johnnyjohnny
Practically Family
- Messages
- 633
- Location
- lake balboa
why do we buy the a-2 we do? with all the reports and discussions here of customer service and quality of various brands, here's how one decision to buy/not buy went with me...
i like the more modern a-2 look, the 80s+ milspecs...i had recently bought a uswings milspec signature a-2 and found a few things wrong with it despite generally liking the cut (milspec, but updated cut over ww2 styles)...
for some reason, uswings upsizes their milspec a-2s so that a 46 is really more like a 48, etc...in fact i have a uswings g-1 that is is 46, and the uswings A-2 was literally a size larger in fit at the same size 46 (both milspec)...uswings explained it to me that they do make their a-2s larger than their g-1s because they assume you will be layering with the a-2, and the g-1 is a warmer jacket so it is made smaller with no room for layering...mind you this is both at a milspec size 46...far as i know, the usmilitary has not gone west hollywood yet and adjusted their sizes for metrosexual layering of fabrics in battle...
be that as it may, not only was the Christmas uswings a-2 a size larger than every other milspec a-2 in the universe, but the cuffs and jacket bottom ribbing had massive piling after light wear of less than 20 times, generally for a few hours each time...
despite all this, i liked the uswings cut enough that i was willing to get the same jacket a size smaller at 44 to make up for uswings oversizing for 'layering'...i did write the owner of uswings, sgt hack, an email to his personal email mentioning the two issues, and asking if it was possible to get some consideration for the workmanship issue, and the mis-sizing...not a refund, but some sort of consideration if i bought another one despite these problems...
didn't hear back, and never have...though other miljack manufacturers had always responded, and remarkable made financial adjustments/returns that went way over what i'd expected, earning me as a customer for life
still, despite being ignored on what were two legit issues, wrong sizing and poor materials, i was going to roll the dice again and get a size smaller uswings a-2...
but i just couldn't...so i went on ebay to see what there was in modern a-2s out there, and found a basically new sporty's horsehide 44Long...picket it up for $220, less than uswings charges for it's goat skin a-2, and about half of what uswings charges for their horsehide...
i think it's a lesson that with so many manufacturers out there, and many of them willing to go the extra mile on customer service issues...and so many great jackets available in the secondary market...it's not only wrong to ignore customers with legit product issues, it will come back to bite you as they go elsewhere and share their experiences...
i may in fact try another uswings jacket at some point, but i'd say it's much much less likely i will than prior to this experience...
and, i'm very happy with the sporty's...
i like the more modern a-2 look, the 80s+ milspecs...i had recently bought a uswings milspec signature a-2 and found a few things wrong with it despite generally liking the cut (milspec, but updated cut over ww2 styles)...
for some reason, uswings upsizes their milspec a-2s so that a 46 is really more like a 48, etc...in fact i have a uswings g-1 that is is 46, and the uswings A-2 was literally a size larger in fit at the same size 46 (both milspec)...uswings explained it to me that they do make their a-2s larger than their g-1s because they assume you will be layering with the a-2, and the g-1 is a warmer jacket so it is made smaller with no room for layering...mind you this is both at a milspec size 46...far as i know, the usmilitary has not gone west hollywood yet and adjusted their sizes for metrosexual layering of fabrics in battle...
be that as it may, not only was the Christmas uswings a-2 a size larger than every other milspec a-2 in the universe, but the cuffs and jacket bottom ribbing had massive piling after light wear of less than 20 times, generally for a few hours each time...
despite all this, i liked the uswings cut enough that i was willing to get the same jacket a size smaller at 44 to make up for uswings oversizing for 'layering'...i did write the owner of uswings, sgt hack, an email to his personal email mentioning the two issues, and asking if it was possible to get some consideration for the workmanship issue, and the mis-sizing...not a refund, but some sort of consideration if i bought another one despite these problems...
didn't hear back, and never have...though other miljack manufacturers had always responded, and remarkable made financial adjustments/returns that went way over what i'd expected, earning me as a customer for life
still, despite being ignored on what were two legit issues, wrong sizing and poor materials, i was going to roll the dice again and get a size smaller uswings a-2...
but i just couldn't...so i went on ebay to see what there was in modern a-2s out there, and found a basically new sporty's horsehide 44Long...picket it up for $220, less than uswings charges for it's goat skin a-2, and about half of what uswings charges for their horsehide...
i think it's a lesson that with so many manufacturers out there, and many of them willing to go the extra mile on customer service issues...and so many great jackets available in the secondary market...it's not only wrong to ignore customers with legit product issues, it will come back to bite you as they go elsewhere and share their experiences...
i may in fact try another uswings jacket at some point, but i'd say it's much much less likely i will than prior to this experience...
and, i'm very happy with the sporty's...
