A-1 by THE FEW

[CBI]

My new "used' A-1 by THE FEW, seal HH, extremely well made:

 

[Treetopflyer]

Beauty of a jacket! Thanks for posting.

 

[Cole]

Very nice jacket and it fits you perfectly.

 

[deluxestyling]

Looks excellent and a spot on fit.

I recently bought a Tobacco horse hide AN-J-3A made by The Few and it's fantastic. They make great jackets just a shame they cost £1,270 plus postage etc.

 

[JanSolo]

Mmh, yummy!! Very nice jacket! Great colour, fit and details too. The leather has a lot of grain and the surface finish appears to be very light.
May I ask if you bought it directly from Japan or via John Chapman? I seem to recall that he had a Real McCoy dealership for the US...

PS: Good pictures too!!

 

[rocketeer]

Very nice Looks better than the Eastman version I had a few years back.

 

[majormajor]

A beautiful jacket. Love the stitching detail. And overall, a well fitting jacket.

However (and I'm sure I'll be castigated for saying so), the lower torso shape is not as I would prefer it.

Whilst A1s should be close fitting, there should be some blousing at the bottom, with the knit looking tighter than then leather directly above it.

On some of the shots, the knit actually looks wider than the leather torso, and is having no blousing effect.

Here's a shot (from the ELC site) of a couple of originals. That is how I would want it to fit. Close fitting, yes. But retaining a hint of blousing on the bottom

 

[Dr H]

May I ask if you bought it directly from Japan or via John Chapman? I seem to recall that he had a Real McCoy dealership for the US

This one is a used jacket (purchased from an individual), but I think that you're confusing The Few (from RMNZ) with Real McCoys Japan (the two companies have a history, but are no longer linked), which does feature on John's site.

 

[CBI]

Yes, bought used from another collector.

MM I agree, blousing at the bottom is a frequent trait of the original A-1. Many of the pics are with guys who are skin and bones so there's loads of extra lower torso. Also, the originals are looser fitting capeskin not HH like this one. I actually prefer the A-1 in HH which is not as authentic I admit but a little more structured which is the look I like. I own a Good Wear A-1 as well but its also lightweight HH. The Lincoln Brigade jacket I posted at the same time as this is made of cape and its a looser fit overall. For me, this FEW A-1 is somewhat A-1 "inspired" more than 100% accurate.

 

[John Lever]

It's are really bad fit so you had better sell it to me

 

[Dr H]

Thought you didn't want it, young Lever?!

 

[John Lever]

Thought you didn't want it, young Lever?!

No,no,no..I had a chance to buy it 5 years ago !

 

[bords]

I periodically use a proxy to buy stuff from yahoo.jp and there are a bunch of jackets on there by The Few/RMC. You can use a site like http://www.easyauctionjapan.com

to find the item you want to bid on, then use a proxy (I use sutocorp) to bid and hopefully win. They charge 8% and ship to you. I never bought a jacket but I got a bunch of clothes, most worked out very well. At the very least its fun to see what's out there in JP.

 

[Dr H]

No,no,no..I had a chance to buy it 5 years ago !

Aw...just joshing ;-)

 

[deluxestyling]

Here's this jacket on The Few's website.

http://www.thefewmfg.com/details.cgi?no=AN12-006&name=LEATHER_FLIGHTJACKET

 

[Sir Jacket]

What a beauty of a jacket. Congratulations! I have an A1 on order from Goodwear but I'm a bit worried about the new cape John Chapman is using. Anyone had first-hand experience of it? I'm thinking I might prefer this one.

Sir J

 

[Dr H]

What a beauty of a jacket. Congratulations! I have an A1 on order from Goodwear but I'm a bit worried about the new cape John Chapman is using. Anyone had first-hand experience of it? I'm thinking I might prefer this one.

Sir J

SJ

I've posted images elsewhere on the FL of the cape with a test Type A-1 from John (with waist buttons and a single button collar).
The new cape is heavily/regularly grained (unlike the older domestic cape that he used in 2007-2009, which was thicker more irregular and more amber/tan in colour) and drapes well. I have been treating the jacket with warm water over the last couple of days and the grain does calm down as the hide relaxes, making it a little less figured.

The jacket that John Jeter (CBI) has is an older Type A-1 jacket in horsehide (not the one shown in the link - which is in buffalo). Personally, whilst I like the pattern/detailing of the jacket that John has posted (and he has a preference for horsehide), I prefer cape as it's true to spec and has a better drape. At the same time, it will be less resilient to wear than the horsehide.

The jacket from The Few will be well constructed and high quality, but if you don't like the cape that GW or SFA are using then I'd suggest that you look at Real McCoy's Japan, which is also cape and has a similar pattern (http://www.realmccoys.co.jp/catalog/products/detail.php?product_id=2556&pg=). Not cheap at ¥178,500 ($1,992). It's expensive, but I'd give houseroom to a used version of this in a size 44 (although I've never managed to track one down). Beware though, this is the spring/summer 2012 jacket (TYPE A-1 MJ10101); there is another later version on the same site (TYPE A-1 REAL McCOY MFG. CO. MJ13001) that is less authentic in terms of the pattern - the translation is odd and suggests that it's horsehide, but the price is ¥210,000.

I have no personal experience of buffalo but, from what I read, this seems a most unlikely material to use for the A-1 (I can't imagine that it'll soften or drape in the same way at all).

FWIW, I'm picking up another used Eastman A-1 (images to follow in comparison to the GW) - still a very strong contender in terms of accuracy/cape/wait time/price.

 

[John Lever]

Ian
I used to own an old goatskin version, so there are many variants to choose from.

 

[Sir Jacket]

Useful stuff, Dr H -- and thanks. Forgive me if I've misunderstood but do you have a pic of the Goodwear A-1 with the new cape? I was convinced to buy one because of the pic Butte posted wearing a GW A-1 with the older cape. Apparently the pattern was an older version, and imperfect, but the leather was damn characterful and nice. I'm not convinced by the new cape, however: seems like a rather bland brown to me. Hence my desire to see pics of people wearing it.

I'd love to consider the other A-1s but, of course, when you order from GW, you pay a deposit, so I'd lose that!

Oh, and anyone have any experience sizing for a Japanese jacket purchase?

SJ

 

[Worf]

On some folks the "un-bloused look" works real good. This is one of those cases. The jacket is smokin' and you've the body to wear it.

Worf