Lost Worlds jackets.

[Bern1]

My actual size is 42R
my 40R downtown fits well with a shirt....the sleeves are roomy enough at the upper arm/elbow and the length reaches between my wrist and first knockle of my thumb.

Driving my car with the coat (40 and 44) on gives my alot of pelasure....because I can move my arms freely
my 44R is a roomier but doesn't bother me ..wearing it with a thicker sweater.

I should stay with the 42R...if it is your actual size...after sometime you will see the benefit of it....
Dont forget these are 1950-1960 models and not those fancy tight fit coats...!!
B.t.w...I am 1.70 so my ideal weight must be around 72-74 kg....time for me to visit the gym...

Thanks. Didn't occur to me to try a size smaller than my actual 42R, especially with Stu always talking about the relatively tight fit. The Downtown 42R is still pretty roomy even with a sweater and the sleeves are just a touch long. I'm 5' 9" and 180 lbs. I kind of really swim in the 44R unless I have a really big sweater or a suit jacket yet it is still comfortable. Over the last few years I have sold or traded three of my 44 LW jackets for size 42 examples. Keep debating about the 44 Downtown, some days I think I should let it go and other days I say no.

Would still probably trade it for a 42R if there's anybody out here...

 

[Bern1]

Wore my A-1 LW last night. It's heavy enough and fits me tight enough to be a good moto jacket for riding around town. If I had a bike...looking at the new Triumphs. Would be a good match I think. If anyone wants to donate one, I'm ready

Sounds great, I think Stuart kind of concentrated on the bike market for a while. I've worn a Lost Worlds Easy Ryder for the last 10 years or so and thousands of miles in all kinds of weather on my 1972 BMW R75.

 

[flaminggroovy]

Thanks. Didn't occur to me to try a size smaller than my actual 42R, especially with Stu always talking about the relatively tight fit. The Downtown 42R is still pretty roomy even with a sweater and the sleeves are just a touch long. I'm 5' 9" and 180 lbs. I kind of really swim in the 44R unless I have a really big sweater or a suit jacket yet it is still comfortable. Over the last few years I have sold or traded three of my 44 LW jackets for size 42 examples. Keep debating about the 44 Downtown, some days I think I should let it go and other days I say no.

Would still probably trade it for a 42R if there's anybody out here...

Trade it for a 42R.....if I may give a suggestion

 

[Roma]

Received my J23 last week and sadly can confirm that Stuart oversizes a lot more than he thinks, or claims. The jacket's quality is amazing in every aspect, and I'll definitely buy more of his stuff (already bought two 2nd hand LW jkts previously). But this one I'll need to resell because it's too long, and hence also too wide at the waist. Stuart was against my request for a "38 Short" torso size even though we had already agreed on custom sleeve length and I had tried to determine torso length by using possible every angle in our communication - asking for his standard lengths (response: no bid...), I sent him photos of me wearing LW and other jackets asking him to comment on the fit of those (to get a notion of his notion of a "good fit"), etc etc.

So, a) I have a size 38 J23 for sale and b) I support those posts saying you *should* size down when ordering LW (*), no matter how much Stuart prides himself in giving correct sizing advice.

(*) Unless you have, uh, less than a slim shape, that is.

Arnold, why you just don't send the jacket back? Looks like it's not your fault.

 

[Roma]

My chest is 43 and 44L fits me good and looks fine on me. With just a little room to wear something thick, like a sweater, under.

 

[Roma]

@Butte don't worry, I found all of the replies helpful. Just wanted to add to the concepts about manufacturers' soecond thoughts etc.

Stuart actually offers/ advises to try a stock size before ordering a custom size (semi custom actually as only certain parametery can be changed). This procedure wasn't available in my case due to textile J23s being custom by default, apparently. I should have ordered a stock (leather) version first before ordering the textile one, that was my part of the sum of faults here. I didn't have the money for both versions at once, tho. Well, it's been a learning experience. - Will post photos in the classifieds soon, it *is* an extraordinary jacket that I wish I could keep, but I know I'll wear a shorter replacement more comfortably.

Oh, got it. Because it's a custom jacket. I see. Now it's not returnable. Too bad.

 

[Roma]

Why can't you just return it? The custom sleeve length? I would have thought you might have been able to reach a compromise?

I believe, Benny, it's because it's a custom one. Thought the same but realised later it was custom. As far as I know Stu considers such jckts to be not returnable.

 

[Carlos840]

In my experience of makers they very often oversize them given half a chance. They don’t trust the customer to know his own size and are afraid of getting returns because it’s too small. Probably with good reason a lot of the time because they have been stung by people who lie to themselves about what their true measurements are. After all it’s said that you can’t deceive your tailor, but you can if you just tell him your measurements. But it’s particularly problematical if you are a slightly odd or between size. My chest is almost a full a size up from the size I buy in an off the peg jacket, and if I bought my chest size it would be hanging off me everywhere else. But when I’ve tried to tell some makers what actual measurements I want they usually don’t listen and insist on sizing by the chest size I gave them. That’s happened in the past with Aero and AL as was, and I’ve ended up with garments that were too big on two occasions, and once with too big a base size with larger than ideal armholes etc.

I had a long email conversation with one maker - not one of the above - and the gist of it was most people don’t know what size fits them, so we use our decades of experience to do it for the poor ignoramuses. When I pointed out that I’ve been buying leather jackets online, and long before that from adverts just on measurements for getting on for fifty years, and that if the jackets are measured properly I know exactly what will fit me. He wrote loftily that I may be one of those who does know their own size…. But giving the distinct impression that he didn’t believe a word of it.

That sounds very much like the exchange i had with Diamond Dave!
Ignored all my measurements and then sent me a jacket one size too small and blamed me for it...

 

[Arnold]

Regarding returns: he said all textile J23 are custom per se. But yeah, even if mine was leather there's still the "custom" sleeves. Which aren't truly custom tho, see below...

Now regarding sleeve length: this one may answer both of the last questions.

Stuart said there were rider sleeves, "non-rider" sleeves, and third, you can specify your own precise sleeve length in inches/ cm. "Rider" is obviously standard for the J23 and other MC jackets. Obviously customer specification is "custom". Then, if I got him right there's apparently a standard non-rider length for each model, but ordering that is still a custom order.

So, a) maybe it's not that LW sleeves became longer, but that there are LW jackets circulating which have those non-rider sleeves and their 2nd hand buyer's just were never told about that? I have a LW Easy Ryder (textile also) that was made for the Japanese market in the late 90s, and I bought an even older Japanese women's jacket with his old "Flamingo" label (in the pattern he resurrected in 2014 and now calls Speed Demon). Both had pretty long sleeves relative to their bodies and compared to other MC jacket brands.

B) I get that "standardized length but still custom order" thing. But again this was some info that wasn't explained until late in the ordering process, just like the availablity of a fabric similar to the near-depleted one.

In my case, he cut the sleeves to that standard non-rider length, not to a specification of mine. We hadn't yet agreed on one because we hadn't agreed on the base size first, which again was because he didn't want to furnish any real world measurements, or give his opinion on the fit in some photos of mine, etc, as said before... and I think at that point he just lost patience - somewhat understandably, tho not without own fault of course - and apparently just wanted to get it done and went ahead without us having found a mutual agreement. He did get the chest and shoulder size and even the sleeve length right - props to him for that. Just the standard torso is too long for me to wear comfortably, especially when seated (which it was made for after all).

 

[Bunyip]

That's a real shame. I would guess most on this forum have experienced the disappointment of an ill fitting custom jacket that cost a bomb. At least Aero/ Langlitz etc will take them back and start again. I wouldn't be going back after that.

 

[flaminggroovy]

Stu's policy is clear ...
CUSTOM ORDERS

We will gladly undertake practically any custom work a Retail or Trade customer requires. However, we must caution the customer that TRADE/CUSTOM ORDERS areNOT RETURNABLE. ....,

 

[zebedee]

Chalk it up to experience and always read the fine print. Aero are good in that they will try to correct problems, which, bearing in mind the nature of tailor-made clothing and online selling, makes sense. Much as I like some of Lost Worlds' designs, the website forewarns me, so I have stayed away.

 

[flaminggroovy]

Sounds great, I think Stuart kind of concentrated on the bike market for a while. I've worn a Lost Worlds Easy Ryder for the last 10 years or so and thousands of miles in all kinds of weather on my 1972 BMW R75.

Its a BMW 750 CC...great bike. .
I had a 500 CC. .

 

[Arnold]

Stu's policy is clear ...
CUSTOM ORDERS

We will gladly undertake practically any custom work a Retail or Trade customer requires. However, we must caution the customer that TRADE/CUSTOM ORDERS areNOT RETURNABLE. ....,

Not sure why the quote. A) I was aware of this from the start, hence my desire to get it right the first time. B) It's not quite true, even - "practically any" in my book would include more than just lenght modifications.

Regarding staying away from LW - I won't, and I'll always admit Stuart has his pros as well as cons. I like that he does all of the comms himself. Have had difficult times trying to get custom sizes from other companies too, just for other reasons. The main lesson I took from this, so far, is that maybe one shouldn't let a manufacturer know quite how much you like their stuff until you've actually received it. Because that *might* keep the motivation to deliver as best as possible higher than if they can be sure you'll return even if it was a miss. It's a universal rule so why should it be different with jacket makers, especially specialized & temperamental ones.

 

[Sloan1874]

If I was a maker, I would want to deliver the best to every customer, not just those who 'play hard to get'. To do anything else is to offer hostages to fortune: "Dammit, you were so enthusiastic, I thought I could palm you off with any old crap! And now you're being difficult..."

 

[Arnold]

Good point. I was speculating, anyway - will never know what a different approach would have yielded.

I tried to order MC jackets in custom sizes from three other popular manufacturers, one tried to talk me out of my requests and advised going bigger (same as Stuart), the other wanted me to have my measurements taken with a "local" rep of theirs in my country who's actually a 1000 miles from my place. So, yes I didn't get exactly what I asked for from LW, and yes, most or all manufacturers seem a bit paranoid about customers' self-assessments. But Stuart didn't do the worst possible job, I just wanted to support some earlier posts that described LW stuff as somewhat on the large side (compared to my 1990s to recent Schott jkts, for example) for other future customers. I know now I should have given those posts more weight.

 

[Roma]

Yesterday I recieved my long-awaited Suburban. It's equipped with a 60+ year NOS Crown #10 zipper and has a specially requested red lining, nylon.
I would say it's awesome. Being a bomb-proof meanwhile a soft and pretty light-weight jacket, around 2.5 kg, it's a versatile jacket. Unfortunately, it's so cold I can't wear it outside and make a few good pics. The leather is 4 oz. The jacket is customized, longer sleeves and body.

 

[ButteMT61]

^^ Awesome! @Roma - more pics when you can.

 

[Roma]

^^ Awesome! @Roma - more pics when you can.

Absolutely, @ButteMT61.

 

[tmitchell59]

Congratulations.