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Not just another GW post

gomez

New Member
I’m relatively new to being an A-2 aficionado and have been watching a lot of you guys snatching up and talking up Goodwears like there's no tomorrow. So much emphasis about how great these repros are that I’m getting the impression nothing else really matters anymore. Aero is ok but not so accurate, RMNZ admired but possibly not as real looking, Lost Worlds is too heavy in more ways than one [is that dude for real?], Eastman needs help with something- maybe the workers should all exchange eyeglasses with one another in order they can’t sew as laser straight. Truly, does anything, including pricey BR and other Japanese brands hold a candle to GW, even if they tried? BTW, my ‘collection’ of top-line A-2’s consists of one ELC Werber, which I happen to like very much, but I’m more interested in collecting a variety of very well made jackets from a range of sources than the highlander approach- “There can be only one”. Thats not to say I wouldn't like at least one GW, just that I’d like to see some healthy competition in this arena. Sorry if I've overstepped my bounds, it’s just an opinion.

Mike
 

jacketimp

New Member
gomez said:
I’m relatively new to being an A-2 aficionado and have been watching a lot of you guys snatching up and talking up Goodwears like there's no tomorrow. So much emphasis about how great these repros are that I’m getting the impression nothing else really matters anymore. Aero is ok but not so accurate, RMNZ admired but possibly not as real looking, Lost Worlds is too heavy in more ways than one [is that dude for real?], Eastman needs help with something- maybe the workers should all exchange eyeglasses with one another in order they can’t sew as laser straight. Truly, does anything, including pricey BR and other Japanese brands hold a candle to GW, even if they tried? BTW, my ‘collection’ of top-line A-2’s consists of one ELC Werber, which I happen to like very much, but I’m more interested in collecting a variety of very well made jackets from a range of sources than the highlander approach- “There can be only one”. Thats not to say I wouldn't like at least one GW, just that I’d like to see some healthy competition in this arena. Sorry if I've overstepped my bounds, it’s just an opinion.

Mike


nice to be your own man.

respect due,

imp
 

Chandler

Well-Known Member
gomez said:
BTW, my ‘collection’ of top-line A-2’s consists of one ELC Werber, which I happen to like very much

Gawd forbid!! ;)

Thats not to say I wouldn't like at least one GW, just that I’d like to see some healthy competition in this arena. Sorry if I've overstepped my bounds, it’s just an opinion.

No apologies necessary, you summed everything up on your own right there.

Chandler
 

269sqnhudson

Active Member
i'm reposting this as it didn't come up first time for some reason but it may duplicate:

gomez said:
Eastman needs help with something- maybe the workers should all exchange eyeglasses with one another in order they can’t sew as laser straight.

This whole thing is really starting to bug me (not your fault gomez, just a general thing). sewing straight is a GOOOOOD thing surely? I like stuff that's made by people who know how to make stuff. Maybe some stuff in WWII wasn't made that well because people were overworked, tired or poorly trained but surely not all of it! I've got loads and loads and loads of military garb that's sewn straight, especially from WWII and even eastern bloc rubbish from the 60s-80s. Is this nonsense just a way of jacket owners coming to terms with something that's flawed, a kind of group denial?
This whole thing has come up since GW started. Now I have no idea if GW jackets are sewn straight or not but it seams ( :p ) like this whole bollocks started at the same time as people started getting GWs.

It's completely silly, it really is.
 

CSG

Member
Having seen nothing but photos of John's GW jackets, I think the respect he's getting is for the dedication and accuracy of his work. I've talked to him twice on the phone and get the impression, busy as he is, he would spend the day with me talking about jackets. He also takes the time to explain and image his jackets on the website and none of the other makers do that. I cannot buy something from Aero or Eastman based on their small single photo of one of their jackets. With Goodwear, you know pretty much that you're going to get a clone of an original. GW, has reverse engineered all the jackets he's made from what others have said.

I asked him if he had any idea what jacket Chuck Yeager was wearing in a certain photo with Jack Ridley in front of the Bell X-1 and he gave me tons of info about it. He's a walking encyclopedia.

For the replica buyer, it seems as though John has changed the equation as to high quality and accurate A2's. Even Dave at Gibson & Barnes speaks very highly of him and says if you need certain things, go to GW not G&B.
 

Clark J

Well-Known Member
Here's my 2 cents,I've owned at least 1 A-2 of every top end maker(except BR-to small)and I think the problem is perception i.e. if a company makes a repo it's going to be correct,a perfect copy.But I think JC. is the only one out there making a "true repo"the other makers are just making a facsimily,a very correct one but not a true repo.JC is indeed truly nuts when it come to jackets no one person should know that much.I don't have that much A-2 knowledge to know if something is perfectly correct,I just look at pictures from WW2 and say "ya that looks close enough for me".Sure all of us here would love to own a mint WW2 production A-2 but for us "bigger"guys it ain't going to happen especially when they run into the thousands if you find one that fits.I have 2 Eastmans 2 GWs and 1 US Authentic and I like and wear them all,But I can say If I had my new goat GW the first time around I don't think I would have had any desire to buy another A-2 not that it's the end all jacket it just has everything I was looking for,correctness,nice hide and it fits perfect and that my be just due to the pattern...but it's great.So if you are that guy looking to take that one shot at a truly custom made top end A-2 I would buy from JC.
 

gomez

New Member
Lest I be misunderstood, my hat is off to John Chapman for being an apparent master of his art. My only reservation [again, from my perspective] is the relative obscuration of what seem to be very interesting other brands around the world. I would love to see ELC [and HPA] and several others become more proactive on their websites and generally speaking, make shit happen . Personally, I'd really like see more of the so called fanatical Japanese repros up close and personal as well. I realize that being newer to this much more is going to be interesting to me. I can well understand why experienced collectors would flock to GW if they're getting what they're after.

Mike
 

fishmeok

Well-Known Member
This is my take on it- Goodwear is ONE man with one sewing machine who taught himself how to make A-2's as authentically as possible, based on obsessive collecting and cataloging. The patterns he has made are as true to the originals as possible, and he has done a tremendous amount of work sourcing hides, fasteners, zippers, he hand dyes the linings and knits to match originals, etc.
I know from personal experience how difficult it is to make a jacket (see my other threads), or even a patterns, which increases my admiration for his work considerably.

The other repro makers all make fantastic jackets, but they have either enlarged parts of the pattern or made other changes that make them look like modern mass-produced jackets (I've never seen a Japanese repro in the flesh, but I have owned or handled the others, so Japanese repro's I have no official opinion on :D) . A lot of this has to do with how obsessive you are about this whole thing, most people wouldn't know the difference- but the more you look at the cut of the originals, the more you see it.

Also customer service. John will take the time to talk about every little detail, history, contract, etc. Because he truly enjoys his work and has found his own jacket nerd (as my wife calls us) nirvana. plus he has the best website hands down.

That's what I think, anyway.
Cheers
Mark
 

dadgad

Member
I feel the need to chime in, I recently got a GW A2 and I compared it to my only other A2 that is an Aero repro, my final word is and I talked about this in a comprehensive way with John, that my Aero beats that peculiar GW 10-0 but this is just my opinion based on one single comparison and I'm sure that there are dozens of you ready to say the polar opposite.
 

CBI

Well-Known Member
I love pasta with sauce however I only like one particular brand of tomato sauce. I am just not interested in any other pasta sauce. Too me, every other brand just doesn’t quite get it right. So, I never buy any other brands and when I go out, I never go to any Italian places because I just know their sauces are going to be a little “off”. Don’t get me wrong, I have tried most all of the sauces out there and I just like this one brand (this brand does offer different flavors – spicy, basil, etc.)

Or ………… I love pasta with all types and brands of sauce on it. I enjoy the varieties even within the tomato sauces. I do have favorites but I like to vary things and enjoy as many types as I can.

Insert A-2 jackets or virtually anything else in the world for “sauce”. The more one likes, the better off one is.

I have/have had GW’s, Aero’s and ELC as well as originals. I like them all pretty much equally for the same as well as different reasons. All of the back and forth is informative and fun until it gets heated. They are just jackets.

Many thanks to anyone who takes the time to want and actually make/sell cool looking flight jackets!
 

gomez

New Member
Nah, Its just me, gomez. An east coast transplant to the Great Southwest. A commercial pilot, done most of it, now fly corporate and I love it. While I'm a bonafide airplane nut I didn't pay a lot of attention to A-2's, except they looked cool in old war movies. I think they wore them on 12:00 O'Clock High, the TV show which I loved as a kid. Yeah, that dates me to 50 or so. Anyway, it gets awfully cold on the ramp during winter mornings in the desert and I was looking to a uniform look for me and my compadres. Instead of a rag-tag assembly of ski jackets and such I reasoned A-2's with or without sweaters would look and feel a whole lot better until we got our engines running. That started me on FL learning what I could and buying Coopers and such on Ebay. Coopers didn't cut it and now I'm a jacket nerd like the rest of you nutcases.
 

jacketimp

New Member
gomez said:
Lest I be misunderstood, my hat is off to John Chapman for being an apparent master of his art. My only reservation [again, from my perspective] is the relative obscuration of what seem to be very interesting other brands around the world. I would love to see ELC [and HPA] and several others become more proactive on their websites and generally speaking, make sh*t happen . Personally, I'd really like see more of the so called fanatical Japanese repros up close and personal as well. I realize that being newer to this much more is going to be interesting to me. I can well understand why experienced collectors would flock to GW if they're getting what they're after.

Mike


that's cool..........not all experienced collectors are ga ga Gw
 
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