Korean Avirex

[Imahomer]

Just a quick question for those who know...

Is there a real difference between the Korean made Avirex of about 20 years ago and what Avirex currently puts out?

 

[johnnyjohnny]

mE again

sorry to keep being the one to answer your questions iMa...

but the military jacket avirex today is like the george bush of next year...out of office...no more, defunct...

the company avirex was sold, and the larger avirex no longer makes mil jackets, but relegates that to their cockpitusa division, run by jeff and jacky clyman (the owners who ran, and then sold, avirex)...avirex, the umbrella company, makes trendeee kid and raPPer style stuff

the cockpitusa stuff has changed dramatically from most of the old avirex stuff...originally jeff and jacky clyman worked with the military to bring back the venerable a-2 jacket according to a combo of ww2 styling and the new (read 80s) mil specs of the time...that was a faBuLous jacket...but then they diverged into making their jackets nOt according to milspecs, and not even in the usa (korea instead), and the company was no longer respected for their mil jackets

however, the new cockpitusa, from inspecting their line, and buying their jackets personally, has clearly gone 'authentic', to use a word from another post we both were on...

the jackets they make today are all either current milspec, or even former (read stricter) milspec...the best (and yes, i'm selling one of these, a size 46) being a milspec horsehide jacket made to the milspecs of their first, 1980s, a-2 jacket...if anyone's interested in my almost unworn horsehide cockpitusa, it's totally milspec, made from natural death u.s. horse hide, and has a milspec fit that makes this 46 fit like a 44

but today's cockpitusa makes wonderful jackets, and very authentic...if you want to save some money go to the least expensive seller of their items, the link is:

http://www.flyingtigerssurplus.com/c-2-p-1037-id-2.html

legendaryusa.com and acejackets.com sell cockpit pretty inexpensively, but flyingtigerssurplus is the lowest price i believe

good luck

 

[Imahomer]

Yikes!!

So, I believe what you're saying is "yes" there is an authenticity difference between the Korean Avirex of twenty years ago and the USA jacket of today. I assume that since it wasn't mentioned, there isn't much difference in the quality.

 

[johnnyjohnny]

...and mOre...

hi iMa...

aside from the 'quality' difference, and the fact that the korean avirex were so wrong vis a vis the milspecs, especially on having the multi-piece backs, just the concept is disturbing, of getting a korean-made jacket that is a u.s. military creation, and would never ever be made by a foreign power

cooper may not be the best a-2 out there, for sure, but at least they are the real deal...but the current cockpitusa’s are very nice, especially at the prices of flyingtigerssurplus.com

be interesting to know what you decide to get

best, johnnyjohnny

 

[Imahomer]

hi iMa...

aside from the 'quality' difference, and the fact that the korean avirex were so wrong vis a vis the milspecs, especially on having the multi-piece backs, just the concept is disturbing, of getting a korean-made jacket that is a u.s. military creation, and would never ever be made by a foreign power

cooper may not be the best a-2 out there, for sure, but at least they are the real deal...but the current cockpitusa’s are very nice, especially at the prices of flyingtigerssurplus.com

be interesting to know what you decide to get

best, johnnyjohnny

Thanks for the information. Actually I was looking at a Korean made that looks pretty good and has a one piece back. However, your comment about a korean-made jacket representing a u.s. military creation, hit home for me.

 

[johnnyjohnny]

cRazeeeeee

yes, i've gone a bit crazy on fedLounge before about buying u.s. military jackets made by foreign countries...

i have a suPerb, really amazing, sporty's horsehide a-2 from about 10 years ago...this lead me to buy another one recently...a g-2...when i got it, it was very nice, but made in pakistan...

i blew a fuse, the idea of a u.s. mil jacket (even one like the g-2 that was never officially issued) being made by a foreign country...i fulminated quite a bit on this forum

i can certainly accept brit, and foreign maker, replications of high end, proper, historically correct (for the most part) PaST issue u.s. mil jackets...but for current issue product, why not get u.s. milspec made by the only companies that are accepted as providers to the u.s. govt...meaning u.s. makers?

there is no reason to do anything but, in my opinion...in fact, you can trace the demise of the old avirex from when they started to outsource to korea...even though some of those jackets are nice, and are even milspec correct, the one milspec requirement that is most important is that it be made by u.s. suppliers...

hey, why not get a cockpitusa horsehide a-2

 

[Imahomer]

PM sent.