FIVESTAR LEATHER G1 JACKET

[ausreenactor]

My jacket is already in country and should arrive this week. I followed Shawn's sizing diagram with measurements based on my well - fitting LW A-2. If these preview pics are any indication, my G-1 should be spot on.View attachment 43397
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This is the style I would order. They're getting good!

 

[Brent]

Might just be one on my list too. Waiting on a few others to arrive first.

Regards,

 

[Otter]

I have had mine for almost a year and a half, its almost the only jacket I lift now.

 

[MikeyB-17]

Let's hope it doesn't become an addiction.

Yeah, ah, bad news about that.....
Jacket looks great, I may well be in the market for one myself one of these days.

 

[Otter]

The FL crowd have found out about him now, get in before the rush !

 

[Cocker]

@MaydayWei it's been my pleasure! Looks like you got an amazing jacket here, would sure love to see some fit pics!

 

[ausreenactor]

The FL crowd have found out about him now, get in before the rush !

I think Shawn has the production line sorted...

 

[MaydayWei]

Finally got out today on a Friday afternoon walk, just managed to catch the golden hour.
@London Cabbie I think the gusset's sit quite well and snug to the body, at least when my hands are by my side; they look pretty natural to me!

Due to popular demand, here are some fit pics:
(I hope the natural light manages to capture the true real-life colours of the jacket that are often lost in photos)

 

[automatic]

Finally got out today on a Friday afternoon walk, just managed to catch the golden hour.
@London Cabbie I think the gusset's sit quite well and snug to the body, at least when my hands are by my side; they look pretty natural to me!

Due to popular demand, here are some fit pics:
(I hope the natural light manages to capture the true real-life colours of the jacket that are often lost in photos)

View attachment 46750View attachment 46751View attachment 46752

Looks great!

 

[Saint-ex]

Nice jacket ! Good job @Shawn Ali !

 

[Swedish_Pilot]

Saw that Fivestar is offering real wool knitting now for their G1s and A2s. How is the wool, is it soft or is it itching?

 

[MaydayWei]

Saw that Fivestar is offering real wool knitting now for their G1s and A2s. How is the wool, is it soft or is it itching?

I didn't go for the wool knits. As such, I can't really comment on them.
But if I had to guess, I'd think all wool knits are a little itchy, flimsy, and prone to getting caught and nicked.
My Buzz's wool knits are like that; not sure if 5*'s would be any better. Not a commentary on quality, just referring to wool knits in general that is.

 

[Seank]

Hello everyone,

I just received my 5* 55J14 (with M422a large collar) today, and I have to say I am absolutely smitten.
I have always been curious about G-1's and very nearly bought an original. But seeing as they were always cut a bit too long in the body for my stature, I never took the plunge.
Hence, when I heard about the custom sizing process with 5* (for the extremely reasonable prices they were offering them for) I decided it was time for my first forray into the world of leather flight jackets. Let's hope it doesn't become an addiction.

Without further ado, let's talk about the jacket.
The leather is heavy; svelte, smooth, and feels luxurious to the touch.
The construction feels solid, and the stitching is robust, clean, and neat all around.
Most importantly, it fits like a glove; @Shawn Ali from 5* absolutely nailed the measurements.
For the price, it is most definitely worth it.

I highly, highly recommend the made to measure service.
For a very reasonable price, you get a well-fitted jacket that you won't hem and haw over just to sell it on.
And I simply cannot over-emphasize how good Shawn's customer service was. I can genuinely say that his customer service is the finest I have ever experienced.
Incredibly patient, quick replies, constructive feedback, time, care, and effort - the whole 9 yards. Truly extraordinary service.

As for the infamous 'leather chemical smell'...
I have to say that there is a strong permeating smell of leather out of the package. Nevertheless, I'm sure it will wear off and, really, at the end of the day it just smells like the same leather of a new car seat. Personally, it does not bother me.

Also, a special thank you to @Cocker for his help and advice. Indeed, it was his 5* jacket on this thread that inspired me to go for it.
My jacket is based heavily on his, and he kindly let me know what options he chose for his jacket.
Thank you very much dear sir, your kindness and generosity is appreciated.

It's been a hectic week for me, but I wanted to get this up before it became old news.
I hope everyone is staying safe and taking care.

Cheers

View attachment 46712

What liner color is this?

 

[Seank]

Hi All. New to VLJ but have been lurking for some time.
I’ve had many leather jackets, Aero’s, RMC’s, BR’s, and Thedis.
my most recent purchase is a shawl collar Thedi, have a Aero Premier HWM on order, and just started an order with Shawn to produce a Custom AN-6552 knock off. Based somewhat on BR’s design with seal leather and the rust knits.
This website has been an amazing resource, thank you all for posting pics and suggestions.
I am still trying to nail down the sizing and have gone back and forth with Shawn on measurements and haven’t quite nailed down the fit yet, but working on it. Any tips are most welcome. Like do you guys give every dimension of the jacket such as sleeve hole openings and bicep measurements or do you generally get a perfect fit with the big 4 (shoulders, P2P, back, sleeve) I have measured my other leather jackets and have a good idea but have never owned a G-1 style jacket and are unaware of any nuances regarding their fit that could help me. I prefer a slim fit, non boxy style.
Also working on the leather choice.
I am considering seal goat, and want it as heavy as possible. Shawn has a 1.2mm semi aniline seal goat, and a thicker premium goat as I am sure you all are aware.
I was leaning towards the 1.2mm semi aniline because I have read that aniline finished leather is generally superior in quality...but it seems most I have seen here are the premium goat and some threads have mentioned that his semi aniline is “stretchy”...is this good or bad?
Can someone help me and explain the difference? Why to choose one over the other?
Any and all suggestions are welcome.
I intend on sharing my experience and pics with all of you once the process is complete.
Also, Shawn if you read this, I know we are emailing but if you have suggestions please feel free to comment here.
Thanks!

 

[MaydayWei]

What liner color is this?

The liner colour is simply 'seal brown'. It looks black in some pictures, and looks caramel in others. In real life, it's simply a rich shade of mid-brown; I like it a lot.

And before I forget, may I be the first to say: welcome to the forum! We're very glad to have you. Please consider posting an introduction post on the member's bio page when you have the time.

As for the rest of your questions...I most certainly do not wish to come off as rude, but it seems to me that you're a little all all over the place as of right now. You're asking about measurements, fit, goat skin types and so on. It may be wiser to just focus on one thing at a time so we can (in an organised fashion) nail down what you're really struggling to decide and help you out from there.
It's just all a little difficult to follow and may well lead to unnecessary confusions and mixups; especially on Shawn's end. It just wouldn't be good news for anyone if you don't get a jacket just the way you wanted as a consequence of a mixup caused by jumping between so many topics at once.

Measurements
As for measurements, I think Shawn will send you the measurements he requires, no?
Namely, pit-pt, shoulder (across the back), length, and sleeve length; all of these measured the way Shawn instructs. (As I do know that different jacket makers measure the sleeves in different manners)
But besides that, that's it! Of course, there can be no guarantee of a perfect fit, but that's as close as you can get.

Goatskin choice
I think many of us in the thread simply went for the normal goatskin, nothing special or fancy. I just picked a colour. I don't think anyone has any real complaints about the normal goatskin that Shawn uses; it is heavy and svelte to the touch.
I can't comment on the different types of goatskins, I am no expert.

Fit
To nail a slim fit and not a boxy cut, I think it would be best to simply take your measurements from a jacket that you already own and like the fit of. That is what Shawn recommends!
To my knowledge G-1's were meant to be a slim fit. Now of course, during war-time, perfectly fitting jackets were not always issued by your Quartermaster etc. etc. etc. but we're doing the made to measure process for a reason, am I right?
If you look at old photos, G-1's were never baggy and fit quite snugly to the body; albeit they can be a tad long (which varied across models i.e. an M422A is longer than a 55J14 or 7823E)
I would recommend, therefore, you beware of length; from memory I think Shawn's jackets are cut quite long.

I hope this all helps, if you have any other questions I'm sure I and others on here would be happy to answer them, or at least try to.
Again, welcome to the forum, and enjoy your stay!

 

[Seank]

The liner colour is simply 'seal brown'. It looks black in some pictures, and looks caramel in others. In real life, it's simply a rich shade of mid-brown; I like it a lot.

And before I forget, may I be the first to say: welcome to the forum! We're very glad to have you. Please consider posting an introduction post on the member's bio page when you have the time.

As for the rest of your questions...I most certainly do not wish to come off as rude, but it seems to me that you're a little all all over the place as of right now. You're asking about measurements, fit, goat skin types and so on. It may be wiser to just focus on one thing at a time so we can (in an organised fashion) nail down what you're really struggling to decide and help you out from there.
It's just all a little difficult to follow and may well lead to unnecessary confusions and mixups; especially on Shawn's end. It just wouldn't be good news for anyone if you don't get a jacket just the way you wanted as a consequence of a mixup caused by jumping between so many topics at once.

Measurements
As for measurements, I think Shawn will send you the measurements he requires, no?
Namely, pit-pt, shoulder (across the back), length, and sleeve length; all of these measured the way Shawn instructs. (As I do know that different jacket makers measure the sleeves in different manners)
But besides that, that's it! Of course, there can be no guarantee of a perfect fit, but that's as close as you can get.

Goatskin choice
I think many of us in the thread simply went for the normal goatskin, nothing special or fancy. I just picked a colour. I don't think anyone has any real complaints about the normal goatskin that Shawn uses; it is heavy and svelte to the touch.
I can't comment on the different types of goatskins, I am no expert.

Fit
To nail a slim fit and not a boxy cut, I think it would be best to simply take your measurements from a jacket that you already own and like the fit of. That is what Shawn recommends!
To my knowledge G-1's were meant to be a fit slim. Now of course, during war-time, perfectly fitting jackets were not always issued by your Quartermaster etc. etc. etc. but we're doing the made to measure process for a reason, am I right?
If you look at old photos, G-1's were never baggy and fit quite snugly to the body; albeit they can be a tad long (which varied across models i.e. an M422A is longer than a 55J14 or 7823E)
I would recommend, therefore, you beware of length; from memory I think Shawn's jackets are cut quite long.

I hope this all helps, if you have any other questions I'm sure I and others on here would be happy to answer them, or at least try to.
Again, welcome to the forum, and enjoy your stay!

Thank you for taking the time to write me a well thought out and informative reply. I don’t take offense, you did not come off as rude. I agree with you. At first I felt like I knew exactly what I wanted...then i went down the rabbit hole of the Internet reading every post I could find here, TFL, etc... and my ADD/OCD kicked in and I have been all over the place second guessing my decisions.

so starting with the liner, I like the look of yours as well. So this is the seal brown polyester (#1) on Shawns website? Interesting, on the website it looks almost black.(As you mentioned) this is helpful as I think this is what I am going for.

 

[Seank]

Ok. Next question.
Regarding fit.
I have pretty much an idea for the shoulders and sleeves. But, I’ve never owned a jacket with armpit gussets.
I have a 39” Actual chest measurement. Jackets I currently have range from 21-23” P2P. Different patterns tend to fit differently. So in this style with armpit gussets, what would you recommend to achieve a comfortable but form fitted look. Manufacturers tend to vary on what they recommend in inches over your natural chest size...3” maybe 4”? What has worked for you?

the second question I have is regarding back length. I measured my Thedi Zippered shawl collar jacket which has a 24.5” back length. It fits me damn near perfect. However. It does not have knits. I guess my concern here is the leather stopping to high/short and the knits just reaching the 24.5” mark extended. Is this an issue? In your opinions what has worked best for you guys? Would you add a little length?

again, thanks for the suggestions.

 

[daohoangminhnhat]

Hi All. New to VLJ but have been lurking for some time.
I’ve had many leather jackets, Aero’s, RMC’s, BR’s, and Thedis.
my most recent purchase is a shawl collar Thedi, have a Aero Premier HWM on order, and just started an order with Shawn to produce a Custom AN-6552 knock off. Based somewhat on BR’s design with seal leather and the rust knits.
This website has been an amazing resource, thank you all for posting pics and suggestions.
I am still trying to nail down the sizing and have gone back and forth with Shawn on measurements and haven’t quite nailed down the fit yet, but working on it. Any tips are most welcome. Like do you guys give every dimension of the jacket such as sleeve hole openings and bicep measurements or do you generally get a perfect fit with the big 4 (shoulders, P2P, back, sleeve) I have measured my other leather jackets and have a good idea but have never owned a G-1 style jacket and are unaware of any nuances regarding their fit that could help me. I prefer a slim fit, non boxy style.
Also working on the leather choice.
I am considering seal goat, and want it as heavy as possible. Shawn has a 1.2mm semi aniline seal goat, and a thicker premium goat as I am sure you all are aware.
I was leaning towards the 1.2mm semi aniline because I have read that aniline finished leather is generally superior in quality...but it seems most I have seen here are the premium goat and some threads have mentioned that his semi aniline is “stretchy”...is this good or bad?
Can someone help me and explain the difference? Why to choose one over the other?
Any and all suggestions are welcome.
I intend on sharing my experience and pics with all of you once the process is complete.
Also, Shawn if you read this, I know we are emailing but if you have suggestions please feel free to comment here.
Thanks!

Hello Seank
I once asked Shawn to make a 1.2mm thick goat leather jacket based on A2 Jacket.
Everything is perfect. But this jacket is stretchy in length. The original length I asked Shawn was 61cm. When done, Shawn sent me a picture of my jacket measuring 61cm.
I have been wearing the jacket for 2 days. And when I measure again, the length of the jacket increases to 62.5cm. I asked Shawn about this, but he didn't answer me. Can someone explain this to me?

 

[Seank]

Hello Seank
I once asked Shawn to make a 1.2mm thick goat leather jacket based on A2 Jacket.
Everything is perfect. But this jacket is stretchy in length. The original length I asked Shawn was 61cm. When done, Shawn sent me a picture of my jacket measuring 61cm.
I have been wearing the jacket for 2 days. And when I measure again, the length of the jacket increases to 62.5cm. I asked Shawn about this, but he didn't answer me. Can someone explain this to me?
View attachment 47466View attachment 47467View attachment 47468

Interesting. Was this the semi aniline 1.2mm Goat or the premium goat? Did you measure it when you first received it to rule out any difference in the way you measured it vs Shawn measuring it? I’ve run into that several times with other manufacturers jackets where what they said the measurement was vs what I measured it to be (with no wear yet) Was significantly different.

 

[daohoangminhnhat]

Interesting. Was this the semi aniline 1.2mm Goat or the premium goat? Did you measure it when you first received it to rule out any difference in the way you measured it vs Shawn measuring it? I’ve run into that several times with other manufacturers jackets where what they said the measurement was vs what I measured it to be (with no wear yet) Was significantly different.

I don't know what goat skin this is? On the 5Five website. Normal goat leather has a thickness of 0.8 - 1.0 mm. Further Premium Guage for Military Jackets is available at 1.2-1.4mm Thick leathers. I guess it could be a premium goat skin.
When receiving this jacket I measure the shoulder, p2p, sleeves. These parameters are correct.
I don't measure the length of the jacket. I have tried different rulers to measure jacket length. But the result is still 62.5 cm. I'm sad about that.