Another day, another Bill Kelso Dubow 1755

[Justhandguns]

I guess a lot of people are taking shipments from Bill Kelso lately.

I will try to keep this as a short review at the moment, I hope I can make a proper review which pits this Bill Kelso Dubow against the other A-2 jackets that I have owned.

This is what you would expect from the delivery. My jacket was shipped on a Thursday and arrived on the next Tuesday. Relatively small package compared to Eastman and Aero. I placed my order on the 24thOct and the jacket arrived on the 27thNov, i.e. 1 month.

The jacket unfolded, with the tags on there.

This is the full frontal of the jacket, the hide is the newer one that they used, a bit lighter and brownish than on their website. The knits are more on the reddish brown side, but definitely not as red as any of the Aero red. Notice the grains already appearing on the spanking new jacket.

The back side.

As well as the size tag on the left pocket, there is also the Bill Kelso tag on the right side pocket.

Ok, this is me behind the King of Cool. I now regret a little bit of asking them to take 1/2 inch off from the sleeves, but an extra inch on the body seems to do a good job for wearing low rise jeans. I specifically ask for a wartime tight fit look, so, I down size from 40 to 38 to give it a try, so there you go! I am 5'11" at 160lb, slim in every sort of way.

I am pretty surprised that the jacket looks a bit broken in already. I must say, the hide really impresses me a lot. Although I do not own the Warhorse Eastmans, but I have handled them at Duxford not long ago. The Bill Kelso offering looks comparable to the premium offerings from Eastman. I have yet to see the top of the line offerings (i.e. 740euro jackets), but I am quite sure they will be up there in terms of the quality of leather.

I think all in all, a very pleasant experience dealing with Bill Kelso so far. FYI, Andy usually answers his emails late afternoon or in the evenings, European time. The good thing about us within the EU is that there is no extra VAT or custom involved as they are in Greece. I will definitely write a bit more later on during the weekend when I have a bit more time.

 

[too much coffee]

Great looking jacket! I concur with your assessment about the sleeves; however, since you already have "wrinkles" in the sleeves, they do not look too short. I like the fit. Pleasing color combo as well.
Glad BK has really stepped up and are producing terrific looking jackets in a timely manner at a very fair price.
Enjoy your new jacket and wear it in the best of health!

Regards,
coffee

 

[kojax]

nice looking jacket i have one coming in a couple of weeks. bill kelso dubow 1755 size 38 darlk seal horsehide. good luck with your jacket kojax

 

[nick123]

Nice. I am 150 lbs and got an even bigger size than you (40). I'm not sure of the Roughwear fit vs. the Dubow, but I am having a hard time with the upper torso fit. Very tight. I think that maybe the extra length on arms/sleeves I added might have changed the armhole placement in some way?

 

[nice hat dude!]

I must add as nobody else has mentioned I really like the super imposed shot of Steve McQueen's head(haha)

 

[majormajor]

Nice fit, apart from, as you already said, the sleeves

 

[cuthbert]

Another A-2 we can wear,
Another thread, another post,
Another customer well serviced,
Another brand to discover,
Another goat,another horsehide,
Another empty wallet,
Another f'cking tracking number,
Damn, Aero is still late!
Another new jacket to boast,
We Are the Fedora Lounge.

[video=youtube;PUPoZEIU5VI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PUPoZEIU5VI[/video]

 

[St. Valentine]

Aah, cuthbert, you said it!

 

[majormajor]

One issue I have is that you have posted this jacket as a "new" order that you have just received, yet looking at the jacket, it shows definite signs of wear...

The shape of the collar, the throat area, and the indents of the snaps on both collar and flaps suggest a jacket that has a degree of wear.

Another pic also shows a bump on the elbow - another sign of wear.

So do Mssrs Kelso break the jackets in before they ship them??:eeek:

 

[Dr H]

Nice fit, apart from, as you already said, the sleeves

Ditto. For future reference you need another .5-1" on the sleeves, but the rest fits Steve well.

 

[Justhandguns]

One issue I have is that you have posted this jacket as a "new" order that you have just received, yet looking at the jacket, it shows definite signs of wear...

The shape of the collar, the throat area, and the indents of the snaps on both collar and flaps suggest a jacket that has a degree of wear.

Another pic also shows a bump on the elbow - another sign of wear.

So do Mssrs Kelso break the jackets in before they ship them??:eeek:

Ah, well, I wore it for a few hours before I took the pics......
Well, it looks brand new to me, with that distinct smell of new leather, and judging from the knits on the jacket, it should be pretty new, if not brand new. You can never tell these things anyway. If people are happily paying the extra quids for Eastman's Timeworn look, I am happy to have somebody breaking in my jacket in advance for free.

 

[kojax]

looking at your jacket it is bran new. you can tell if it was second hand . now my father has a a-2 jacket now that is timeworn lol

 

[majormajor]

Ah, well, I wore it for a few hours before I took the pics......
Well, it looks brand new to me, with that distinct smell of new leather, and judging from the knits on the jacket, it should be pretty new, if not brand new. You can never tell these things anyway. If people are happily paying the extra quids for Eastman's Timeworn look, I am happy to have somebody breaking in my jacket in advance for free.

Hi JH

I didn't mean it as any kind of critisism. The jacket looks great. But I meant the question seriously. The jacket looks to have had some work on the appearance, and that is no bad thing.

Here is a pic, from another thread, of the collar of a brand new Kelso jacket:

Like any new A2, the collar is stiff, and unnaturally straight looking. Look particularly at the outline of the collar at the back left.

Also, the top of the zip is quite straight, due to the stiffness of the new hide.

Now, compare that with yours:

A far more "broken in" look, with a distinct curve to the outline of the side of the collar. And the top of the zip has a relaxed "worn" look, with bends at the top.

I'm not saying the jacket looks old (I wish folks would read posts properly), but it certainly looks exactly like a jacket that has had hot water treatment. That is the only way to quickly get a collar to look like that, and it would also explain the deeply indented snap buttons and the bump in the elbow.

Again, not a critisism. You yourself said the jacket looked a little "broken in". For Kelso to spend time doing that has to be a good thing

 

[Justhandguns]

majormajor, I know, yes, your are right. Actually, when I first bought my Eastman .50Cal A-2 (Timeworn comes as standard), it also has a nice curled collar and some creasing already. They told me that this is one of the first Dubow 1755 with the new leather (that is why they increased the price by 100euro), maybe that is what you would expect from now on? The colour and the look of my Dubow is different from the other one posted in the VLJ forum, I would like to wait and see if anybody has received one of their Victory hide jacket. I suspect that they will have similar 'treatments' as of my jacket per se'?

 

[kojax]

good morning andy told me whem i placed my order on my dubow 1755 dark seal brown horsehide it told be the leather would be shiny in do time it will wear in . see what happens

 

[andyfalzon]

To end the speculation, none of the leathers used by BK had any kind of treatment. The new premium dark seal horsehide that the jacket pictured above is made of, comes like this from the tannery. It is very pliable and when worked at the sewing machine etc is bent and folded over many times so it retains some creases and wrinkles. That's all. The previous hides are more stiff and behave differently due to different finishing method. The new hide is better in everyway and is bought at much higher price, hence the price increase.

 

[Justhandguns]

To end the speculation, none of the leathers used by BK had any kind of treatment. The new premium dark seal horsehide that the jacket pictured above is made of, comes like this from the tannery. It is very pliable and when worked at the sewing machine etc is bent and folded over many times so it retains some creases and wrinkles. That's all. The previous hides are more stiff and behave differently due to different finishing method. The new hide is better in everyway and is bought at much higher price, hence the price increase.

Haha, there comes Andy!

 

[wild_balls]

Great looking jacket, enjoy!

 

[alec0226]

Love the look of the collar!

 

[MillersCrossing]

Very nice, thanks for the review and the fit looks good to me!