Goodwear Leathers, the waiting starts...

[Fanch]

I will say my Himel/Chapman "Californian" Ventura is as useful as any jacket I own. It can be dressed up or down to accomodate almost any occasion I might encounter. I wear my Ventura far more often than I do my G&B Model 43 A-2 jacket. If I were faced with a choice between a GW A-2 repro and a Californian Ventura repro, I would have no hesitation going with the latter. I even like the way the Ventura flares at the bottom to accomodate my IPhone that I wear on my belt.

 

[handymike]

Agreed- the Ventura is a great jacket!

 

[Edward]

Honestly i don't even think about it.... The way John does it is pretty good, you put your money down for the spot in the queue, but only start talking design once you get to the end of the line.
That way you don't need to second guess yourself or worry about changing measurements and tastes.
When i put my deposit down i had the Californian in mind, who knows what i might want instead by the end of the year...

It does make sense. I did something similar with Aero at a time - they put me down for an unspecified halfbelt as I was choosing between options, then I finalised the model when I got up there and tried one on the week before my jascket was due to go into production. Course, what I wanted, and turned out it was fine, was fairly straightforward - a Dustbowl back with a Speedster front.

 

[Edward]

I will say my Himel/Chapman "Californian" Ventura is as useful as any jacket I own. It can be dressed up or down to accomodate almost any occasion I might encounter. I wear my Ventura far more often than I do my G&B Model 43 A-2 jacket. If I were faced with a choice between a GW A-2 repro and a Californian Ventura repro, I would have no hesitation going with the latter. I even like the way the Ventura flares at the bottom to accomodate my IPhone that I wear on my belt.

Certainly I got sucked into the high end jacket world by tyhe military repops, but over time I have also found a preference for the non-military designs day to day. I especially like to wear a civilian 30s style with collar and tie - in place of a blazer.

 

[Fanch]

Certainly I got sucked into the high end jacket world by tyhe military repops, but over time I have also found a preference for the non-military designs day to day. I especially like to wear a civilian 30s style with collar and tie - in place of a blazer.

Edward, that has been my exact same experience as well. As much as I love and admire the military jackets, I find that when I pull something from my closet to wear on the fly, rarely is it an A-2. Furthermore, like you, I regularly wear my Mulligan, Maxwell, Ventura, and even my Sheenes with a dress shirt and tie rather than a blazer.

 

[Jägernaut]

There's a beautiful 2.5 oz russet chromexcel ventura on goodwear sale page.

 

[handymike]

It's amazing how using the Horween changes the jacket.