GoodWear Leather - 1939 Werber A-2 (new)

[thekiyote]

So, John is alive.

I just received a custom Werber 1939 A-2 from him. For those of you who are curious, I've been on his waiting list since April 2017, when I first started looking at getting a new leather jacket. I ended up ordering an Aero Wayfairer, but John's name was thrown around a lot, so I said screw it, and put my name on his already long waiting list.

I shot him an email about once a year. This year, I asked him if he thought it would be ready by the fall, and he responded, saying that I was up in the next batch.

I have to say that his communication during production is a complete 180 from the waiting list. We were shooting texts and emails back and forth, and on calls. I found out that the delay for me was about half and half personal stuff and half that I requested shinki horsehide, and his supply for that had dried up for the last year or so, but had recently started again.

In the end, I knew that my deposit was a gamble, but I like guys like him who make great stuff, that take craftsmanship to an artform. You need to treat it like art, and John like an artist. If you just want a leather jacket, there are places where you can get it quicker, but this is something different.

I don't regret any of it (though my wife thinks I'm crazy).

Okay, onto the jacket:

Its a Werber 1939 A-2 contact in size 44, done in shinki leather. The grain on this guy is amazing, and are already starting to show after an hour of wearing it inside. Also, after 2 years of Horween FQHH, this thing feels really light (it'll probably be come my main jacket for that alone).

The details are also amazing. I don't think that there is a single stitch or seam out of place. I don't think I can say that about my Aero, which, while amazing, has _some_ things that were deemed "good enough".

So, here are some photos. Please ignore the shoelessness, it's over 90 in Chicago (32C), so I don't think I'm going to be wearing this outside for a bit, but it's Chicago, so who knows.

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[patrick_b]

Fits perfectly. Very nice. Curious about the shade of shinki, is it called simply brown or medium brown. I'd love to spec something in a super dark shinki like Himel's dark brown but he's faced similar availability issues. Hoping that supply is getting better for the N. American makers.

 

[Boyo]

Nice Jacket!.. the fit looks really good too.. Its nice to see a new GW pop up on the TFL.

 

[thekiyote]

Fits perfectly. Very nice. Curious about the shade of shinki, is it called simply brown or medium brown. I'd love to spec something in a super dark shinki like Himel's dark brown but he's faced similar availability issues. Hoping that supply is getting better for the N. American makers.

I'm not sure if the color has a specific name. I kind of picked out the color out of pictures and said "like that one".

John said that he started getting shinki again, but I don't know in what quantities or varieties. I know he had enough for two jackets though (mine and the one he's going to clearance because he didn't like the way the stitching turned out).

 

[Sloan1874]

Lovely job. There’s no denying that when you finally get your GW, they are works of art. I recommend throwing caution to the wind and getting straight back into the queue...

 

[thekiyote]

Lovely job. There’s no denying that when you finally get your GW, they are works of art. I recommend throwing caution to the wind and getting straight back into the queue...

I think I might do that. Might need to wait until the next paycheck, though. I just paid for this one!

 

[regius]

I echo everything the OP said about John & this buying experience. I recently received my goat RW too. Excellent communication.


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[Bfd70]

Looks great. Imho perfect fit. Glad it was worth the wait.

 

[ProteinNerd]

Really nice jacket but I still feel obliged to say how great it feels to have people waiting a full 2 1/2 years less are getting their jacket before me (and the others in the queue longer than me).

I guess its encouraging that he is still alive and making jackets

 

[thekiyote]

Really nice jacket but I still feel obliged to say how great it feels to have people waiting a full 2 1/2 years less are getting their jacket before me (and the others in the queue longer than me).

I guess its encouraging that he is still alive and making jackets

I'd say reach out to him, probably multiple times until he responds. Maybe I happened to get lucky and caught him when he was checking his emails and jumped the queue. Also, did you have an A-2 or something else? I've also heard that most of what he's been delivering recently have been A-2s. Maybe there's a reason why he isn't doing other jackets, like with the shinki leather. He isn't all that great about communicating those delays.

 

[Psant25]

Really nice jacket but I still feel obliged to say how great it feels to have people waiting a full 2 1/2 years less are getting their jacket before me (and the others in the queue longer than me).

I guess its encouraging that he is still alive and making jackets

I was just thinking about you seeing these posts and others waiting longer and i would feel like ahhhh cool must be nice and just would piss me off even more

 

[jonbuilder]

I don't want to get into the way John runs his show, but I will say you got yourself one hell of a jacket. I don't see where the fit could be improved. Congratulations. I see things in John's jackets, I would not get with the larger jacket companies.

 

[Big J]

I see things in John's jackets, I would not get with the larger jacket companies.

Like years of waiting without knowing if you're actually on any kind of real list that progresses sequentially?

Your post is kind of like saying 'if you ignore all the negative points, and only consider the good points, GW jackets are better than other makers when you consider both their good and bad points'.
It's a logical fallacy, surely.

 

[thekiyote]

Like years of waiting without knowing if you're actually on any kind of real list that progresses sequentially?

Your post is kind of like saying 'if you ignore all the negative points, and only consider the good points, GW jackets are better than other makers when you consider both their good and bad points'.
It's a logical fallacy, surely.

I'm not saying that you should be happy with the waiting list, but technically, all that Jon said was that the quality of Goodwear jackets make it so that he wouldn't want to get anything from a larger company. He didn't make a statement about Goodwear's negative qualities at all, nor that other people shouldn't consider them.

Just to point out, you were the one who made that statement and then attributed it to Jon, and that is a logical fallacy, a straw man argument.

 

[handymike]

“Touché”

 

[Big J]

@thekiyote,
No he didn't. Jon said 'I don't want to get into the (whole mess about waiting lists and unanswered emails), but John's jackets give you something other makers don't'.
Which is EXACTLY the same as saying 'if you ignore all the negative points about GW and then compare against other makers good AND bad points, GW are better'.
It's just an illogical rubbish apologist meaningless statement.
It won't make anyone waiting 5 years and counting for a jacket feel any better (and those people should quite rightly be furious and demand refunds after reading this thread).

 

[thekiyote]

@thekiyote,
No he didn't. Jon said 'I don't want to get into the (whole mess about waiting lists and unanswered emails), but John's jackets give you something other makers don't'.
Which is EXACTLY the same as saying 'if you ignore all the negative points about GW and then compare against other makers good AND bad points, GW are better'.
It's just an illogical rubbish apologist meaningless statement.
It won't make anyone waiting 5 years and counting for a jacket feel any better (and those people should quite rightly be furious and demand refunds after reading this thread).

You don't like GW's waiting list, and that you wouldn't get a jacket from them because of it. That's fair.

But you're still straw manning Jon.

 

[David Millar]

This is awesome class leather jacket. I really like these type of leather! Celebrity Leather Jackets

 

[CBI]

Congratulations on the jacket, looks great. I have owned at least two GW Werbers, maybe three. One of my favorite contracts. Hoping someday for an original Werber! Enjoy!

 

[Big J]

@jonbuilder, if you feel I'm 'straw manning' you, please accept my apologies. I had no intention to do so.

@thekiyote, I was merely responding to the fact that it is now necessary to put conditionals on comments about GW jackets ('I don't want to get into the way John runs his show'. Clearly it's an issue now, isn't it? People can't just decide to order a GW on the quality of the jacket alone, they have to consider wait times and lack of communication).

@CBI, you've had ('had', past tense?) GW jackets. And you didn't keep them? What was wrong with them? And you still want to go back for more? (I'm thinking of an Einstein quote about sanity). And you can't remember if it was 2 or 3? They really made an impression I guess.