Five Star Leather Jackets

[PilotJens]

There is attention to detail at 5* .They reinforced the pockets and hold up the lining to the shoulders. This is or was depending on how it goes my ill ordered v1 Cossack in russet steer .Man this leather is quite thick in comparison to now .I am not really buying into their this is 1.2 mm and the russet one years ago was 1.4 .The skived edges feel way more similar to my current black one .

 

[Marc mndt]

There is attention to detail at 5* .They reinforced the pockets and hold up the lining to the shoulders. This is or was depending on how it goes my ill ordered v1 Cossack in russet steer .Man this leather is quite thick in comparison to now .I am not really buying into their this is 1.2 mm and the russet one years ago was 1.4 .The skived edges feel way more similar to my current black one .

Why do they use all that fusible interfacing?

 

[ton312]

Why do they use all that fusible interfacing?

Because of thin spots in the hide I’d imagine.

 

[PilotJens]

Freestyle sleeve alterations.
F around and find out lol

 

[PilotJens]

I would say that they look just as bad as before but slimmer lol .2cm curve added to the inside elbow area

 

[ton312]

I would say that they look just as bad as before but slimmer lol .2cm curve added to the inside elbow area

Now imagine if you’d simply purchased a decent jacket….you could’ve skipped this foray into self delusion and HP Lovecraft reanimating. Dont get me wrong, I did it too but I did eventually figure out that spit shining a turd still leaves you with a turd.

 

[PilotJens]

I have bought a Vanson and a schott .It is not the money.I kind of like the hunt or tinkering around.I know it is stupid.
I might buy a aero halfbelt soon .
I just need to be able to test fit or send it back due to the small size 34 . I don't know if they have 34 in stock or offer to take custom back in that size

 

[PilotJens]

I have a Chinese bootmaker that makes now exactly what I need so I still want to find a jacket/clothing maker that can do the same .5* is out of the question now !

 

[Furrowson]

Anyone had any experience with 5* wool? Like the stuff they use in this.

It's indeed their tube sleeves - and squared shoulders - that always look off to me. I've seen a great looking A2 repro of theirs from a post years ago though.

Is such a repro worth it do we think? Some here seem to think quality has slipped.

Is there a verdict on which, if any, of their civilian repros holds up? Some look pretty sketchy.

Sorry if these questions have already been answered. I've read so much of this thread; it's fascinating and never leaves me with any fewer questions

 

[Marc mndt]

Anyone had any experience with 5* wool? Like the stuff they use in this.

It's indeed their tube sleeves - and squared shoulders - that always look off to me. I've seen a great looking A2 repro of theirs from a post years ago though.

Is such a repro worth it do we think? Some here seem to think quality has slipped.

Is there a verdict on which, if any, of their civilian repros holds up? Some look pretty sketchy.

Sorry if these questions have already been answered. I've read so much of this thread; it's fascinating and never leaves me with any fewer questions

Imo, when it comes to their civilian styles 5* is a huge waste of money and resources. What's their hit rate, 1 out of 10 jackets looks and fit ok-ish? That's a $3500 investment for a mediocre jacket at best. Resale value is negligible.

People are better off buying new, second hand or vintage. $3500 gets you the highest end full custom jacket one can think of. Or half a dozen vintage grails. Or 3 or 4 second hand high end jackets.

I would only consider their military shearlings or their 1:1 repros. But even then you have to worry about pattern grading, low quality materials and their lack of understanding of jacket making in general.

 

[El Marro]

Imo, when it comes to their civilian styles 5* is a huge waste of money and resources. What's their hit rate, 1 out of 10 jackets looks and fit ok-ish? That's a $3500 investment for a mediocre jacket at best. Resale value is negligible.

People are better off buying new, second hand or vintage. $3500 gets you the highest end full custom jacket one can think of. Or half a dozen vintage grails. Or 3 or 4 second hand high end jackets.

I would only consider their military shearlings or their 1:1 repros. But even then you have to worry about pattern grading, low quality materials and their lack of understanding of jacket making in general.

I agree with everything you said above but obviously hope springs eternal because people keep trying…

 

[spectre6000]

Receipts for pleats vs. darts. They're darts.
Dictionary: pleat
Dictionary: dart (see definition #5)
Quora for the pop culture usage
And finally, an academic product to tie a bow on it.

On the jacket I posted an image from on the previous page, the darts form a three dimensional curvature to match the base of the thoracic curve in the y-axis with the curvature of the waist in the X-axis. The receipts for that are in the pattern making thread.

Darts on sleeve:

Yes it's cavas, but 2D to 3D doesn't care about material. Darts are one way to get dimension. Different lengths of curves are another (more common) way. In terms of flexibility, they perfectly fine. Over the 5 years I've been wearing this jacket, I never had any issues or noticed they were there until the shape of sleeves in patterns came into my world view as part of this exercise. The center dart is likely intended to be just about at the point of the wearer's elbow (I have short arms, so I come up a bit short).

 

[Aloysius]

No, material does matter, but it seems like you're not going to believe anything anyone has to say about patterning.

 

[Aloysius]

I should repeat that this isn't personal. We have someone joining up every year who absorbs way too much TFL way too fast and then comes up with theories, starts sourcing NOS parts for jackets (while still not sure of what kind of jackets work for him), memorizing tannery names, etc, and often–though not always–assuming the advice and replies from regulars are personal insults.

To be clear, these guys always become normal regulars themselves! It's just a repeated trajectory.

 

[shadowtek]

My first post and thanks for this forum and this thread. I read nearly the entire thing if not all of it actually. I’ve learned a ridiculous amount about leathers, sewing, custom orders, different companies and the passion of many here who share their wisdom.

Having had lots of trash leather jackets I now realize how they are very much like leather furniture(in range, cost, quality, etc) as well as leather boots. I took a gamble on five* just for fun and I’ll share once it shows up but honestly it was just me rolling the dice after basically realizing 5* is gonna be mediocre at best, but the seal brown goat, visky horsehide, maybe the Vegtan crystal brown. Already looking at Aero, Thedi, and several others too as well as some pre-owned.

 

[Aloysius]

As 5* gambling goes, I haven't seen a military shearling from them yet that's turned out badly. The hide seems to be consistently excellent too.

The issue of course is that shearlings are not exactly year round jackets…

 

[Marc mndt]

Yes it's cavas, but 2D to 3D doesn't care about material. Darts are one way to get dimension. Different lengths of curves are another (more common) way. In terms of flexibility, they perfectly fine.

WHY are you trying to reinvent the wheel?

Darts on a sleeve are a very bad idea in the context of leather jackets. The elbow is a point of stress, it bends and therefore stretches constantly. Putting darts at that point will introduce weak spots in a place that needs to be strong and flexible. Poly thread seams are not all that flexible so the thread will eat into the leather. The needle holes will become small cuts over time.

In a century of modern leather jacket design no one used darts to create 3D sleeves, for good reason.

 

[Furrowson]

Imo, when it comes to their civilian styles 5* is a huge waste of money and resources. What's their hit rate, 1 out of 10 jackets looks and fit ok-ish? That's a $3500 investment for a mediocre jacket at best. Resale value is negligible.

People are better off buying new, second hand or vintage. $3500 gets you the highest end full custom jacket one can think of. Or half a dozen vintage grails. Or 3 or 4 second hand high end jackets.

I would only consider their military shearlings or their 1:1 repros. But even then you have to worry about pattern grading, low quality materials and their lack of understanding of jacket making in general.

Thanks for putting that so neatly. It pretty much crystalises the suspicions I had. Maybe if I want a shearling one day i'll go to them. For the rest I'll stick to watching other people's adventures.

The other thing I have to wonder about is how they fair beyond the typical TFL review period, into the 5+ years mark. If they start to fall apart in under a decade even, versus the lifetime of wear you get from better makers it becomes much worse value.

 

[MrProper]

I think darts are good when the curvature cannot be created in any other way. For example, the bulge for the chest of a ladies' jacket (unless you want to work with several pieces). Or if I want to fix something later, e.g. darts on the back of a shirt. I have darts on some jeans and chinos at the knee. But it's more of a visual story than a functional one.
It is of course much easier to work with darts than to design a pattern that creates the curves without darts (for example the Arc 3D models from g-Star)

 

[MrProper]

Thanks for putting that so neatly. It pretty much crystalises the suspicions I had. Maybe if I want a shearling one day i'll go to them. For the rest I'll stick to watching other people's adventures.

The other thing I have to wonder about is how they fair beyond the typical TFL review period, into the 5+ years mark. If they start to fall apart in under a decade even, versus the lifetime of wear you get from better makers it becomes much worse value.

Having had four shearlings from 5* and three from Aero for comparison, I can say that the quality of the shearling from Aero is significantly better. The leather content is almost twice as thick as that of 5*. With the last one (reddish brown) from 5*, the fur was not really dense and this, combined with the length of the wool fibres, made for a warm jacket visually, but it was actually no warmer than a jacket with only 10 mm fleece.
And the shearling from 5* is no longer super cheap either. If you consider that a jacket like this should ideally last a lifetime, it's worth paying twice the price and getting an Aero (or similar).