Eastman - a new direction?

[Sloan1874]

And remove any option of sending it back if it doesn't fit!

 

[Plumbline]

Never been a fan of multiple panel backs .... can see the appeal from a styling perspective but just doesn't do it for me. A bit like multi colour e.g. black and brown ... I think both are sort of marmite things. Some of it may be legacy issues from my motorcycle days when seams were the "weak points" in jackets ....

From research I don't believe that the multi panel back thing was prevailant as a feature in the early 20th century e.g The menlo and associated jackets didn't have multi panel backs. If you look through the various publications there are as many if not more from the early part of the 20th century which had one piece backs e.g. Simmonds Bild, Duroval, leathertogs. Certainly some of the "catalogue" jackets of the 1930's had multi panels as did many childrens jackets ( I suspect to keep costs down) e.g. Hercules, Montgomery Ward but just as many had one piece backs above the halfbelt or even single piece backs without the halfbelt. As far as I can assertain a one piece back has always attracted a higher "value" or perhaps "quality" than a multi piece back with the exception of functional designs e.g. bi-swing back ..... even though the complexity of manufacture is greater on the multi-panel jackets.

There seems to have been a period when rather than a bi-swing back jackets had a single pleat down the middle of the back panel on the jacket ( mid-1930's ) but this seemed to have been a short lived feature and the bi-swing became the flexible offering. It should also be noted that multi panel backs were not an exclusive feature of the 1920's and 1930's indeed many of the top quality manufacturers have produced multi panel backs at many points in their history right into the 50's and beyond e.g. Langlitz "cascade" or the Trojan "401".


HTH

 

[hpalapdog]

I'm on Prot-Nerd's side on this one. I don't think that big seam in the middle of the back is "period correct" or "styling/decor", it's just another way to save a few bucks.

If they want to save a few bucks why choose the more complex and expensive bi-swing back configuration ?

 

[Plumbline]

I was told by a number of reputable players in the industry it's because you don't need such big panels of leather without marks, scars etc ..... and the seam becomes the "weak point" in the panel. It also means that utilisation of a fixed square footage of hide is less and thus the hide cost portion of a jacket goes up whereas the relative increase in assembly cost is not really changed at all.


WEhile I'm sure this was valid in the "old days" I'm not sure the same applies in the modern day as it appears that Aero / Eastman / BK et al are not utilising scraps but rather cutting up a large panel into component pieces and stitching it back together ... which other than the asthetic ... sort of defeats the purpose

I could be wrong but that's just how it appears ..... seems a fashion thing rather than a function thing IMHO

 

[pauleway]

If they want to save a few bucks why choose the more complex and expensive bi-swing back configuration ?

Whatever the consensus is about that Da--ed middle seam, that IS one nice looking jacket!!

 

[ProteinNerd]

Whatever the consensus is about that Da--ed middle seam, that IS one nice looking jacket!!

Despite my criticism of the back, your right, it is a damn nice jacket.

 

[hpalapdog]

I used to own an original Trojan bike jacket. Black with a Police badge holder. The back seam is constructed as an additional articulation point. Difficult to say whether that was a weak point as I never crashed in it !
I didn't have a camera at the time so these is the best images I've found. Stuart Clurman's photos of a 1950s Trojan Panda










http://www.lostworldsinc.com/Trojan_Night_Rider_Motorcycle_Jacket.htm