Five Star Leather, weird armpit wear, advice appreciated

[MaydayWei]

Hello everyone,

I’m not sure if anyone else has had a similar experience, but I just wanted some advice regarding the following leather wear pattern on the under arm and armpit areas of my five star g-1. This is the only place in the jacket that appears to wear away; very odd. I have a theory that it has something to do with the warmth from my armpit and rubbing contact. I’ve contacted Sean and he has yet to reply; but I just wanted to ask everyone if they knew how to fix this issue. It’s really rather unfortunate because I love everything else about the jacket.


Thanks in advance!

 

[WingAndaPrayer]

Hello everyone,

I’m not sure if anyone else has had a similar experience, but I just wanted some advice regarding the following leather wear pattern on the under arm and armpit areas of my five star g-1. This is the only place in the jacket that appears to wear away; very odd. I have a theory that it has something to do with the warmth from my armpit and rubbing contact. I’ve contacted Sean and he has yet to reply; but I just wanted to ask everyone if they knew how to fix this issue. It’s really rather unfortunate because I love everything else about the jacket.


Thanks in advance!

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Mine does the same thing. It’s not as pronounced as yours but it’s not far off. I think it’s just friction? How often do you wear it? I wear the hell out of mine.

 

[busdrivermike]

Wow that’s a lot of wear, last time I saw that was from an A2 I had from
The cockpit [avirex] it was designed to develop an aged look, it looked just
like that after a year It looked like it had been around 60 years

 

[B-Man2]

I’m guessing that it’s a tanning and color pigmentation problem from the tannery . This is something that you’ll see with hides coming from low quality control tanneries . Not trying to put down anyone or 5 Star, it’s just a fact and something that can happen with less expensive hides and jackets . Shawn is trying to upgrade his hides and that’s why you see premium vs regular hide choices when you order one of his jackets . His new DuBows are premium goat hide and that’s why you pay a bit more money . Once again not trying to put anyone down , it’s just a fact you have to be aware of in choosing your options when buying a jacket.

 

[MaydayWei]

Mine does the same thing. It’s not as pronounced as yours but it’s not far off. I think it’s just friction? How often do you wear it? I wear the hell out of mine.

Me too, been absolutely wearing the hell out of it! But really, with COVID going on, I’ve really only worn it less than 20 times; and I’ve had it since Nov. I think that’s a lot, but that’s just the lockdown-relative perspective, I guess...
You may be right, just the jacket chaffing against itself?

 

[MaydayWei]

Wow that’s a lot of wear, last time I saw that was from an A2 I had from
The cockpit [avirex] it was designed to develop an aged look, it looked just
like that after a year It looked like it had been around 60 years

that’s what Shawn said the leather was supposed to do; apparently it’s supposed to look “aged” quicker. Absolutely not bashing 5*, but it’s something I wanted to put up for future reference and for anyone (in future) going the 5* way to have their eyes open about.

 

[MaydayWei]

I’m guessing that it’s a tanning and color pigmentation problem from the tannery . This is something that you’ll see with hides coming from low quality control tanneries . Not trying to put down anyone or 5 Star, it’s just a fact and something that can happen with less expensive hides and jackets . Shawn is trying to upgrade his hides and that’s why you see premium vs regular hide choices when you order one of his jackets . His new DuBows are premium goat hide and that’s why you pay a bit more money . Once again not trying to put anyone down , it’s just a fact you have to be aware of in choosing your options when buying a jacket.

Sounds about right, Burt. Thanks for the insight. Bashing 5 star is the furthest thing from my intentions. Just wanted to put this up for future reference. I had not seen this problem reported on the VLJ as of yet. Unfortunate, but I’ll consider it a lesson learnt.

 

[busdrivermike]

that’s what Shawn said the leather was supposed to do; apparently it’s supposed to look “aged” quicker. Absolutely not bashing 5*, but it’s something I wanted to put up for future reference and for anyone (in future) going the 5* way to have their eyes open about.

It’s good info to know, I’ve got no doubt lots of customers want that feature with their
Jacket , personally I’m not a fan of that quick aging feature so I now know that when
I order a jacket to request leather that doesn’t do this

 

[Flightengineer]

I have never seen such wear on any of the original G1s, even on very old and worn ones. I completely agree with Burt in his description of the causes of this phenomenon.
The same fragile color was on the first AVI's A2 jackets. The paint was literally can be "washed off" by hand, then they apparently changed the supplier of hides to a better one and it stopped.

 

[bn1966]

It’s not a quality I’d want from a jacket, especially after only 20 wears, the hide on my 5* G-1 still looks new and the jacket has been out on roughly 20 odd occasions.

 

[foster]

Looks like it was a lighter brown hide that was retanned to the darker color?

 

[Micawber]

Surface finish has rubbed off. Lots of repros will show wear on the high spots as the top finish (dye) wears off due to daily abrasion over an extended period which leaves the lighter original leather finish exposed - extended period being the important words.

Take it up with Shawn direct. I have no experience of his service but many people speak highly of his willingness to keep his customers pleased.

 

[MaydayWei]

Surface finish has rubbed off. Lots of repros will show wear on the high spots as the top finish (dye) wears off due to daily abrasion over an extended period which leaves the lighter original leather finish exposed - extended period being the important words.

Take it up with Shawn direct. I have no experience of his service but many people speak highly of his willingness to keep his customers pleased.

Shawn’s customer service is indeed excellent. I have contacted him last week and he replied saying he is happy to advise me but has been silent since; perhaps he’s just a little busy and I’ll give him a few more days to get back to me. It’s something that he told me might happen and, therefore, it is anticipated. However the degree to which it has “aged” was certainly not foreseen.

I would hate to invite the old adage that “you get what you pay for”. and, again, this is not to bash five star; only to highlight some thing that I wish I had known going in. As @busdrivermike said, some people might like it some people might not; the important thing is that they go in with their eyes open.

 

[MaydayWei]

I have never seen such wear on any of the original G1s, even on very old and worn ones. I completely agree with Burt in his description of the causes of this phenomenon.
The same fragile color was on the first AVI's A2 jackets. The paint was literally can be "washed off" by hand, then they apparently changed the supplier of hides to a better one and it stopped.

Absolutely right, I don’t think I’ve ever seen original G-1s do this; with the sole exception of an Pritzker 50s G-1s; but that’s most likely from red rot or leather rot.

 

[MikeyB-17]

It brings to mind an A-2 that was posted here eons ago, who the maker was I don’t recall, but it was a seal brown with a yellow base, the seal had worn away to an excessive degree, it looked like a banana, and it wasn’t a good look. I agree, it’s actually no easy task to get your average G-1 to show much wear at all, so to do that after a short space of time isn’t good. If it was me, that would be going back. I’m confident that Shawn will sort you out.

 

[foster]

My perception is that the USN had very high standards for their flight jackets. If this happened in an issued USN G-1, the contractor would most likely be hearing about it.

 

[MikeyB-17]

My perception is that the USN had very high standards for their flight jackets. If this happened in an issued USN G-1, the contractor would most likely be hearing about it.

Too right they would!

 

[MaydayWei]

Update:
Shawn has replied saying that he is willing to re-dye the jacket, very good on his part.
Unfortunately, his justification for this leather wear is that "most" of his customers wish for, demand, and even purposely cause this distressed leather look.
That may be so, but it was not made clear to me in the beginning that my G-1 leather would do that. I proceeded on the assumption that Shawn's leather (like other brands) would hold colour as normal. Only after it began to fade and I contacted him did he mention this fading process.
In future, I hope that he will be more upfront with this problem or ‘feature’ of 5 star's leather.
It is important that buyers go in with their eyes open from the start and that they are not under any assumptions that might be incorrect to their detriment.
Yes, the assumption may be a fault on the buyers behalf, but taking a hands off 'its the buyer's fault' approach is not a good way to retain business.

To be clear, I do not want anything from Shawn. But I think it important that everyone sees the potential leather degradation of five star hides and to decide for themselves if they wish to buy a five star. Shawn's customer service is the best I have ever seen; I hope his jackets and leathers will continue to improve in the future.
Unfortunately for me, I don't think I will wear my 5 star G-1 any more. A seal brown jacket with tan armpits looks plainly ridiculous.
I write this with great disappointment; other than this issue, I really do love my 5 star. What a waste, truly unfortunate.

 

[MikeyB-17]

Mmmm. I would be after a new jacket if 'twas me. A redye is all very well but there's no guarantee how it's going to turn out. If you've ended up with a jacket you don't want to wear, that isn't the best customer service IMHO. I would push for a replacement, if he won't play ball go for the redye, then if that doesn't work out, definitely get either another jacket or a refund. If Five Star's jackets are designed to wear quickly, the customer should be aware of that. Other manufacturers (Aero for instance) have done that, but been up front about it. The assumption shouldn't be made that everybody wants their jacket to look beaten up in a short space of time. As we've said, Navy goatskin certainly doesn't wear like that. In fact, most wartime jackets needed some serious abuse to look that way.

 

[Harris_HTM]

What kind of leather is it? the standard or premium goat?