Scandalous!: Nylon Better than Leather for Wearing?

[tropicalbob]

here's the deal for me also, where I live in the mid-south, it seems that practically NO ONE wears jackets ...........period................until it gets really cold. Light jacket weather, you see VERY few jacket wearers around here. I mean ANY type pf jacket. So, jackets for coolish temps don't get worn by the general public in these parts. It's weird but I notice this. Wearing anything like an A-2 or G-1 just looks strange when everyone around is wearing shirts (frequently short sleeve) or maybe a fleece pullover (at the most) in cold weather. It takes the weather to get down to maybe 40 degrees before the jackets come out. At that point, it's the cloth stuff for me! Seen this here for 20 years! Only exceptions are folks doing outdoorsy stuff.

Even worse down here. On a rare cool day downtown Miami looks like a medieval village: nothing but hoodies.

 

[bn1966]

Even worse down here. On a rare cool day downtown Miami looks like a medieval village: nothing but hoodies.

In the Town I live in, a lot of people only wear Sportwear...some days the centre looks like an add for the 'Sports Direct' Store..lazy dressing IMHO for many..mind we get some people that go shopping in their 'night-wear'!!!!!!!!

 

[TXFlyGuy]

Going to visit Titan Aircraft in Ohio tomorrow to check on my Mustang. Trying to decide...the Vintage B-15, or the CWU-45P? They are both warmer than any of my G-1's or A-2's.

 

[GHT]

..mind we get some people that go shopping in their 'night-wear'!!!!!!!!

I saw the photo in the newspapers. How interesting that would be if a shopper slept in the buff?

 

[Monitor]

What's the right colour to get Alpha CWU 45 in?

 

[TXFlyGuy]

What's the right colour to get Alpha CWU 45 in?

1. Sage
2. Black

 

[Stand By]

I was thinking more about this thread on Sunday as I was doing the household stuff and, of course, in your neck of the woods, Nick, a nylon jacket makes all the sense in the world and I think it's natural to be opting for nylon over leather! An L2/L2-A is the perfect weight and choice for California's climate ...
I recall last winter when I was way down on the Pacific coast in Mexico for Christmas and new year (and I took my L2-A and wore it a good few times and it was perfect. My ANJ-3 would have been too warm) my girlfriend was saying wistfully of how great it would be to retire and spend the long winter months down there when we retire (btw, the retirees who do are collectively known as "Snow Birds" who flock down from Canada and migrate back in the Spring) - and I suddenly thought, if we did, of how I'd never need to wear my Irvin or B-3 jackets again!!! I'd only really need an A2 and L2 in my closet ... and I have to say, I didn't relish the idea of that at all! Sounds a bit mad, but I'm that fond of wearing them (and I love winter) ... not that I could admit that out loud to my girlfriend!
But that's me today. Ask me again in 15 years and I may be more open to change my mind after another 15 winters ...? Maybe? Even so, I'll never get rid of the Irvin and B-3! They fit me body and soul too much for that.

 

[Edward]

Ha, true..... I hate the Summer weather, I'd happily swap it out for a month each more of Spring, Winter and Autumn. That said, if I reach my seventies and arthritis kicks in, I might well find a new appreciation of the warmer weather!

Going to try Cockpit for an MA-1 later in the year hopefully, hearing good things about their USA made MA-1. It's not cheap (especially getting it to the UK) but the review TXFlyGuy gave makes me think the quality & fit could be worth the £££££....

Yes, looking at them at the minute, they're about double the price of the Alpha equivalent. I prefer the appointments of the Cockpit version (slash pockets with no flaps in particular), which give it more of a 1962 than a 1972 look. (Shame they don't also do a green-lining version for that mkI MA1 look.) Can't bring myself to shell out the current difference in price, though (US manufacture by itself isn't worth anything to me, so it really is just a small detail thing) - so I'll have to wait a year or two in the hope the pound recovers. Hard to imagine that a mere nine years ago I was buying stuff from the US because the pound was so strong against the dollar it was cheaper than buying the same stuff in the UK, evne with shipping and import taxes! My next nylon is most likely to be an Alpha N3A (but in the Replica Blue, so really an N2A), possibly even an N3B ('A' spec Replica Blue again) if I spy one in a sale. No rush just yet, as another few weeks and we'll be oput of the season for them.

 

[bn1966]

I saw the photo in the newspapers. How interesting that would be if a shopper slept in the buff?

Would depend who she was ;-)

 

[Harris HTM]

I don't wear leather much these days even though I've owned many dozens of leather jackets. I love the idea of them more than the wearing - especially here where they are pretty much unnecessary. I don't generally go out in the rain so waterproofing isn't something I even consider.

Nylon however makes a lot swishing sounds when worn and the MA-1, though nice, makes me look slightly like a neo-Nazi, skin-head since I am six feet two with a buzz cut. I got yelled at by someone in a train about this last year.

Never get that when I'm wearing Harris tweed or a Dickies Eisenhower jacket, my new favorites.

I've been wearing sage alpha ma1s since the early 90s as a teenager. Up until 2013 and with an exception of one year in the army I had my hair till my elbows. Then mother nature gave me the finger and I lost half my hair. Since then I've been shaving my head and though I also wear fred perrys and shermans apart my alphas, I've never been called a nazi, luckily. Having a beard helps a lot I guess.