Cockpit USA ANJ-4

[dmdmorris]

Does anyone have any experience with Cockpit USA ANJ-4?

http://www.cockpitusa.com/store/an-j-4-cold-weather-shearling-jacket.html

 

[Fletch]

No experience with Cockpit's version, but I own a US-Authentic AN-J-4 and like it a lot. Very nicely built. Right now it's on special for $995 (I got mine secondhand for a bunch less).

 

[thor]

I tried on a Cockpit AN-J4 at their retail store in NYC a couple years ago. The jacket was well constructed, heavy and thick. While not 100% historically accurate, it is a really nice jacket, very reminiscent of the original and would probably be quite warm.

The Cockpit closed their downtown retail store on Broadway and have plans to re-open but last time I was down there, the storefront was occupied by some hip hop clothing/shoe store. Not sure if they have a new retail store in NYC.

 

[dmdmorris]

Thanks,

After everything I've seen, I'm probably going with a Lost Worlds. They did a great job on my Leather Peacoat, so I'll give it a try.

 

[Sloan1874]

Lost Worlds ANJ-4 is a fantastic looking jacket. Still can't get past their daft superlatives, though, and the blurb under this one is a particular gem: "the perfection of our workmanship and absolute accuracy and authenticity of materials" and "our products are the best of their kind in the world" Deary me. Despite all this. Dmd, I'm sure it'll turn out great.

 

[rocketeer]

I have an Eastman version. It's over 15 years old now so has the press stud pocket flaps.
The actual jacket is superb, I tend to turn the cuffs back as they are a little long for me.
The one gripe I have with Eastman sheerling is that the surface finish has rubbed off quite badly in the wear areas, that goes for their 'Redskin' jackets as well. I dont know if that has been addressed in the years since I bought mine but is probably due to changes in 60+ years of tanning and finishing processes.

John

 

[Fletch]

I know I said I was very happy with my US-A, and I am, but it has finish issues brought on by the former owner, a horseman who treated it with the fish oil he used for riding tack. That took away the gloss coat on the sheepskin, leaving a kind of nubuck texture. But I still find it preferable to the cracking.

 

[Dr H]

Here's an original wartime Aero for comparison.

 

[Worf]

I just scored an Aero "Pre-War" Irvin and it's starting to exhibit that kind of cracking on the left sleeve. I'ts a used coat so I'm not kickin'. It snowed today so I wore it into work. Man I really am beginning to hate left pull zippers!!!! Arrrgh! Other than the above, it's a real comfortable coat that illicits a LOT of stares when I wear it.

Worf

 

[Sloan1874]

Finding the same with the US right-pulls - spent the first two weeks looking like a small child who's just worked out how to zip up his jacket, which is about as a sexy look as you can get!

 

[Edward]

Lost Worlds ANJ-4 is a fantastic looking jacket. Still can't get past their daft superlatives, though, and the blurb under this one is a particular gem: "the perfection of our workmanship and absolute accuracy and authenticity of materials" and "our products are the best of their kind in the world" Deary me. Despite all this. Dmd, I'm sure it'll turn out great.

Just wait til you get to his outraged rants about "jacket queens", in which he guns for what is probably a serious chunk of his own target market... lol I assume someone has dared to suggest their "accuracy and authenticity" is less than "absolute", and he's kinda narked about that....

 

[tonypaj]

The one gripe I have with Eastman sheerling is that the surface finish has rubbed off quite badly in the wear areas, that goes for their 'Redskin' jackets as well. I dont know if that has been addressed in the years since I bought mine but is probably due to changes in 60+ years of tanning and finishing processes.

John

I've got the same stuff going on with my Aero B-3 Redskin, and that is just 3 years old now or so, but I am quite brutal with my jackets....

 

[Sloan1874]

Just wait til you get to his outraged rants about "jacket queens", in which he guns for what is probably a serious chunk of his own target market... lol I assume someone has dared to suggest their "accuracy and authenticity" is less than "absolute", and he's kinda narked about that....

None-the-bonkers than LW! Though in a way I prefer his circa-1999 website compared with the likes of Eastman's and Good Wear. Ultimately, it seems more open to people who are just looking for a well-made jacket while the others give the impression of being aimed exclusively at those concerned mostly with re-enactment and stitches-per-inch accuracy (though obviously their jackets are very well made).

 

[Worf]

Finding the same with the US right-pulls - spent the first two weeks looking like a small child who's just worked out how to zip up his jacket, which is about as a sexy look as you can get!

LOL! Touche mon ami! Except I look more like a "short bus" bear trying to wriggle into its skin!!!

Worf

 

[Sloan1874]

:eusa_clap

 

[thor]

None-the-bonkers than LW! Though in a way I prefer his circa-1999 website compared with the likes of Eastman's and Good Wear. Ultimately, it seems more open to people who are just looking for a well-made jacket while the others give the impression of being aimed exclusively at those concerned mostly with re-enactment and stitches-per-inch accuracy (though obviously their jackets are very well made).

I don't expect a proprietor to be my new BFF as long as he sells me what I want. LW make a a great jacket, that's all that really matters to me.
Some people just have a no-nonsense personality (remember R. Lee Ermey's drill instructor character in "Full Metal Jacket"?).
In the military most supply sergeants have the same type of attitude so perhaps it adds to the overall authentic A-2 procurement
process?

 

[Foster]

Yeah, except in the authentic A-2 procurement process, you're issued it, and aren't paying a grand to buy it. And if it doesn't fit, you just take it to the quartermaster and see if you can get a different size, without waiting weeks or months for another to be made for you.

 

[Edward]

None-the-bonkers than LW! Though in a way I prefer his circa-1999 website compared with the likes of Eastman's and Good Wear. Ultimately, it seems more open to people who are just looking for a well-made jacket while the others give the impression of being aimed exclusively at those concerned mostly with re-enactment and stitches-per-inch accuracy (though obviously their jackets are very well made).

If anything, from what I've seen of LW they could be said to be guilty of 'over-engineering': I think it's fair to say that his jackets are often much heavier than originals. Tougher. Not a bad thing at all from a garment pov, but it seems to me a different focus: making what he believes to be the best jacket he can to that pattern, rather than the jacket most identical to the originals. As the thread on the choice of Aero to outfit jackets for that new film showed, there are very definitely two different markets. I can certainly understand the frustration he might feel when he's put a lot of time into creating a good product when some farbe stitch-counter comes along and says it's a rubbish, mall-type jacket... Still, always seems to me strange when a business takes the road of being wilfully insulting towards what might otherwise be a chunk of its customer base.

I don't expect a proprietor to be my new BFF as long as he sells me what I want. LW make a a great jacket, that's all that really matters to me.

That he does - I have one of his B3s and it really is nice. Even so, there are plenty of other alternatives out there where they offer both an equally good product and excellent customer service. I'm not actively boycotting LW by any means, but I do prefer to deal with people who make it easier. As a business approach, unless one has cornered the market in something I should think it would be rather self-defeating to take his approach. Same as those who use their business blogs / facebook / whatever to make political statements. If you associate your business with a certain thing, in the mind of the market, it can become that. That said, I'm sure Stuart knows his market, and maybe what to me is needlessly attacking the 'accurate repro' crowd and bigging up the "manliness" of his product at every turn actually helps sell to his real target audience. Not dissimilar to the gunstore I heard of in the US which increased trade significantly a few months ago by making very public announcements that persons intending to vote for a particular candidate in the Presidential Election would not be welcome to shop there.

 

[Fletch]

I don't expect a proprietor to be my new BFF as long as he sells me what I want. LW make a a great jacket, that's all that really matters to me.

I don't expect a BFF in a merchant or tradesperson either. I do expect someone who holds the paying customer in higher regard than a supply sergeant who is following orders way up the chain of command.

See the difference here? Edward gets it. But hey, maybe I'm just not enough of a man, or an American, to respect a hard*ss for being a hard*ss.

 

[thor]

Ahh we've all been spoiled by Holly and Ken when it comes to customer service!

LW reminds me of Rolex; you do not ask for a discount or wait for a sale and it's not advertising that really makes you buy one. You just want one and save for it and then one day you plunk down your money and buy an "over-engineered" work of art and are blown away by the quality and workmanship that will last you a lifetime.