Sizing help for Aero Pilot Jackets

[TheMilkman]

Hello, first post here, I’m also brand new to Leather Jackets. I’m a young adult who is looking to get my first high end jacket that will hopefully last me quite a while. I really am in love with the brown leather white sheepskin pilot jacket look. I’ve looked at both the B-6 and D-1 from Aero and they both look great, with the main difference from what I can tell size wise being that the former is a tighter fit. I generally get stuff oversized for a baggier look but I have heard leather doesn’t quite fall the same way other materials do. I’m perfectly fine getting one that fits me better, but I’m worried that I could potentially hit a growth spurt (several men in my family have hit growth spurts later in life)or just get fat, despite the fact that I am very skinny, and have such an expensive jacket no longer fit me. Does anyone have any advice on sizing? Could I add a bit of size to my measurements to cover any body changes without making a jacket look ridiculous? Just any wisdom in general about these jackets? Let me know, and thank you in advance!

 

[GUYSWEETLAND]

Measure your body and comfortable clothes you have.
Compare the size, the answer will come out.

 

[Guppy]

If you aren't sure if you're done growing, maybe now isn't the time to buy a jacket Y could hand down to your grandkids.

If you do buy it now, don't worry about outgrowing it. Just get the right size for now, and adjust later.

I would recommend getting a used jacket by a mid tier maker and saving your money, and when you are older, done growing, and filled out, established and successful, then drop the big money.

I stopped growing (height) at age 17, but since then I've gained 50 lbs. and 2 or 3 jacket sizes. But between ages 17 and 35, I had only gained maybe 25-30 lbs, and could still wear stuff that fit me in high school, although it definitely looked different on me. Everyone is different of course, and I'm probably the exception rather than the norm.

But you can probably get a decent jacket for under $500, maybe considerably less, and look at something higher priced when it's more affordable for your income.

 

[MrProper]

I generally get stuff oversized for a baggier look but I have heard leather doesn’t quite fall the same way other materials do.

I think a D1 can be worn one or two sizes larger without looking too bad. My wife sometimes wears mine and it's clearly too big (that's why I ordered her own).
I'm not sure if the oversized B6 will look good either. Hopefully I'll get mine in the next few weeks.

 

[Edward]

If you aren't sure if you're done growing, maybe now isn't the time to buy a jacket Y could hand down to your grandkids.

If you do buy it now, don't worry about outgrowing it. Just get the right size for now, and adjust later.

I would recommend getting a used jacket by a mid tier maker and saving your money, and when you are older, done growing, and filled out, established and successful, then drop the big money.

I stopped growing (height) at age 17, but since then I've gained 50 lbs. and 2 or 3 jacket sizes. But between ages 17 and 35, I had only gained maybe 25-30 lbs, and could still wear stuff that fit me in high school, although it definitely looked different on me. Everyone is different of course, and I'm probably the exception rather than the norm.

But you can probably get a decent jacket for under $500, maybe considerably less, and look at something higher priced when it's more affordable for your income.

Yes. This. I'm the same height now as I was when I was 21, but I'm also a full ten inches bigger round the middle. I've been bigger than that again (by nearly another 10") as an adult. Since shifting a lot of weight, I've also found that in the last twenty years - fifty now - my shoulders have spread and though I'm now the waist size again I was before I put on a hue amount of weight, I have jacket that won't fit again because of my shoulders. Worth putting this into the mix - it's a rare person can buy a jacket at 21 and it fit forever.

Maybe worth looking into the used market.

The B6 will be a more fitted jacket of the two. It came about as a result of pilots in single-seat fighters with cramped cockpits finding their B3s overly bulky in that environment, and so swapping them with ground crew for D1s issued to the latter. The B6 was designed as a pilot-focussed jacket that took some nods from the D1, but fit that environment better again.