictures. I just wanted to hear from people who had both, so thank you for that - it really helps a lot, and hopefully it will be of use to image as well.

Very good. Regards. Michaelson

Well with regards, to the FS Lambskin, which I own, the following is my humble opinion.

I find myself reaching for my lambskin jacket more than than my FS goat. I love the weight, the softness and the drape. The FS goat I found take time to break in.

When I took the Lamb FS out of the box I was pretty amazed at how light the jacket was. But I did not baby it because it was lamb skin jacket.
I wanted to enjoy the jacket and I worn it all the time in rain and shine, and it has held up well. No rips, or tears. After getting wet in the rain, I let the jacket, dry and applied some pecards gel on it because it was a little stiff, the jacket was back to normal but a little less softer than before.

I have worn the jacket in the summer and in winter to England, France, Rome, Russia,India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand, China and has it has faired well, I was warm and toasty when I layered and was cool and comfortable in the summer evenings when I just worn a shirt.

So in short the Lamb FS jacket is wonderful jacket built to miliary specs, backed with a wonderful gurantee should one need it. Yes not as tough as goat or cow or horse but not made of tissue paper either.


Kind regards,
Stefan

Just don't let gasoline get on it, Stefan. I had gas shoot out of the nozzle of a gas tank I was filling last year and shoot straight up the arm of my FS lambskin A-2 flightjacket. I thought I'd NEVER get the odor out, then the leather began drying out. It took almost a full canister of Pecards to stabilize the leather, and several months of applications. Talk about a revolting situation! Still, I agree...when I'm not in an Indy jacket wearing mood, especially my cloth Wested, that's the jacket I've been grabbing, and like you say, it's done yoeman service. It's still just a bit to light for me when it's cold, even layering, as being a 'jacket', it's a bit short for the really cold weather. As I've aged, I find I get chilled a bit easier than I used to... Regards. Michaelson
p.s. By the way, it's really good to see you Stefan. I haven't seen you on the board for a while.

Hi, Stephan! Hope life is treating you well. Good to see you post again.

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