Wants some options about Bill Kelso's "house A2"

[zhz]

Hi Guys, any of you own a steerhide Bill Kelso's house A2? I am very interested in this jacket now, but the steerhide is a bit bothers me, so I want to know the quality of their steerhide, and is it worth to buy it? Or I should wait until the horsehide version. Thank you.

 

[Grayland]

I owned a BK House A-2, but bought a few years ago when they were made of horsehide. I sold it as I'm just not an A-2 guy, but it was very well made and the fit was wonderful. The key is fit and if it fits great, then it will look great on you and you'll love it regardless of the hide choice.

 

[zhz]

Thanks Grayland, that helps a lot.

 

[Sloan1874]

Anyone noticed that BK's affiliate thread has been locked btw?

 

[zhz]

Does it? I didnt noticed...Whats happend?

 

[Sloan1874]

I guess they didn't to continue the financial outlay. I had noticed that Andy hadn't posted on it with any great regularity of late. I think it requires quite a bit of time and effort to make it work and get a return on your investment.

 

[zhz]

yes, I think so too. replying all post isnt that easy I suppose.

 

[Sloan1874]

Carrie at Thurston invests a lot of time and effort into making it an effective shop front - lots of pics, info and interaction, no flannel.

 

[L'Onset]

Hello zhz. I own a horsehide one bought four years ago. I agree with Grayland about the fit, its great. The color is russet brown, it wasn't easy to decide whether russet or seal, when a special sale on ebay (from Bill Kelso, new with tags, no second hand) helped me to go for it: russet brown, my size, $ 250 (plus shipping) -while the shop price was at that time about € 300 (plus shipping)-.

It may not be a faithful repro of an existing contract, but, although I'm not an expert, I believe it has got all the essential features of the period, and, over all, I'm really happy with the fit. Is my every day jacket for spring and autumn and many warm winter days. The only drawback I find is that since I have this jacket I wear my sportcoats much less.

 

[Edward]

I imagine it really needs somebody who has a full-time admin / marketing brief to keep content up to date. I remember when we published an academic book through OUP a few years ago we discussed the idea of acompanion website but didn't do it because something of that nature which is rarely updated looks worse than not having one. Vibe I was getting was that BK was more popular over in VLJ than round here (second -hand knowledge - I'm not on there myself), so if they're dropping their thread on here they've likely decided to concentrate on selling there. I'd like to see them add some of their civilian jackets to the website; Andy did post a bunch of interesting photos to that thread, but the website has never changed since the introduction of the contract repro A2s some time ago.

In terms of the house A2s, they've always looked to be a (relatively) cheap way of getting a nice jacket with a period look. I wouldn't necessarily be put off by steerhide for an A2. No-one will know the difference in the look, and it seems that Gary Eastman has proven (as far as we can) that steerhidewas used all along in the originals, if that's an issue to you. FWIW, I did nearly buy one when they were on sale acouple of years ago. I wasn't worried about full on accuracy, just a 'period correct feel' (using it as a civilian jacket, so). They seemed to fit the bill. I did email with Andy about it, but they didn't have my size. He did offer me a 40 that was apparently the sizeof a 42, but I wasn't sure whether 42 or 44 was for me, so I ended up leaving it. TBH, the marketing of the new hides they were getting in at the time pushed so hard on how superior they were to the old hides, that kinda put me off too. Never handled either, though.

 

[zhz]

Thanks L'Onset, I think the house A2 is a very good repro in terms of shape etc. But it is 400 euro now, so I am start thinking if it is worth this amount of money. Or may be I just need to wait for their sale if there will be one? btw, I can't find their ebay store, could you direct me to that? Thank you.

 

[zhz]

Thanks Edward. I know that Eastman has proven the use of steerhide. And I think their house A2 is a very good repro as well. What I am not sure is the quality of this hide, as some one told me that their horse hide is relatively thin, so I wonder if they are using the thin steerhide on this jacket as well, I believe steerhide is cheaper than horsehide, so isnt it reasonable to expect that a steerhide jacket use better leather than its horsehide version? especially the price is even higher now.

 

[zhz]

I just released that the Bill Kelso's "house" A2 will cost me like £370 (jacket+shipping) now, I think I may consider the Aero Leather's Bronco W535AC29191, which is £490.

 

[L'Onset]

I'm afraid there isn't any ebay store, just once in a while Andy goes out and offers items under the "billkelso" name with his sales email contact.
That's the link to the thread where my jacket and other russet ones are posted: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?54763-Bill-Kelso-A2-Jacket&highlight=Bill+Kelso

 

[Edward]

I just released that the Bill Kelso's "house" A2 will cost me like £370 (jacket+shipping) now, I think I may consider the Aero Leather's Bronco W535AC29191, which is £490.

It's amazing how prices have gone up across the sector in recent years. When I first looked at A2s, Aero's Read Deal was three hundred, and the BK House model about the same, once you added shipping. Eep!

 

[zhz]

Thanks, they look really great.

 

[zhz]

Yes, the price is really high now. But I am wonder is Aero's A2 as good as BK?

 

[Edward]

Yes, the price is really high now. But I am wonder is Aero's A2 as good as BK?

Personal opinion, really. In terms of hides, afaik the BK goat is thinner than Aero use, which is closer to surviving originals. Aero have also very slightly tweaked the way they make the wrist knits. This is a plus for me (at least by comparison to my experience with original-design ELC knits) as the Aero ones stay in shape and don't stretch out the way the original style do. You have to really look for the difference. That said, you may want to have the exact original design, just because that's what it is. Personal preference.

Aero were traidiotnally considered to be a little less accurate in their cuts than some of the competition, though afaik since Ken got more invovled again they've been revamping a number of the A2 patterns, so I don't know what's changed on that front since.

 

[zhz]

Thanks, Edward, I think I will go for BK since it's more accurate, and seems like the bk has a shorter waiting time than aero.