Willabee & Ward leather M-65 field jacket

[Guppy]

In the late 80's/early 90's, I had a M-65 field jacket that I loved to wear, and kept for decades until I outgrew it. Around that time, I was an avid reader of Popular Mechanics magazine, and I used to see advertisements for a leather version of this jacket that I wanted very much at the time. I was in high school, and had no money, no credit card, and the jacket was $200, which seemed incredibly expensive to me at the time. I think it would have taken me about a month to earn that much money back then.

For some reason, I thought about them again, a few months ago. I googled a bit for "leather M65 jacket" and found a few examples made by different companies like Cockpit USA, mostly very expensive, $800 or so. I have some expensive leather jackets, but didn't want to spend so much on another, so I kept looking, hoping to find exactly what I remembered.

I set up a saved search on eBay, and a few turned up but they were never quite what I remembered seeing in that ad in PM decades ago.

So finally, last week it occurred to me to google for "leather M-65 field jacket Popular Mechanics" and found the original ad within the top three links:

https://books.google.com/books?id=6...ge&q=willabee and ward leather jacket&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=3...ge&q=willabee and ward leather jacket&f=false

It's just amazing to me how something like this is so easy today. If it weren't for google, I could have spent an afternoon in the stacks of some library going through back issues of PM hoping to find the ad, hoping they still had issues from 20 years ago. This took literally under 30 seconds to find.

Knowing the manufacturer's name made it easy to find one on eBay, and in my size no less:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Willabee-Wa...et-Genuine-Goatskin-L-Lined-VGC-/391075797620

The listing just closed a little bit ago, and by some miracle it stayed under $50, so I'm very happy to have prevailed in the bidding, and am now eagerly awaiting its delivery.

I'm kindof excited to own it, and a little anxious that maybe it'll turn out to be of poor quality. I hope it lives up to my expectations... but when you find something you coveted from afar 22 years ago, it's easy for expectations to grow. For $200 in 1993, which is about $330 in 2015 dollars, it seemed like a fairly expensive jacket, so I hope they were built to good standards with good materials.

I'm wondering -- does anyone here have any experience with Willabee & Ward leather jackets? Were they any good? Or just OK? Or junk... like a lot of the stuff advertised in the back of PM

 

[Seb Lucas]

I remember that ad. I always wanted one in black but I never followed it up. Before the internet it was risky to source items in the USA.

 

[Guppy]

The jacket arrived yesterday, so I'm back today with a review.

Earlier in the day, I was at an Army/Navy store, where I tried on a few real M65 field jackets. I have a 43" chest and normally wear a size L. I have big shoulders and sometimes have to go up to an XL. To my surprise the M65 jackets in L were too big for me. I found that a M fits me much better, almost perfectly, while the L is too long in the sleeves and too loose around my body. This made me a little worried that the one I was about to receive might be too large, as well.

When I got back home, it had been delivered. I opened it and inspected it, and it is in good condition. The jacket has a tag on it saying it was made in Pakistan, and that the outer shell is made from "100% leather". The Popular Mechanics ad said it is made from goatskin, but there's no label on the jacket saying what type of leather the jacket is made from. I've had some good quality leather garments from Pakistan, and some not so good. This one seems decent, for a lighter weight, but not great. I assume it's a split grain leather of some kind. The leather is not heavyweight, but for a light fashion weight leather, it's fine. I personally would have preferred something heavier and more substantial feeling, though, having been spoiled by the quality of my motorcycle jacket. I found the stitching to be well finished.

I went to zip it up, and found that the zipper seems to start a few inches lower from where a mil spec M65 jacket would. It was actually almost too far for my arms to reach -- I had to hunch over a bit and stretch to reach the bottom of the zipper to get it started. The zipper itself is OK quality, but it is just a regular YKK zipper, not like the zippers they used in the old OG-107 jackets with the wire pull and canvas lanyard, which would have been a great touch. The storm flap snaps are nice and have a smooth, gentle feel to them. It doesn't take much force to open them. I think I'd actually prefer snaps that are a little harder to un-do, so they'll stay snapped when fastened. On the bright side, there's little worry that these will pull loose or stretch the leather if put to stress.

There are a total of 8 pockets in the jacket: 2 inside, right and left, which have zippered closures, the four standard front outside pockets that a real M65 jacket has, plus an extra two side handwarmer pockets semi-hidden behind the lower front pockets. This is not part of the design of the classic M65, but it is a brilliant addition to the design, and I really like this feature.

Due to the presence of the inside pockets, there's no provision for installing a removable winter lining -- no buttons to plug in a standard M65 quilted polyester lining. The existing lining appears to be made from rayon, and has some insulation behind it, so it's a jacket more suited for cooler weather. The classic M65 seems a bit more versatile in this regard, as without the lining they're comfortable outer wear in summer, and can be worn in winter weather with the lining down to about freezing, although much below that I prefer a heavier coat. This leather version seems like it'll do nicely down from 60F down to maybe 20F, although that's just an estimate and I obviously haven't had time to put it to the test yet.

The jacket has a bi-swing action back, and this gives it a very roomy feel in the shoulders. My heavy FQHH jackets from Aero feel much more constrained in the shoulders than this jacket. As for the overall fit, it might be a little bit loose on me, but not as loose as the mil spec M65 that I'd tried in Large earlier in the day, and the sleeves are just about the right length, falling to just short of the first knuckle of my thumb, and are roomy. A real M65's sleeves have fold-under flaps that can extend the cuff over the back of the hand to provide some extra cover from the cold. This jacket omits this feature, but whether that's a big deal or not, is a matter for the wearer to decide.

Just as on the original, there are velcro tabs at the collar and sleeve cuffs, and draw strings at the waist and hem to close the jacket up against cold drafts.

There's no zip-hidden hood. The collar is otherwise very similar to the classic M65.

Overall I'd say the jacket is OK for what it is, but could be a whole lot more. I'm probably a bit spoiled by high end leather jackets, and not that impressed by low end jackets generally. For the $46 I paid for this, it's hard to be disappointed. I'd have loved to have been thrilled by it, and it falls a bit short of that, but I have high standards and some of my fault-finding is probably nitpicking.

 

[IXL]

Just enjoy it for what it is: a realized desire from your youth. One probably shouldn't expect the quality to be top-tier, as the product was advertised in Popular Mechanics, of all places. Probably next to an ad for a Ronco glass bottle cutter.

It is pretty cool that you could identify and then actually acquire one, though! Some things about the 21st century really rock.

 

[Guppy]

That's good advice, IXL. The hunt and the find were worthy, even if the prize couldn't match my dreams. It was more than worth it just to find out for myself.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Sounds pretty good to me. Did you say large? what's the pit to pit? The goat is probably a standard 2.2oz goat which may seem light compared to FQHH but for me would be perfect for this kind of jacket. Some of the best goat is sourced from Pakistan; thin, light and very hard wearing. YKK zips are almost fail-proof. I wouldn't want a hood or lining. It's inspired by an M65 but not a repro. There were so many M65 styles back in the day. Post pics.

 

[ProteinNerd]

Nice story and review.
That is very cool you were able to track down and purchase an old coveted jacket....aint the internet great!

 

[Guppy]

I've been meaning to take some pics of me wearing the jacket for Seb Lucas, but haven't had good results with selfies due to lighting. For now, here's the photos from the eBay listing:




I'll post some more when I have some decent ones that are worth looking at.

 

[Malcap]

@Guppy

I just caught your comments on the W&W M-65s. A very nice outline and history in your comments. I as well purchased them about the time you indicated. In fact I purchased three. The first one in brown was fine with a nice soft interior leather. But it had a defect with a problem zipper or snap (It's been awhile). I returned it and they sent me another one. The leather was not as supple as the first version. Then one of the snaps came off and I never bothered to repair it. I also purchased the black version so I have two. Black is basically brand new. Both are in Medium. Actually, I rarely wear them but I will be keeping them. I don't know if we should have them stored in a leather facility for the summer or not. I never bothered. Too late now. I don't know if these are actually goat skin. I noticed they are a bit stiff on the sleeves. My brown one has a little bit of wear around the collar area. A "trick" that I use to preserve these types of leather is to use Lexol which is a leather preservative used for saddles. My old horse back riding days. It contains silicone. But if the jacket you bought from e-Bay is nice, and supple with no wear and no cracks don't bother with it. If I wear mine more often it may soften-up a bit. For your info the cloth versions of the M-65 cost around 180.00. As you mentioned the leather ones form high end stores are between 600.00 and 900.00. I wouldn't spend that much and then worry about damaging them but these can be worn with no concern. Only one problem I ran into. The draw strings are two sets and the lower ones always get caught when driving between the seats or on the handbrake in a car. I actually tied the two sets together in each jacked because they hang down on the bottom. Good Luck with your purchase. You got a good deal.

 

[Guppy]

Malcap, thanks for the info and anecdotes.

Since you said yours are Mediums, I'm wondering how well they fit. Mine's a large, and I think it's OK but maybe a bit big on me. I'm 5'10" with a 43" chest and 37" waist.

 

[Malcap]

I just replied an lost my comments. I'm 5'9" with a 39" waist and 42" chest. My medium epaulettes hangs off the shoulders a little bit. Shoulders are a little wide which I believe is due to the style of jacket. So your may well be the same. Since it's a winter jacket we can just wear sweater underneath. I've worn a suit jacket and tie with no problem. I can shoot some photos if you wish. Maybe my direct email would be better since I don't know when these comments post:
mur.cap@gmail.com

 

[Guppy]

We're pretty close to the same size, then. I bet the Medium would probably fit me better than this Large does.

 

[Malcap]

Based on our little research we have done I would agree. The shoulders have a tendency to be a little wider then expected. But I'm guessing that a nice heavy cable knit sweater would not be out of place in the winter weather. You still got a nice buy. I don't know how to attach the photos I took of the jackets.