ALL REPRO R.A.F. Irvin type jackets

[hamburg]

It is hard to explain in a foreign language, but I'll try. I think I would feel the weight of it's years.
For me the repro has all the original has exept that it wasn't there at that time.

 

[BaggyPants]

I'd wear an original in the blink of an eye, if I could find a nice one to fit a 6ft 2in bloke with a 46 inch chest. It's all right for you skinny short arsed wretches, but finding a big one is fairly tricky. I'll keep looking, but I can't see it happening that soon lol Until then, the Eastman '42 pattern suits me fine

 

[aswatland]

I'd wear an original in the blink of an eye, if I could find a nice one to fit a 6ft 2in bloke with a 46 inch chest. It's all right for you skinny short arsed wretches, but finding a big one is fairly tricky. I'll keep looking, but I can't see it happening that soon lol Until then, the Eastman '42 pattern suits me fine

I agree. There is absolutely no reason why a robust original can't be worn from time to time as long as one is careful with it. I wear all my 10 originals in rotation and have never had any issues with them.

 

[Windsock]

I'd wear an original in the blink of an eye, if I could find a nice one to fit a 6ft 2in bloke with a 46 inch chest. It's all right for you skinny short arsed wretches, but finding a big one is fairly tricky. I'll keep looking, but I can't see it happening that soon lol Until then, the Eastman '42 pattern suits me fine

I'm about the same height and build as you and I find I can easily wear a size 5 and up in originals.

I have 4 (only because I can't decide which I like the most), my Wareings is size labeled 5 and the other unlabelled 3 fit slightly larger so i'm assuming that they are all 6'ers.

I don't however need to wear anything heavy underneath which if I had to would probably exclude the sz 5.

Jackets of this size range are fairly common and in comparison to the prices they were achieving a couple of years ago they are relatively cheap.

 

[aswatland]

Yes prices for originals have fallen a little whilst prices of repros have spiralled in the same time with the latest ELC Irvin costing more than most originals at nearly £700!

 

[BaggyPants]

Oh, I will find one that fits me at some stage. I keep looking

 

[aswatland]

Good luck with your search.

 

[BaggyPants]

Thank you, Andrew. It's one of my tasks for the day to search around the internet for a few minutes in the hope of stumbling across one in a good size. Until that lucky day, I'll wear the bejeezuz out of the ELC '42, which I love to bits. It'll probably look more "original" than an original by the time I find one lol In the meantime, I read and re-read all the information posted by yourself and others in the original irvin thread. You can never have too much information at hand when it comes to authenticating old kit

 

[BaggyPants]

I found this today, from Flight International, 17th December 1977:

So, 33 years ago, the £490 Aviation Leathercraft Irvin copy was £108 uncluding postage! That's inflation for you

 

[John Lever]

I found this today, from Flight International, 17th December 1977:

So, 33 years ago, the £490 Aviation Leathercraft Irvin copy was £108 uncluding postage! That's inflation for you

I have one with the original invoice.

 

[Spitfire]

My very first Irvin was one of these too. Bought in 1977-78.
I later passed it on to my father - and I guesse he still has it.
Will try to post some pics of it, if possible.
I remeber it as a jacket with a "slightly painted" surface.

 

[irvinsuit]

Let's hear it for hooded Irvins...

My view is that it's all down to personal taste and I cannot believe that it would be such a big inconvenience for manufacturers to offer hooded Irvins.
During the war many Irvins were produced without collars or hoods only to have these added later or by a different production facility, therefore it is a time proven solution. If I wasn't skint at the moment I'd probably be asking Will at Aeroleather for a hooded Irvin with the body made from Merino skins and the hood made from a longer fur fleece to give that late war cobbled together look. It's all down to individual taste and not being skint

This has been discussed several times before. Quite simply yellow hooded Irvins will not sell in the numbers conventional ones do and thus for commercial reasons no manufacturer makes them. Most people would not wish to walk down their local high street sporting a yellow hooded jacket! Yes, you can wear them with the hood turned into a collar, but it tends to look lumpy and clumsy.

There are plenty of CC originals out there for those keen to buy one. In general they rarely sell for the same price as a conventional Irvin in similar condition, which speaks volumes. I have owned several such jackets, but have always ended up selling them as they do not have the appeal of the conventional Irvin. Each to his own though.

Perhaps the answer is the Irvin with the snap on collar or yellow hood.

 

[Smithy]

My view is that it's all down to personal taste and I cannot believe that it would be such a big inconvenience for manufacturers to offer hooded Irvins.

The problem as Andrew said is that the demand would not be nearly as great as for regular collared Irvins and this will put a company off spending money to develop patterns and initiate a new pattern jacket. Add to that the additional sheepskin needed which will translate into quite a substantial additional price on top of a jacket which in "normal" form is already not cheap. In the end you can see why they wouldn't consider it financially viable.

I could imagine Aero doing custom jobs (so long as they have a pattern for a CC Irvin or are provided with one) but I don't think you'll ever see a CC Irvin offered in ELC's or Aero's standard offered range.

 

[aswatland]

My view is that it's all down to personal taste and I cannot believe that it would be such a big inconvenience for manufacturers to offer hooded Irvins.
During the war many Irvins were produced without collars or hoods only to have these added later or by a different production facility, therefore it is a time proven solution. If I wasn't skint at the moment I'd probably be asking Will at Aeroleather for a hooded Irvin with the body made from Merino skins and the hood made from a longer fur fleece to give that late war cobbled together look. It's all down to individual taste and not being skint

I would suggest you talk to Gary Eastman and Will at Aero for their views on making a CC jacket. I'm still not sure there is sufficient demand out there for anything other than a few custom jobs.

I am interested to know more about the production of Wartime Irvins. Were they produced by several people on a production line, which seems likely or did one person make the entire jacket? Do you have any information on this?

 

[John Lever]

Will at Aero would probably make one, but be prepared to wait.

 

[Windsock]

I would suggest you talk to Gary Eastman and Will at Aero for their views on making a CC jacket. I'm still not sure there is sufficient demand out there for anything other than a few custom jobs.

I am interested to know more about the production of Wartime Irvins. Were they produced by several people on a production line, which seems likely or did one person make the entire jacket? Do you have any information on this?

Yes, this quote also caught my attention; "During the war many Irvins were produced without collars or hoods only to have these added later or by a different production facility, therefore it is a time proven solution."

ISuit, is this documented fact or your opinion? I'd certainly be grateful it if you could enlighten us. Any dusting off of the murky history of Irvin manufacture would be widely appreciated i'm sure

edit: Just realised i'm merging into Original stuff here- doh! perhaps a response might be best migrated to the Original thread....

 

[irvinsuit]

Hi Andrew, I will follow up on the CC Irvin when the funds are raised.
It won't be this year, but it will certainly happen in the future.
I'm not up to speed on how individual jackets were made by people on production lines, however it would seem logical that one person would cut the skins required from a pattern and send these to a machinist to sew the panels to build a jacket. Swapping people around within the cutting and sewing processes would probably lead to more quality issues in the long run.
My interest in Irvins is part of a wider RAF WW2 interest that I have and in my book collection it is obvious from around 1944 that in some cases the bodies of the jackets were made from different fleece than the collars and hoods. I've seen photos of brown fur lined Irvin bodies with black collars and vice-versa. In addition I've seen CC Irvins with normal short fur lined bodies and "shaggy dog" hoods and vice-versa. I guess that despite the "purist" discussions about the correct fur depth/wool density, in wartime anything was acceptable and despite the name CC Irvin they were issued to all branches of the service as circumstances dictated. And don't the WAAF Nurses look lovely in theirs

I would suggest you talk to Gary Eastman and Will at Aero for their views on making a CC jacket. I'm still not sure there is sufficient demand out there for anything other than a few custom jobs.

I am interested to know more about the production of Wartime Irvins. Were they produced by several people on a production line, which seems likely or did one person make the entire jacket? Do you have any information on this?

 

[aswatland]

Thanks for this Irvinsuit. This production method for Irvins is logical. As far as the different fleece for the collars and the cuffs are concerned it really started in 1941, with Wareings, who used close pile fleece for the collar, cuffs and hem and shaggier fleece for the body. DGL, Robinson and Ensum, Links and IAC also had a similar approach from 1941, but there are plenty of mid War Irvins made from the longer fleeece throughout. I hope you manage to source your repro CC Irvin.

 

[aswatland]

The finish on Irvins

Most makers of repro Irvins have yet to nail the finish 100% as compared with originals. The new ELC jacket comes very close. In the other Irvin thread I have just posted some pics to show the degrees of sheen on three originals in my collection.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?p=1021777#post1021777

 

[John Lever]

44 pattern Time Worn Devon fleece size 42