Indeed this stands as a bit of a black eye on my credibility. The truth is, just as was said above, the “design on a dime” process is what hooked me on these utterly mediocre jackets. I do think I was too flowery and forgiving of the finished product. I can only recommend that it’s far better to seek out an original. Like this one I owned, as it eclipsed the 5 Star in every way imaginable, including the fit. The pattern, construction and hide of the 5 Star was vastly inferior to this original:
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5 Star Californian/Campus Halfbelt red russet goat!
- Thread starter ton312
- Start date
Oh I get it. It's just I don't know, the way it turned out it feels like talking trash of your ex after a bad breakup.
Yes, I can understand why it reads like that. It's also kind of strange when everything is first praised to the skies and then suddenly bad-mouthed. However, I think that in this case there are many examples that prove that we have seen things too rosy rather than talking badly about something that is good in principle.
Of course, you could also say that I'm slow on the uptake when I've needed so many jackets to realise that it's not going to work out.
I think it's more like a player who always thinks "But I'll win next time". He also knows that he's lying to himself and carries on anyway
I think there has been plenty of trash talked about 5 Star throughout their existence here, and from page one of this thread, looking at Terry's GW vs the 5 Star, you can see exactly why people would talk trash or view the jacket(s) as sub par or inferior. What disappoints me (in myself) is that I let myself get too carried away by the speed of delivery and the constant ability to do anything (design wise) I wanted.
I didn't give myself enough time to really settle into to any of these jackets and I always felt I could correct the failings of the previous one (be it fit or hide/construction) with the next. So I quickly gave the poor quality materials and construction issues a pass they did not deserve. It wasn't until after I sold them all off, moved away from the brand entirely and then went back to try some 70's patterns that I really became aware of how flawed and poorly made they are. I'm not saying that they are the worst jackets in the world, but I do sincerely believe they cost about 4 times what they are worth. If they were priced around $75-$125 they would be priced fairly and the muiltitude of issues could be foregiven or at least accepted.
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I think in general the forum is more willing to be critical now (in an intelligent way); plenty of pricy jackets don't get a pass, for example. As for the overexcitement around Five Star, it's worth noting that this was during peak COVID so people were a bit bored!
To be clear I'm not saying the change of heart isn't justified.
Looking at pictures some look good (at least to me) some not so much but I have not handled any 5* so I can only trust the judgement of those who have.
All I was saying is that I found such a stark contrast funny but maybe it's me finding my fun in weird places.
Looking at pictures some look good (at least to me) some not so much but I have not handled any 5* so I can only trust the judgement of those who have.
All I was saying is that I found such a stark contrast funny but maybe it's me finding my fun in weird places.
That is the key word. Plenty of jackets look good, but due to bad patterns aren't very wearable. Some look underwhelming but actually have perfect fit from good patterning.
The contrast is across four years, so you can see why actually having to wear/live with the jackets would cause a different reaction from just looking at them statically.
I am not very active in this community anymore. So as it was, I only stumbled into the absolutely abysmal 5-Star thread here AFTER seeing this thread first. So when I asked the question, I had little understanding of the change of heart that seems to be common consensus now.
From the sound of things here, as well as what I've been able to vaguely infer from the 400+ pages of madness in the other thread, it seems like me ordering one of these patterns from 5 Star is not advised.
But look, I'm not looking for something fancy. I don't go on dates and I really don't give a **** if things are rough around the edges. I care more about thick hide and custom measurements for my weird proportions.
The short of it is, I want something to likely thrash on a motorcycle and wear around the ranch. So spending too much on something too fancy really isn't in my interest anyway, which is why I found the appeal last night in Ton's original post...
So I guess for posterity, I'll pose the final question: are these things wearable? I'm not asking as a fashionista. I'm asking as a blue collar man.
From the sound of things here, as well as what I've been able to vaguely infer from the 400+ pages of madness in the other thread, it seems like me ordering one of these patterns from 5 Star is not advised.
But look, I'm not looking for something fancy. I don't go on dates and I really don't give a **** if things are rough around the edges. I care more about thick hide and custom measurements for my weird proportions.
The short of it is, I want something to likely thrash on a motorcycle and wear around the ranch. So spending too much on something too fancy really isn't in my interest anyway, which is why I found the appeal last night in Ton's original post...
So I guess for posterity, I'll pose the final question: are these things wearable? I'm not asking as a fashionista. I'm asking as a blue collar man.
The only wearable patterns are the ones directly copied from something existing.
If you got an exact (and I mean exact) copy of the pattern they made off of Mysteryo's Buco motorcycle jacket, that should work.
... also, their stock copies of military leather jackets are pretty decent. So if that fits the bill, it should be a relatively low risk exercise if they modify one for you. Otherwise, as Aloysius said, they do 1:1 copies of existing jackets quite well. We have two cases on TFL where the results were very good.
Yes the mil stuff is good. They patterned directly off of originals for those. Not so popular on the FL design wise but they’re great jackets.
