A2 Jacket: Rough Wear 1401P

[scotrace]

This jacket is now about 7 months old. The order was placed with Hisory Preservation Associates on February 23 '06, and it arrived at my door July 5, '06. This was made by Eastman Leather Clothing of UK.

I know several of you are jacket shopping and collecting images of jackets, hides, etc. I hope this is helpful.

Here's the label:

This kind of soiling around the collar on the lining seems to be inevitable. I always wear this jacket with collared shirts (and usually with a scarf). The wool lining is just very absorbent.

Collar. This has seen a few hot water treatments and is much, much softer than it looks.

Rough Wear, as a manufacturer of military A2 jackets, was somewhat well known for the use of collar stands. The collar stand is the strip of leather running around the back of the collar. I wanted a jacket with a collar stand because I just like the look.

The pockets are not breaking in very quickly. Sort of relentlessly smooth. They hold a wallet, cell phone or small Moleskine perfectly. The color in these photos reflects the russet horsehide very accuratley on my screen.

This jacket is very well made indeed. No puckers anywhere where knits join the leather. This assembly, I'm sure, isn't easy to do well.

Talon zip. Please don't burst my bubble by telling me it isn't original wartime manufacture.

I wear this in the rain when I can. The hide has never been really stiff (as the Aero Front Quarter hide is, by comparison), but it's quite soft now.

More to follow.

 

[Feraud]

Beautiful! I love everything about it.
I hope my future A2 looks that good.

 

[scotrace]

The knits at the wrist take a little care. This is one of those areas where dead accuracy is a problem. Never pull off the sleeve by grabbing the knit, always grip the leather behind it before tugging. I've had to pull some stray threads back into place anyway.

How does it fit? Well, it's a 48, which I was a year ago. I'm now a 44 or so.

I'm swimming in it!

I also have to agree with BellyTank (and other members) that Eastman's tends to be loose anyway. My shoulders are the same width and as you can see there's a ton of droop.

 

[Feraud]

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This picture should be your avatar!!
Who wouldn't follow this guy into combat?

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Awesome jacket

Scott,

That is a great jacket and a great look for you. I love Horsehide, as you know, and this one is particularly nice.

Great purchase, My Friend.

 

[fedoralover]

Wow! Now that's a jacket! I love the color and hope mine will be close to yours. I am curious though, that seems like a long wait time, is that typical for an Eastman or were there other factors involved at the time you ordered?

fedoralover

 

[scotrace]

HPA quoted "6 to 8 weeks." The jacket took nine, and then was stuck at the US Customs House in Charleston, SC, for the remaing wait. Maddening! They don't do email, so it was a long-distance call every time I called to check (about once a week after week 9). After I had the jacket, they called to make sure it was OK, and to apologize for the long delivery time.

Honestly, if I were to get another Eastman (and that new Werber in the War Horse hide would be tempting), I'd try to press a UK friend into helping me get it directly from the UK and avoid HPA altogether.

I don't know if I'll ever be in a position to order a new jacket again, but Aero would be next up for sure. I know Mark Moye would come through in all respects and the Real Deal A2 has held my interest from day one of searching.

 

[fedoralover]

I don't know if I'll ever be in a position to order a new jacket again, but Aero would be next up for sure. I know Mark Moye would come through in all respects and the Real Deal A2 has held my interest from day one of searching.

Hopefully I should get my Aero Real Deal by the end of March, I'll let you know my honest appraisel of if when it comes. Honestly though, yours is such a beauty, I don't know how you'd have time to break in another jacket.

fedoralover

 

[aswatland]

Great pictures of the ELC 1401p. It is very accurate, apart from the zip, which on originals was a Crown. I own an original 1401 and the horse hide is thinner than on many originals and I believe ELC has used a thinner hide for their repros.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Very nice horse hide Scott.

Well worth the wait too,...eh?
For the sake of comparison for those that are still looking for an A2 or 2 or 3. Here's a few pics of my U.S. Authentic horse. (No cigar pics though, I don't smoke. )

The pocket flaps are broken in nicely and I don't put anything in them really, and I never did the hot water thing. I just got this texture that developed naturally.

Here is a closer view of the textures that have been popping out over the last year.

 

[A2_Junkie]

Additional shots from my 1401P

Hey scotrace,

Thanks for posting the pics. It looks like we have the same jacket and have used it for about the same time. I ordered my 1401P through HPA as well. I also had a frustrating experience working through them and would prefer to order any future Eastman gear through a UK middleman. Hopefully Eastman will figure out that they don't need a US distributor soon and get rid of HPA.

At the risk of doing a "me too", I couldn't resist taking some shots of my A-2 to show wear. It looks like we're seeing similar break-in. I received mine in May of 2006. Of course, I wore it whenever I could in the Spring and then as soon as possible in the fall. I wear it every day now in the winter. It has some small scratches in the leather here and there. Also, there is some wear on the edges. The sleeves are breaking in nicely. BTW, note that the color of both scotrace's and mine are more brown than what is reviewed on ACME DEPOT http://www.acmedepot.com/a2jacket/eval_ELCrw1401.shtml. I believe that Eastman has fixed the red appearance of the leather.

Here is the right sleeve, showing some good break-in. It's breaking in differently from the left:

Here is the left sleeve:

I'm seeing the same stains around the inside of the collar. Also, here is the underside of the collar, showing the collar stand and the fasteners:

And just for grins, here is are the labels inside the front pockets. scotrace, what numbers are on yours?

-Peter

 

[JRaptor]

Hey scotrace,

Thanks for posting the pics. It looks like we have the same jacket and have used it for about the same time. I ordered my 1401P through HPA as well. I also had a frustrating experience working through them and would prefer to order any future Eastman gear through a UK middleman. Hopefully Eastman will figure out that they don't need a US distributor soon and get rid of HPA.

At the risk of doing a "me too", I couldn't resist taking some shots of my A-2 to show wear. It looks like we're seeing similar break-in. I received mine in May of 2006. Of course, I wore it whenever I could in the Spring and then as soon as possible in the fall. I wear it every day now in the winter. It has some small scratches in the leather here and there. Also, there is some wear on the edges. The sleeves are breaking in nicely. BTW, note that the color of both scotrace's and mine are more brown than what is reviewed on ACME DEPOT http://www.acmedepot.com/a2jacket/eval_ELCrw1401.shtml. I believe that Eastman has fixed the red appearance of the leather.-Peter

Fixed the color???? There where at one time two different variants of the RW 1401-P from ELC mine being the the caramel colored one that HPA called mustang hide, much different than the one's you guys are showing and it is even more grainy in spots than the new War Horse they are offering from what I can tell! Gary only had a small lot of these caramel colored grainy hides and I guess I was one of the lucky few to get one! From what I understand this caramel hide is very correct to some original 1401-P's!

As for HPA, a side from the long distance phone call I have never had any problems with them.... in fact I find Charles is a pleasure to talk to and he is very knowledgeable!

Here is a thread with a few pic's of mine.
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=15328

And one other pic I had.... my camera sucks and so do my photography skills!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Has the back faded?
HD

 

[Feraud]

I just want to let you all know how envious I am of your great looking jackets. I am ruining my eyes staring at the computer screen!

 

[JRaptor]

Has the back faded?
HD

I wouldn't call it faded rather than a lighter shade, I have seen originals like this and I like it, Also I think that this jacket is very very similar to Jimmy Stewart's 1401-P that resides at the United States Air Force Museum right here in my home town of Dayton, OH except for the talon zip!

 

[JRaptor]

Wow! Now that's a jacket! I love the color and hope mine will be close to yours. I am curious though, that seems like a long wait time, is that typical for an Eastman or were there other factors involved at the time you ordered?

fedoralover

I think any jacket that can be gotten from Gary Eastman is well worth the wait. If you want the best than sometimes you have to wait as these jackets are truly hand made one at a time by one skilled craftsman and IMHO are in a class all there own!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

The best? That may be very debatable,you know.
HD

 

[JRaptor]

The best? That may be very debatable,you know.
HD

Yes it may be and will and has, but as I said it is just my opinion and I am entitled to that!

 

[greyhound68]

Scott,
Great looking jacket. I know what you mean about losing weight and then the jacket doesn't fit. But you can always sell that and get another one. Hey what cigar were you smoking? I like CAOs when walking the dogs and wearing my flight jackets.

 

[scotrace]

Original 1401P

The Jimmy Stewart jacket.