Best place for Durable flight jacket restoration?

[BigD]

Hi,
I've recently bought two Durable vintage leather flight jackets from E-bay. They're great, but in need of a good cleaning, cuff replacement, and a little bit of lining repair.

Does anyone know of a good shop that can fix these up?

 

[armscye]

There are the usual suspects-- Insurrection, Johnson Leathers, and the various boutique A2 makers.

I would also nominate Dena at greatleather.com. She has been working on some really historical jackets (check her blog), knows flight jacket construction, and is very detail oriented. I've also gotten some great alteration work done by her, and I am a picky trim-fit fanatic. Dena generally uses the Urad line of care products which are really top flight stuff, in some regards more versatile and arguably superior to Pecard's.

 

[Cedric Satterfield]

+2 for Dena

I have a mid-80s era Orchard A-2 and I came across Ms. Hamilton in a google search. After talking to local seamstress/tailor shop I concluded that it would be best if I sent my jacket to someone that worked on leather exclusively. My pocket stitching was starting to separate from the body, and the cuffs, waistband, and zipper facing also. I also asked here to eyeball it for any other possible problem areas due to age. We emailed back and forth for a few days, with some pictures, and then I sent off my jacket to her. I live in NE so it only took 2 days for it to get to IL. She had my jacket turned around and on its way back to me in 2 days. We had a phone chat so we could discuss what she did and how I wanted it shipped back, and to discuss payment. She ended up refacing and leather backing most of the areas that needed repaired (she said the needle had skipped 3-4 stitches at a time, like something had been stuck on the needle when the jacket was made) so she ended up restitching a lot more than we had initially discussed because it needed it and she does good work, but didn't change her estimated price. She also reinforced some of the liner, though she did warn than in a few years Ill need to switch it out, probably.

A1 work, great communication, very agreeable rate for the work she did, and shipping was very fast. She's a great asset and I have recommended her to others already.

 

[Vespizzare]

I'm sort of a newbie here and don't want to come across as Mr Know-all when there are probably knowledgable FL'ers who will shortly chime in with a list of proven restorers. That said, I was recently in Schaeffer's Garment Hotel ( www.schaeffersgarmenthotel.com ) on Sunset in LA. They had a lot of great stuff and when I inquired about a jacket with bad knits, the owner said he had a expert staff upstairs. I could believe him because the place was full of primo stuff: jackets, shoes, hats, you name it. There were the nicest newsboy caps I ever saw but they turned out to be really expensive, even for me who loves to spend money. Bottom line: I'm sure this place is great, but no bargain.

 

[Dumpster Diver]

you can just leave them be dude, Ive seen worse.

The time Worn look is the whole Character of your jacket.

guys were fixing Engines in those things man, were talking about GRubby sad sack Lookin guys!