New A2 from ELC

[Brettafett]

No, I think its very new, like the RW23380... Sure they will be at the pop up, but 'no touch'. When I asked Gary if I could try on the Dubow, at Duxford... you should have seen his face! Of course I knew it would be no, but was fun to ask.
Yes, I could never buy another ELC at these prices. Too bad.

 

[Brettafett]

I'm certainly of the view that if you afford it then go for it, and if in turn you get pleasure from having/wearing it then even better but I'd only ever 'consider' £2500 for a mint original, and it would have to be so mint I'd problem convince myself it wasn't real! Apart from airshows and yucky baggy Avirex's, I have never, ever seen a good painted A2 on a man in the street!!

Yes, I think many painted jackets today are too perfect, to 'well-defined' style-wise... WW2 jacket art was not often perfect, appears a little rough around the edges etc...

 

[B-Man2]

There’s no doubt about it , money drives this issue . If you have it .........2.5 k for a jacket is meaningless to you. Such is the case with all of the wealthy’s spending habits whether we’re discussing jackets, cars, watches or most material things. Where this completely goes off the rails for me is .... it makes no sense to purchase a repro for these prices, when you can have an original ......paint and all .....for the same or less that the cost of the repro. Am I out of touch or does anyone agree?

 

[Brettafett]

Well, I agree. Even £1090 for an unpainted one. No more...

 

[Pilot]

I'm certainly of the view that if you afford it then go for it, and if in turn you get pleasure from having/wearing it then even better but I'd only ever 'consider' £2500 for a mint original, and it would have to be so mint I'd problem convince myself it wasn't real! Apart from airshows and yucky baggy Avirex's, I have never, ever seen a good painted A2 on a man in the street!!

Sure... question of point of view... accepted and respected...

 

[Pilot]

Honestly, I think the ELC prices are becoming mad, like I said before many times, some manufacturers are trying align themselves towards the Japanese pricing (RM/TM etc). I do not know what volume that they are selling to the Far East, but I am sure they are losing a lot of their fans in Europe and in North America. From what I see from some forums from Asia, people who buy the expensive ELC jackets are usually one off buyers, where as for most of us here are usually going for multiple purchases down the years. Anyway, I personally would not buy another ELC jacket in the near future.

P.S. Have anyone seen the other new Roughwear with extra wool lining for cold weather from ELC? That one sells for a staggering £1349 compared to the regular £1099.

Agree... this is why a lot of prime makers leave for Asia...even if only $£€ millionaires will buy... its OK for them... plenty enough of tycoons in Asia...

 

[Pilot]

There’s no doubt about it , money drives this issue . If you have it .........2.5 k for a jacket is meaningless to you. Such is the case with all of the wealthy’s spending habits whether we’re discussing jackets, cars, watches or most material things. Where this completely goes off the rails for me is .... it makes no sense to purchase a repro for these prices, when you can have an original ......paint and all .....for the same or less that the cost of the repro. Am I out of touch or does anyone agree?

Well said!!!maybe both or all...some to wear some for your showcase...
Same for all German WW2 collectors...Paying fortunes for WW2 Para smocks..pe. but never wearing them... ...the repros yes.. on reenactor shows etc... An early pattern WW2 German para smock brings a lot more than any ELC or original A-2... painted or not.

 

[Tommy]

When I first started taking an interest in Eastman (2013-2014), a house jacket was around £500, even the most expensive orginal makers weren't even a grand. Two years ago, house jackets were around £200 cheaper at the pop up show.

I really like some of the staff at Eastman, Gary, Rob, Nigel and Dizzy. But they have raised their prices too far for me now. It's a great shame since I would liked to have supported their business more. Also to be honest, I've found the quality of certain cheaper items like the sweaters and watch cap not to be that good- very accurate, but they bobble easily, more so than the Buzz Watch Caps for instance?

 

[colekwok]

In a way, I think it is simply greed. If you look at another UK based jacket maker, Lewis Leathers, they also sell in volumes to Asia, particularly in Japan and Taiwan, they are still charging around £800 for most of their jackets (yes, they did increase their prices slightly over the years, but not like 2-folds in 5yrs). If I understand correctly, they can easily sell their jackets for twice the price with plenty of buyers willing to pay. And on the other side of the pond, Vanson are still keeping their price reasonable even though if you order a custom size jacket, it may take months. So I guess I have to eat my own 'supply and demand' theory, on well, at least there are still some 'ethical' makers around.

 

[Tommy]

Aero's Jackets are still reasonably priced in comparison as well. In the time I've mentioned in my last post, I think Aero's prices have gone up by a smaller percentage. Their quality of work has risen enormously, their seems to be a genuine desire amongst the entire team to show they can create just as finer jacket as anyone and what I've seen in person shows that

But this is a thread about an Eastman Jacket.

I really do think Eastman make some of the finest A2's out there. Only Goodwear's work consistently beats it and that comes at a higher price, is a custom order and at the moment a nearly unconceivably long wait. In terms of Off The Peg, Eastman's A2 is possibly the finest. I'd personally say better than The Real McCoys Jackets that cost even more.

But they've now gone into the same price bracket as Real McCoys, available in this Country, but unaffordable to me. Sad, because I would of probably turned into a long time customer. I'd be more inclined to support one of the manufacturers who's a member of this board (and not just Aero either), next time I chose a new jacket. I won't be visiting the pop up shop this year, because to be honest it's pointless for me right now.

 

[Micawber]

If, if I saw someone wearing one of those on a day to day basis I would simply think they were trying too hard. If it is bought just to get out to gawp and feel warm and fuzzy about I would rather do that with something humble yet genuine from the period. That said, like all businesses ELC exist to make a profit, it seems items at these prices fill a demand in certain markets.

I would agree that some of the artwork I see on jackets while undoubtedly impressive, is really over cooked. Having known guys who painted jackets and patches in the war the thing that they all said was that such was the turn over rate of personnel they had real trouble keeping up with demand especially bearing mind they had regular duties to attend to as well. Materials were limited, most artists amateurs, jobs were done for a few bucks and often on a kind of production line basis. The sheer number of unclaimed patches and jackets due to MIA's & KIA's was large.

 

[Micawber]

By personnel I mean aircrew.

 

[Monsoon]

When it comes to Eastman pricing, I remember a little saying my grandmother taught me:

“It’s his cow and he can f**k it however he wants to.”

Yeah, grandma was a real church goer.

Anyway, since the market for this style of jacket (and pretty much all the inventory that Eastman has now) seems to be geared towards Asia, losing a few customers in Europe and the US is no skin off their nose. So what if I don’t buy an Eastman house A-2; they’ll easily sell a couple of these $3k jackets to Japanese or Chinese customers and make up the loss.

 

[D97x7]

Having ordered 3 jackets from Eastman over the last twelve months or so I was quite surprised to note how close the order numbers were, I assume this equates to not that much being sold in the UK at least and this was before recent increases.

 

[Tommy]

I think there's the risk that the arse could drop out of the Asian market though. Fashion is fickle.

I can only hope they've got a long term strategy that acknowledges this or hopefully intend to freeze prices at some stage.

 

[John Lever]

https://www.eastmanleather.com/type...in-2nd-p-486.html?osCsid=38156ae7c1d9f91d34a5

 

[silvio76]

https://www.eastmanleather.com/type...in-2nd-p-486.html?osCsid=38156ae7c1d9f91d34a5

Another too expensive (for most of us) jacket. For this amount of money i can buy well preserved original.

 

[Lebowski]

Why Eastman's sleeve ends (wrists) are so snug?
Look at the direct comparison with the original A-2 into the link showed above. The noticeable difference between repro and original sleeve end areas is obvious.
It makes the jacket inconvenient to put on/take off, apart from it isn't contract/historically correct.

 

[A2 B3au]

No, I think its very new, like the RW23380... Sure they will be at the pop up, but 'no touch'. When I asked Gary if I could try on the Dubow, at Duxford... you should have seen his face! Of course I knew it would be no, but was fun to ask.
Yes, I could never buy another ELC at these prices. Too bad.

Are u serious surely that's the point of the pop up shop for me anyhow

 

[bn1966]

Prices are getting eye-watering, thankfully I think the 5 ELC jackets I've got will keep me going for a while....can't see any more purchases on the horizon.