New Eastman Star Sportswear A-2

GregGale said:

Despite the cold weather I've been trying to wear my Star A-2 as much as possible in order to break it in. I also gave it a very gentle shower (it didn't get soaked), and wore it while it dried. As a result of the above, now I have no doubt size 40 is my size, it got much more comfortable in the shoulders and the armpits. Fits like a glove!

However, the sleeves were just right before, and now after some creasing, they got a tad shorter than I imagined. I'm getting a bit worried that maybe I should have ordered a long version with an added inch. Then again, I remembered Brett's photo of Robert Morgan, and found this other one on the internet - looks like this is the way A-2s used to fit tall and thin pilots:

The sleeves of my A-2 is certainly longer than these. I'm also thinking that any added length would have thrown off the ratio of the factory pattern... I there such a thing as "post jacket purchase uncertainty syndrome"?

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GregGale said:

Welcome to the club! The sleeves will get 0.5-1 inch shorter as a rule of thumb, but as far as I see you have some spare room in the shoulders that will prevent them riding up, so it's going to be OK

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bn1966 said:

Looking good, should be fine, Gary & Rob know their business

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Gutmann said:

Hi Greg,

Thank you!

Please, don’t let it be 1 inch!

I directly asked garry and rob from elc if the sleeves would go up when broken in. Both said it wouldn’t be so much and the jacket would fit perfectly. I also tried the 48 but there was to much leather in the back and it looked quite bulky.

I even considered to go for a 46 long. But additional 1 inch in the back would be a bit to much. For the sleeves it would be good. Anyway let’s see.

Best,

Philipp


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Carlos840 said:

In my experience the whole "sleeve shortening during break in" isn't really a thing.
IMO what happens is that a sleeve that is too long will stack and look shorter, but will mostly go back to "new length" when pulled on. A bit like if someone 5'2 wore 36" legged jeans. It stacks, but denim doens't have the same "shape memory" that leather has, so it just unstacks when taken off. Leather stays stacked on a lot more so it gives the impression it got shorter.

I have jackets with sleeves ranging from 25" to 27" and all of them reach more or less the same point of my wrist, even if some of that is due to varying shoulder width, it is obvious that the longer sleeves just crease and stack more, and the shorter sleeves less.
If your perfect sleeve length is 25.5", and you wear 26.5" sleeves, you will stack them and they might appear shorter. If you wear 25" sleeves, they won't move at all.

I don't think it is possible for leather to just shrink that much, unless it was badly processed, and stretched a lot during tanning.
If shrinking was a normal thing, we would all have oversized lining hanging from our sleeves and backs. I have never shrunk a leather belt, or wallet, or shoes, why would a jacket be different?

All that to say your jacket looks great, don't worry about it.

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