Eastman B15 and B10 no option on arm Decal

[elnico]

Hi .. I just wondered if anyone knows why Eastman has a policy on not supplying their Roughware B15 and B10 jackets without the US airforce jackets?

It cant be a case of authenticity as apparently as many originals were produced without the decal..

Its just that I really love the style and quality of the jackets but I simply don't want the decal..

It seems strange as well because after speaking to their representative on the phone I know that they will produce a jacket for me to my exact measurements with longer arms or longer body.. so why not the decal?

When I asked the representative ( the father of the owner apparently) he could not really expand upon the reasons why except that it was a policy and the decal could not be put on later ( I did not want and will not want the decal put on later.. and stated so.. i would even sign an agreement to this if it worried them so that there would be no comeback later... but the representative seemed to be getting just a bit defensive by this point so I saw no point in pushing it further and bade farewell).

the price of between £340 and £370 is a lot for a cloth jacket.. and for the reputation of quality, workmanship and exactitude I was willing to pay the price.. just no Decal!!!!!

Grrrr..... I'm a bit annoyed now... going to go and have a cup of camomile tea to calm down!

 

[xt40]

the only reason i can think of is that they have already bought the jackets in from somewhere else and have sufficient stock to cater for any sizing that might be required.

 

[Justhandguns]

Unlike Aero, Eastman is not made to order. They have most of the jacket in stock and it is almost instant delivery once the payment is cleared.

I just wonder where their jackets are made. Obviously there are plenty of people believing that they are made in their Devon factory, I hope somebody can confirm that. There is no sign of any country of origin on my ELC jacket at all. Of course, I have zero doubt about the quality of their jacket, but I would also like to have something like you find in jackets made by the McCoys (NZ or JP), Aero from Scotland etc etc. And of course, Goodwear where jackets are tailered exclusively by John.

 

[Silver Dollar]

I just looked up Eastman and I think I may have some type of explanation. First, I think xt40 is right in that the jackets may come already made from somewhere else and the decal is already there. If that's not the case, then the other reason could be that the jacket is made from a specific contract for the purist jacket collector and that particular contracted model came only with the decal. I'm going to check for some other manufacturers to see who makes what.

 

[elnico]

the only reason i can think of is that they have already bought the jackets in from somewhere else and have sufficient stock to cater for any sizing that might be required.

Good thought... but from my first conversation regarding a possible order the representative stated they would make a jacket up to my required measurements and it would take up to two weeks,,They gave me the impression it would be custom made without actually saying such..

For the price and the limited availability of these jackets anyway you would expect a custom order would be feasible

.. but another though occurred to me... what If they are buying in the material for each part of the jacket pre cut with the decals already on but with enough extra material on the arm lengths for custom adjustment?

If so it would seem a bit of Henry Ford approach to custom jacket making and would also start me to have concerns of the possible use of eastern imports if such a system was being used by Eastman... not something I would find appealing for the price when there are already cheaper eastern replica b10 jackets available on Ebay and such..

Can anyone shed any further light to dispel or illuminate further what are, after all, just assumptions..????

 

[Edward]

Somebody must know... would they not tell you directly where they made the jackets? AFAIK, they don't contract anything out. You may well be right about specific contract repros, though. If memory serves, the decal became standard on all new jackets as well as refinishes / reissues after 1943. Eastman's business model is based around shooting after historical accuracy, so I can see why they would be reluctant to do custom work. Aero would be my choice for costuom work. I don't know if they still do a B15. Aero do, however, have on their sale pages a few B10s in a different, darker green than the standard model, that they were selling off at about £125. I know they're not as accurate as the Eastman, though at that price difference if all you wanted is a decent jacket for wearing about as a civilian and aren't worried about milspec accuracy, it might be viable as an option.

 

[elnico]

Yes.. somebody here must know... does anyone from Eastwood contribute to this site?

I do hope the authenticity issue is what has moulded the policy...

The B15 and the B10 available at Eastwood are the Roughware issue.. but I am not an expert on when this was produced or if they all had decals on them...

I have checked out the Aero one... Amanda sent me a couple of pictures about a month ago of them when they were still only £100... but I am concerned that as they are off the peg the fit wont be right.. I dont want anything too baggy but I would want the arm length to be right...and I am also concerned about the Aero shoulder Droop that some here have talked about regarding their cloth jackets.

 

[blethook]

Hi,

I think it can be done at no extra cost, but likely there'd no return/refund.

Also, it'd be a longer wait since it will be something they'd have to make from scratch vs. from stock. I don't know what the wait time will be, but normally no more than 3 weeks.

Try speaking to either Gary/Alan.

Regards,

Hi .. I just wondered if anyone knows why Eastman has a policy on not supplying their Roughware B15 and B10 jackets without the US airforce jackets?

It cant be a case of authenticity as apparently as many originals were produced without the decal..

Its just that I really love the style and quality of the jackets but I simply don't want the decal..

It seems strange as well because after speaking to their representative on the phone I know that they will produce a jacket for me to my exact measurements with longer arms or longer body.. so why not the decal?

When I asked the representative ( the father of the owner apparently) he could not really expand upon the reasons why except that it was a policy and the decal could not be put on later ( I did not want and will not want the decal put on later.. and stated so.. i would even sign an agreement to this if it worried them so that there would be no comeback later... but the representative seemed to be getting just a bit defensive by this point so I saw no point in pushing it further and bade farewell).

the price of between £340 and £370 is a lot for a cloth jacket.. and for the reputation of quality, workmanship and exactitude I was willing to pay the price.. just no Decal!!!!!

Grrrr..... I'm a bit annoyed now... going to go and have a cup of camomile tea to calm down!

 

[elnico]

I think it was Allen that I spoke to... and he was adamant that they would not and did not produce the jackets without the decal.. and it was their policy.. without a reason.

I think that what got to me the most was whoever it was I did speak to's attitude of 'that's just the way it is' ... and leaves it at that.

When I speak to some-one who represents a company like Eastwood which seems to have a real passion for producing a quality product replicating something so special from the past I guess I just expect that passion to come through in its dealings with potential customers... with passion comes knowledge..

We all have bad days.. and maybe I just caught them on a bad day.. but I tried.. I really did try to have a friendly interested conversation with the chap about these jackets...

If any of you have ever chatted to Will from Aero I think you know the sort of passion I'm talking about.. expect to be on the phone for quite a while...

 

[blethook]

My memory is coming back...

...I seem to remember a similar experience: I asked for a USN G-1 jacket w/o the collar stencil and their answer was NO

So at least you know they're consistent

 

[Edward]

It may also be - and I'm just speculating here - that they don't want to get into this sort of very low level 'custom' alteration as it might lead to a flood of such requests, and requests for more variations from the standard, which is not what they're about. I wonder too whether they're concerned about how their stuff is represented out there. I mean, look at the debates the hardcore jacket crowd often have over which brand produces the most authentic reproductions. I can well imagine a company wanting to stake its business reputation on having the best repros they can produce not wanting a lot of stuff out there in the market that could be misinterpreted as 'oh, they dropped the ball on this one - x, y and/or z is missing', as opposed to 'by customer request'. [huh]

 

[Justhandguns]

It may also be - and I'm just speculating here - that they don't want to get into this sort of very low level 'custom' alteration as it might lead to a flood of such requests, and requests for more variations from the standard, which is not what they're about. I wonder too whether they're concerned about how their stuff is represented out there. I mean, look at the debates the hardcore jacket crowd often have over which brand produces the most authentic reproductions. I can well imagine a company wanting to stake its business reputation on having the best repros they can produce not wanting a lot of stuff out there in the market that could be misinterpreted as 'oh, they dropped the ball on this one - x, y and/or z is missing', as opposed to 'by customer request'. [huh]

Very true. Esepcially their jackets are in such a high demand all over the world. Losing one customer who is not happy with a patch won't hurt, there will be others to fill in.

But, I must say, they are very responsive when I asked about adding custom patches and tags on my existing Eastman.

 

[Rudie]

Well, not willing to change the design of a jacket is one ting but not willing to make a garment that actually fits is another pair of shoes. I wanted to buy an Eastman jacket and couldn't because of their policy of not altering sleeve length more than 4 cm. No problem for me, I am just as happy to spend my money for an Aero jacket.