Problems with Aero Jacket and Talon Zipper

[AeroFan_07]

Sounds like a neat plan! We'll look forward to photos as it breaks in...want to share photos of your boots?
Many of us on here are into those as well...

 

[Feliksas]

@AeroFan_07, here are a few albums of my William Lennon boots.

New: https://imgur.com/a/5ovNULl
1 month: https://imgur.com/a/PoSdZA1
7 months (+1500km, today): https://imgur.com/a/BJY6MgP

Will officially be available at WL as the "Combat Boot Mark V" in May! What do you think?

 

[senjorlossi]

Hi everyone!
This is an interesting thread. I have just recieved my long awaited A2 in heavy CXFQHH from Aero a few days ago. Maybe I´ll show it to you in a separate thread one of these days. The jacket came with the typical Talon Zipper, and I have had problems with it basically from day one. Literally in nine out of ten tries, the zip opened at a certain spot near the lower end. If you looked close, you could see an area of maybe 2-3 cm, where the teeth don´t join as they should, but instead stay in a slight upward angle. This results in the zip not closing correctly and opening up as soon as you move around with the jacket, or just go along the zip with your finger.

I was really quite annoyed and tried everything, like lubing the teeth with graphite, pulling the zipper extremely slow or in a slight angle to the left or right and so on. Nothing worked for me. I was already thinking about sending the jacket back and have the zip replaced. In the end I managed to adjust the gap on the Zipper in such a way that it is really tight, but you are just able to move it up and down. This obviously did the job. The zip now closes perfectly over its whole length. Basically it is like Charles from HPA wrote before: It seems that there is a very small margin on the gap of the zipper to be just as tight as to engage the teeth correctly and not be so tight that it cannot be moved anymore.

On my jacket, the problematic spot was the area where the waist knitting is attached to the leather. Here the jacket ist thicker and less flexible, thus obviously changing the strain on the zip, which leads to it not closing correctly if the zipper is not perfectly adjusted. Maybe the prolem aleady comes when the zip band is sewn into the jacket with its changing thickness of leather, which might result in the zip being "bent" towards the leather to a certain degree.

 

[Feliksas]

Hi everyone!
This is an interesting thread. I have just recieved my long awaited A2 in heavy CXFQHH from Aero a few days ago. Maybe I´ll show it to you in a separate thread one of these days. The jacket came with the typical Talon Zipper, and I have had problems with it basically from day one. Literally in nine out of ten tries, the zip opened at a certain spot near the lower end. If you looked close, you could see an area of maybe 2-3 cm, where the teeth don´t join as they should, but instead stay in a slight upward angle. This results in the zip not closing correctly and opening up as soon as you move around with the jacket, or just go along the zip with your finger.

This bothers me to no end :/ It reminds of of Apple or some other company, "Everything's fine, there are no problems with our keyboard, they're amazing" - then class action lawsuit, keyboards on laptops from 2016 onward can be replaced for free because they are in fact inferior.

Whatever, since I'm going to beat the crap out of this jacket, I'm reconciled to the fact that the zipper will break anyway, and then I'll get a #10 put in, so be it if my leather is punctured more than I would like, and not at my own hands.

I don't suppose you contacted Aero? Worth complaining just so that they know, because if nobody complains, there's the illusion that everything's ok. But I don't understand, how did you tighten it? I wasn't aware that one can modify a zipper's function by oneself.

 

[El Marro]

This bothers me to no end :/ It reminds of of Apple or some other company, "Everything's fine, there are no problems with our keyboard, they're amazing" - then class action lawsuit, keyboards on laptops from 2016 onward can be replaced for free because they are in fact inferior.

Whatever, since I'm going to beat the crap out of this jacket, I'm reconciled to the fact that the zipper will break anyway, and then I'll get a #10 put in, so be it if my leather is punctured more than I would like, and not at my own hands.

I don't suppose you contacted Aero? Worth complaining just so that they know, because if nobody complains, there's the illusion that everything's ok. But I don't understand, how did you tighten it? I wasn't aware that one can modify a zipper's function by oneself.

Feliksas,
I agree 100%. Especially when you are spending a lot of money for a product that is supposed to last for decades.

 

[senjorlossi]

Hi Feliksas,
I do also totally agree with you. If I spend a lot of money on a high quality product, I can expect it to work perfectly. I payed the whole price, so I want it to funcion without any flaws.

if you look on the Internet, you actually find a ton of information about repairing a non-functional zipper. There are also many videos on YouTube, for example. I never really had to think a lot about it, but seems to be quite a common thing. Okay, normally on older clothes, not brand new ones… The basic idea is that you gently press the upper and lower part of the zipper together, and by this tighten the gap where the left and right part of the zip are running through. Of course you have to do that on both sindes of the zipper. This somehow makes the two sindes of the zip to join in the right manner inside the zipper. The secret is to work very careful and only make very small adjustments, until you find the spacing that works best. I used some pliers for pressing the Zipper and a kitchen knife to loosen it when I went to far.

I did not yet contact Aero About my problems, but in fact it might be a good idea to do so, at least to let them know. You are Right: if nobody complains, they might think that everything is great with their Talon zips.

 

[Feliksas]

Hi Feliksas,...

I did not yet contact Aero About my problems, but in fact it might be a good idea to do so, at least to let them know. You are Right: if nobody complains, they might think that everything is great with their Talon zips.

Maybe some of the more senior members of the forum might consider starting a survey to see how many FL members have had problems with their zippers? Because right now, it's just he-said-she-said.

I'll add another few cents: If I were buying an era specific *costume*, I would agree with them categorically refusing to put in a bigger zipper...but since I'm not buying a costume, I'm buying a functional 800+gbp jacket, I want it to work like it's supposed to

 

[Edward]

Wow, i'm surprised...Holly/Aero *will not* use a bigger zipper even if I provide it, because it's not authentic. I quote,

"I’m afraid we don’t fit heavy duty zips as they don’t fit in with what we do, we only fit period correct zips and we wouldn’t want to fit one with our label."

what do you guys think? As a business, I'm a dude that's buying what will probably be close to a 1000 pound leather jacket, and they refuse to put a slightly bigger zipper on it.

I'm a little frustrated by this so I'm not going to write back right away, but I'm frustrated enough to maybe go with another company :/ Going to cool my jets though, long day at work, and I'm probably less patient than I should be.

I don't see any issue with this. IN reality, you're dealing here with a niche, artisan company - not a mass-market, popular fashion chaser. Aero have a reputation based on what they do; everything they put out there they have to be happy with bearing their name. House-style is house-style, really - you'll find Saville Row tailors can be the same. (Edward VIII's Row tailor refused to provide him with beltloops on his trousers, so he had the jackets made on the Row, and the trousers done in NYC, resulting in his 'Transatlantic suits'.)

Is it a crazy idea to ask them to make it without the zippers then, and have someone put them in locally?

Yes.

 

[Feliksas]

Yes.

Lol. Ok. Anyway, not all battles are worth fighting, and I like the Aero style enough that I'm not going to let a zipper dissuade me from getting the jacket--I'm just going to mentally steel myself for it breaking immediately and my having to pay someone locally to put in a tougher one

Thanks guys! Pics when I get it.

 

[Peacoat]

Lol. Ok. Anyway, not all battles are worth fighting, and I like the Aero style enough that I'm not going to let a zipper dissuade me from getting the jacket--I'm just going to mentally steel myself for it breaking immediately and my having to pay someone locally to put in a tougher one

Thanks guys! Pics when I get it.

The zip probably will be OK unless it is incorrectly installed as mine was. Hundreds of members here have had no problems with the little #6 Aero zip; I had trouble with mine from day one. I was actually glad when it failed so I could replace it with something that worked properly. Didn't much like what it cost to fix it, but at least I had a jacket with a zip that worked properly.

 

[Guppy]

I don't see any issue with this. IN reality, you're dealing here with a niche, artisan company - not a mass-market, popular fashion chaser. Aero have a reputation based on what they do; everything they put out there they have to be happy with bearing their name. House-style is house-style, really - you'll find Saville Row tailors can be the same. (Edward VIII's Row tailor refused to provide him with beltloops on his trousers, so he had the jackets made on the Row, and the trousers done in NYC, resulting in his 'Transatlantic suits'.)



Yes.

Yes, and you should do it, just to drive home the message that you are not happy with their standard zipper, and you are the customer. You're the one paying for the jacket and wearing it, not them. If they don't want to make you what you want, you can take your business elsewhere. That's what I say, anyway.

 

[Edward]

If they don't want to make you what you want, you can take your business elsewhere. That's what I say, anyway.

Pretty much what Aero would also tell you. There was a time when that wasn't so; I believe Ken also still has a mandarin-collared Windward somewhre that stands as a perfect, paradigm example that the customer is not always right.

 

[Monitor]

Lol. Ok. Anyway, not all battles are worth fighting, and I like the Aero style enough that I'm not going to let a zipper dissuade me from getting the jacket--I'm just going to mentally steel myself for it breaking immediately and my having to pay someone locally to put in a tougher one

Thanks guys! Pics when I get it.

Don't worry, man. I've had a bunch of Aero jackets jackets with that same zipper, some were really old and I have one now that I'm selling and while somewhat fussy, the zipper on each worked perfectly.

Zipper isn't the problem. The tape is. If the tape isn't old, the zipper will last you just as long as any no. 10 YKK and operate equally well. That is to say, you've nothing to be concerned about. It'll work.

Aero's no. 5 Talons don't have a higher failure rate than normal.