I have just spent a few minutes scanning through the various repro jackets from various companies and have noticed the obsession with originality in labels stitch work, cottons and tanning methods etc. Nothing wrong with that really.
But what if the jacket is treated how it should be or would have been in days gone by. That is to say, you are wearing your (for example only) your Goodwear A2 original contract repro and you do all the things a young man on discharge from the military would possibly do. Play baseball in it, use it as a marker for a field game, get under a car in it etc, same with your reproduction Buco J24. You ride your bike and fix it wearing this jacket for most of your life then pass it down through the family.
Will this item gain the patina of life and one day be able to pass as original? Will anybody be able to tell repro from original?
I have an Eastman B3 Roughwear, I dont treat it badly but it gets worn to walk the dog and lounge about in when it's cold, there are bald spots where originals have them and the only thing to really tell them apart is the finish and the fact it is clean.
So the question is, how do you tell a new un from an old un in 30 years with 30 years of wear ingrained. Would you care?
Johnny T
But what if the jacket is treated how it should be or would have been in days gone by. That is to say, you are wearing your (for example only) your Goodwear A2 original contract repro and you do all the things a young man on discharge from the military would possibly do. Play baseball in it, use it as a marker for a field game, get under a car in it etc, same with your reproduction Buco J24. You ride your bike and fix it wearing this jacket for most of your life then pass it down through the family.
Will this item gain the patina of life and one day be able to pass as original? Will anybody be able to tell repro from original?
I have an Eastman B3 Roughwear, I dont treat it badly but it gets worn to walk the dog and lounge about in when it's cold, there are bald spots where originals have them and the only thing to really tell them apart is the finish and the fact it is clean.
So the question is, how do you tell a new un from an old un in 30 years with 30 years of wear ingrained. Would you care?
Johnny T
