• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

What is the limit on the price of a repro ?

John Lever

Moderator
With the costs involved in research and development to produce the very high accuracy we demand comes a price. So what would be your maximum ?
I'll go first....the max I have spent or would spend is approximately £1500 ($2500) including import duties.
 

Silver Surfer

Well-Known Member
about 10-12 years ago, in the course of conversation with some other jacket freakers, i posited that the price for high end a-2 and b-3 repros was going to soon reach $1000. my buds laughed their asses off, and unanimously said "aint gonna happen, cause that was then the price of a solid original wwll issue jacket". well, we all know that the prices of repros have far exceeded that threshold, and in many cases have gone beyond the price of a solid wearable original. limit? at this point i can not afford to go any higher then 1k . back in the day when ya bought a repro for $700-$800, and decided to sell it, ya saw appx 1/2+ of the purchase price. not easy to swallow, but acceptable. now, the stakes are higher, and to recoup 1/3 [ on average] of the original $1500 price for a high end repro becomes problematic. at these prices, and as someone recently said to me "we dont really NEED another repro", its best for me to keep it in the afore mentioned 1k range. the current price structure has knocked a lotta guys out of the purchase picture, and recently, some reproduction makers have taken notice by offering "affordable" repros. next stop is 2k for high end repros. ripleys believe or else.
 

Skip

Well-Known Member
Interesting Question John.

I say interesting because about a year ago when I was looking to find a similar jacket that I had when in my 20's (which was an Avirex style, patched to the max with a Russion blood chit on the back) I was prepared to pay a similar price around A$500 or less. In doing some research I bought a US Wings, then discovered this forum, so that got sold for an original M422a picked up secondhand. In the mean time I started discovering things about jackets I never knew, especially A-2's, and then bought a BK Werber (which every now and then makes an appearance here) for approx A$750.

I've since learnt a whole lot more, and a few more jackets later... I've put an order in for a Good Wear at $1500, one jacket will have to go to pay for it, but Johns latest 'weathered' style tipped me over. My lanky frame just won't fit into an original A-2 without either swamping me to get the length, or if correct chest size, showing too much mid riff.

If you'd said when I first started looking that I'd spend $1500 on a leather jacket, I'd have laughed and thought you crazy. For me anyway that's the absolute limit and the thought of it makes my hip pocket quiver, but you can't get jackets with this amount of individuality and character in a 'normal' shop, they're keepers to me.
 

JDAM

Member
I find it all rather bemusing and quite silly.

Anyone who's willing to pay more for a repro than an original is just a victim of designer brand marketing. A Louis Vuitton horsehide handbag to go with your A-2, sir? Pure consumerist fashion victim-mind-boggling-ology.

Original all the way for me. Always has been, always will. Or a quality repro at less the price than an original.

To answer your question: I guess a max in the region of US$7-800 for a quality repro.
 

jack aranda

Member
Like Skip, when I found this forum I learned a LOT about flying jackets, and what did and did not make for a quality repro, and who made them, both varieties. Also, like Skip, I'd gone through a few 'bomber' jackets without really knowing what I was after. Once I'd settled on a GW A-2, met John, waited, and taken delivery, that ended my search for a quality A-2. Cost, about $900 five-six years ago. I drool over other jackets, as do we all, but...I'm done. The market has left me way behind.
 

JDAM

Member
John Lever said:
Some Toys McCoys and RMJ are now $5000

A bargain. The price is limited only by an individuals wealth and desire to have something that somebody does not. I think folk are now buying brand - RMJ, McCoys, Good Wear, whatever - rather than an A-2. Nothing wrong with that per se, I suppose. But if all they wanted was a A-2, they could buy a decent original for 20% of the McCoys or RMJ price. Christ, you could buy a perfect original with art and history to boot for 5k.

I don't get it.
 

MikeyB-17

Well-Known Member
I find it hard to envisage me ever buying another repro jacket brand new. I just don't have that sort of disposable income any more, I never bought an original A-2 because they were over £500 for a good one, now I'm stuffed if I'm paying £1000+ for a repro. Fair play to those who can afford to, I'm not sure I'm interested enough to buy a high end repro even if I had the money these days. I'd rather pick up a used bargain. I prefer to buy a repro so I can wear it-WWII originals are now 70-odd years old, and I wouldn't want to be responsible for damaging what is now an historic item, whereas you can beat the crap out of a repro with impunity. Obviously there are folks who have the kind of money to pay 1000's for repros, especially in Japan, and as long as there are, the manufacturers will produce goods aimed at them-it seems that's the market Eastman are aiming for.
 

John Lever

Moderator
I have always preferred used jackets to new ones. Unfortunately some jackets just never come to the surface in the used market.
 

ButteMT61

Well-Known Member
Like others, I'm now left behind. I've got a lot going on with home addition, children and grandchildren needing help with school, and a parent in need of assistance. I basically dropped off after the last price-hikes by more of the vendors.
At this point, the $1100 mark is likely as high as I'll go again.
Are the jackets I paid that for worth it? I think so. But if I'm honest, I look at them and say "would I now pay $1500+ for the same jacket in a different hide? Answer is no, I can't do it.
So at this point, I'm left to browse the sales/used/vintage boards for a "bargain".
 

a2jacketpatches

Active Member
To answer the question, as little as possible. The only new repro I ever bought was a U.S. Authentic and it suited me just fine. A reasonable look and quality for a little over 400- I look at GW's etc. as works of art and well worth the money, so please don't get me wrong. But a jacket is a jacket to me and not sure if I'd go too much past 600- for any repro. I'm kinda with JDAM on the fashion thing, my Sister-in -law with her 1100- purse, standing next to my wife with her 75- purse, and my other SIL can't tell the difference until the 1st SIL casually lets the price slips out. In a crowded room she seems like the only one who cares and has to educate everyone else just to generate the thought.

I'm a little big for any originals out there at a size 48 most of my life and now 50 I'm sure, so the price for an original to fit me would be right up there with the top repros anyway.
 

jack31916

Well-Known Member
I agree with the guys who more or less stated that the price of a good repro shouldn't exceed the price of a wearable original one. Sometimes it's difficult to find one, big sizes in particular, but a repro will always be a repro no matter what (sort of) jacket or maker it is. My price limit will be somewhere around the 850 USD.

Regards.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I don't think that we should distinguish between repros and leather jackets in general.
A good quality leather jacket will be expensive regardless of whether it is a repro or not.

Also, let's not forget that mint originals are too rare and too expensive.
To wear a wrecked original you bought for 1K over a solid repro does it for some but for others I don't know.

Practically, one could say that repros are better constructed than originals and that should count for something.

I believe we haven't seen yet a repro which is indistinguishable from original (but we 're working on it).

On the other hand, if one vendor offers a good repro for $400 I don't think he would sell too many as the customers will prefer the over 1k repro, due to the thought that more expensive should be better quality. Also, it doesn't make much sense to have to sell 10 jackets to make the same profit the other guy makes by selling 1. (Also need to spend x10 materials which is a pain).

Similarly, if I buy some Toys McCoys jackets for $5k, remove the McCoys tag and replace with BK, and try to sell them for e.g. $3-4k nobody will buy and call me names for hiking the price.

Strange world.
 

ButteMT61

Well-Known Member
PLATON said:
I don't think that we should distinguish between repros and leather jackets in general.
A good quality leather jacket will be expensive regardless of whether it is a repro or not.

SNIP


So, what would your answer to John's question be? Sans the sales pitch and psych analysis?
 

Superfluous

Member
John Lever said:
Some Toys McCoys and RMJ are now $5000

RMC leather jackets do not cost $5,000. Rather, the vast majority of RMC leather jackets are approximately $1,600-2,100 (the B-6 is $3,000). There is an e-bay flipper who doubles the price for those ill-informed shoppers who do not know how to source the jackets from authorized retailers, but anyone can purchase the jackets for half the price listed by the flipper.
 

ButteMT61

Well-Known Member
Superfluous said:
John Lever said:
Some Toys McCoys and RMJ are now $5000

RMC leather jackets do not cost $5,000. Rather, the vast majority of RMC leather jackets are approximately $1,600-2,100 (the B-6 is $3,000). There is an e-bay flipper who doubles the price for those ill-informed shoppers who do not know how to source the jackets from authorized retailers, but anyone can purchase the jackets for half the price listed by the flipper.


Oh well shit - I'll take one of each then! :lol:
 

bseal

Well-Known Member
As long as BK is willing to take my money, I think they should have it. And when I say "it," I mean all of it.
 
Top