My redone Aero jacket just arrived.

[JLStorm]

I ordered a custom Aero jacket a little over a year ago and with the exception of ordering the collar far to large, I loved it. The collar was ordered as big as my sheepskin jacket collar, but due to the cut and the thickness, just ended up looking like an airplane wing, not anything like my oversized b3 style collar. Anyway, I ended up losing a bunch of weight last year and needed my jacket taken in by 6" in the waist and about 1.5" in the chest. After talking with Will about the alterations and mentioning that the jacket wasnt quite as warm as I had wanted, he suggesting that he leave the chest as is, insert a thin sheepskin lining and then just cut the sides down by 4". I also told him to take down the collar to a more manageable size. The jacket is just perfect now. Its amazing what Amanda and Will can do based on a few emails and one phone call.

This is my original B3 / ANJ4 cross that I wanted to mimic the collar on:

This new jacket was a highwayman / cheyenne cross made of extra heavy 6+ oz brown steerhide and weighs in right around 12 pounds (5.5kg) . I loved the jacket at first sight, but since the collar was so big it lost all its shape and looked a bit goofy:

This is the jacket now, after having it tapered, sheepskin lining added, and collar reduced:

After a 13 months of ownership and quite a bit of wear, it still stands up on its own

The collar has a much better shape now

The color and texture of the fleece is not what I expected, but much better. The fleece is very textured with really nice separation between tufts of fleece and the color is a deep grey with a hint of brown (which isnt showing very well in the photos for some reason) which will hide dirt very well.

The fit of the jacket is absolutely perfect, which is loose enough to fit a sweater underneath comfortably. I could not be happier. I dont have any photos of me wearing it, but I'll post one or two soon.

 

[apba1166]

Thanks for sharing this. I'm surprised one could add a sheepskin lining and the jacket would still work just as well--or even better as you say--through the shoulders and chest. Really interesting. Has anyone else added a sheepskin lining to a jacket? That's something I'd be interested in knowing.

 

[JLStorm]

It wouldnt have worked had I not lost all of the weight that I lost. I had an extra 1.5" in the chest from losing weight and thats the space the sheepskin took up. Will worked with me to make sure he used sheepskin thin enough that it did not take up more extra room than I had available in the chest area. The fleece feels as thick as that in my b3, but the hide must be very thin.

 

[HighandDry]

I remember your coat from last year and I thought that the collar was way too big! I think it looks much better now!

Great job on the weight loss- P90X?

 

[JLStorm]

lol no, wife went on a diet, she does all the cooking, so I lost weight. We just kept eating healthy because we liked it and the weight stayed off.

 

[Tony No-Toes]

I remember that behemoth collar from a while back. I even saved some pics of it just to geek out on it. Looks good now! Looks like the most comfortable jacket in the world in fact with all that fur everywhere. Langlitz has a fur lined option that I was thinking about getting on a crazy blue goat skin bomber but I cannot justify it because of where I live. You'll get some use out of this fine jacket up where your at. Enjoy it!

 

[Dav]

That's certainly a great jacket JLStorm, love the look of the leather.There's been a few photos posted recently of Aero's steerhide greatly increasing my anticipation of my own order. Looking forward to the fit pics.
Dav

 

[JanSolo]

Looks good to me. I like the reduced collar much better. Please post some pics of you wearing the jacket. Please use natural lighting sources. Outdoor shots would be great.

 

[Edward]

Looks fantastic! I really like the idea of a sheepskin lined HH jacket - that has to be the ultimate combination of warmth and durability. I did toy with the idea of a shearling lined Barnstormer (I do eventually want a Barnstormer with a bit of length added for wearing over a suit jacket in Winter), but I don't know that it would ever get cold enough for it here. In the several years I've been wearing a LW B3 in Winter, I've never once needed a sweater under it as well as a shirt...

 

[ButteMT61]

That is a beautiful jacket! But I have to ask: what was with that original collar? That was HUGE! it looks incredible in the "now"pix. It almost looks black - I assume that's the lighting?

 

[eClairvaux]

As Mr.Solo says: please take some shots in daylight. Other then that: great improvement!

 

[Peacoat]

Yes, the collar is a bit more manageable now. What was the original lining?

 

[Metatron]

It has a really heroic look now, it must be a relief to have the design resolved finally!

 

[univibe88]

Congrats on the weight loss.

I love the re-worked jacket. It's great how you can work with Aero to redo a jacket if you need it adjusted. Imagine if that was an $800 department store jacket. You'd be SOL.

You said it's a highwayman/cheyenne combo design. Can you explain this more? What features from each?

 

[NowOrNever]

Wouldn't it be wild if some asian factory started producing "copies" of that jacket with the original HUGE collar ;-)
Ebay would be flooded by vendors trying to describe the collar arrangement in semi coherent English, kind of a "Lost in Translation" style humor! (Snow storm not included!)

 

[Italian-wiseguy]

The first version, with the "wing" collar, reminded me of this:

(Ettore Muti, aviator and notorious fascist with a private purchase, and probably made to order jacket; italian air force issued only cloth jackets with removable liners and faux mouton collars, with elastized knitted cuffs and waistband);

I like the redone version better

 

[kyboots]

I think it is a really good looking jacket with the reduced collar! John

 

[alfyman]

I really Like the Sheepskin lining, I'm a fan of a large collar, But it looks Very nice..

 

[JLStorm]

Sorry for the delay in replying, I was camping without access to electricity or running water, as it should be. Jan, I will try to get some photos in natural light in the next few days, I was in my pajamas when I got the jacket from UPS and I didnt feel like changing lol.

As far as the highwayman cheyenne cross, its got most of the style of the highwayman but the cut of the cheyene.

Ron, the original lining was alpaca overlayed with cotton for durability, I actually asked Aero to check and make sure there was any alpaca under the cotton because the insulation felt so non existent. I really wasnt impressed with the alpaca. The shearling is great, not too warm, not to cool.

 

[miger]

Wow! that collar was a lot of shearing!