What Price Glory A-2 Jacket

[Edward]

I disagree with you on cotton linings - I prefer the way they feel, especially on skin with short sleeves, and I'm willing to put up with the added effort getting them on and off. When the temps and sun warm things to the upper range of when you can still wear a leather jacket, having soft, breathable cotton vs. a synthetic lining makes for much greater comfort.

But hey, that's me...

Yeah, it's all personal preference, but I too notice a big difference.... I've worn an Aero AN6552 and an Aero A2, both in the same goathide, in high temperatures (well.... for me, anyhow. 22 Celsius....). The USN jacket felt a lot hotter, which I put down to a combination of the rayon lining, mouton collar, and slightly closer fit. Interesting to experience the differences, actually, given the consistency of the leather between them both. Of the pair, the A2 is actually wearable for a couple of months longer in the year.

 

[TXFlyGuy]

Well, guess I'm in the minority here. Still prefer the "silkiness" of rayon, though, especially with long sleeved shirts during the cooler time of the year. Again, just personal choice.

Breathable? Contrary to popular thinking, leather does not really "breathe" all that well. We switched from leather to a more standard fabric for our custom upholstered seats for the replica P-51 for this reason. Much less expensive too.

 

[Edward]

My Wested Raiders has a cotton body lining with satin in the sleeves. Makes it easier to don, though tbh I find my arms get sweatier than the body when it's hot. Probably was daft wearing it in 22/24 degree heat at the Taj Mahal anyhow, but it was the only secure pocket I had for my wallet at the time...

As ever, though, do what works best for you. I think it's great we have such a range of stuff out there these days, from total vintage repro to adapted versions for other tastes. Vive la difference!

 

[Seb Lucas]

The cotton versus synthetic lining doesn't make much difference to how hot the Jacket feels in my experience and we do heat over here too well. What does make a difference is the weight of the leather and that's why I would choose goat over FQHH any time.

I prefer the breathable polyester twill used by G&B over any other lining. It's way stronger that cotton which tends to wear out fairly quickly. Alan at Johnson's Leather put this lining in all of my jackets from him and he agreed it was the toughest lining available.

 

[TXFlyGuy]

The cotton versus synthetic lining doesn't make much difference to how hot the Jacket feels in my experience and we do heat over here too well. What does make a difference is the weight of the leather and that's why I would choose goat over FQHH any time.

I prefer the breathable polyester twill used by G&B over any other lining. It's way stronger that cotton which tends to wear out fairly quickly. Alan at Johnson's Leather put this lining in all of my jackets from him and he agreed it was the toughest lining available.

I knew there was a reason I like the poly better! Plus, my G&B A-2 just slides on/off so nicely, and has complete freedom of movement without that "binding" feeling that the cotton liners have. Checked every coat in my closet...ranging from inexpensive casual jackets, to my A-2's, G-1, B-15, and my custom 100% wool pilot uniform, and even dress sport jackets. They all have some sort of poly/satin lining. None of them get hot, and I wear my pilot uniform coat 12 months year round.

My Cockpit USA has a cotton blend of some sort, the Alpha A-2 was cotton. It was a challenge to put on with a long sleeve shirt. The G&B just feels so correct when wearing it. My Schott (USW) G-1 feels good also.

 

[morrison2951]

Count me in as a G&B A-2 fan as well- I love mine in soft, supple deer skin!

 

[thor]

Received my WPG A-2 jacket (ordered it 5 days ago, so super-fast delivery from UAE). It is decent quality and far better then one would expect of a $150 jacket! If it fit properly I'd definitely keep it as a daily-wear "beater" jacket (was going to add afew patches too).
I'm a size 46 long/tall (I am 6' 1" tall and weigh 210lbs) so I went with the XXL. Shoulders and sleeve length was fine but the body was too loose and blousey for me. Sadly I am sending this one back (WPG has a good return/refund policy).
Overall surprisingly good quality; definitely worth the $150 price tag!

 

[Smithy]

Received my WPG A-2 jacket (ordered it 5 days ago, so super-fast delivery from UAE). It is decent quality and far better then one would expect of a $150 jacket! If it fit properly I'd definitely keep it as a daily-wear "beater" jacket (was going to add afew patches too).
I'm a size 46 long/tall (I am 6' 1" tall and weigh 210lbs) so I went with the XXL. Shoulders and sleeve length was fine but the body was too loose and blousey for me. Sadly I am sending this one back (WPG has a good return/refund policy).
Overall surprisingly good quality; definitely worth the $150 price tag!

Sorry to hear that the fit was off for you Thor.

Think I must have gotten lucky with mine. I'm leaner than you though Thor (6'1'' and 176lbs and went for the Large size) and am wondering if the WPG is suited better to my sort of body shape?

I see WPG has slightly changed the sizing guide from when I ordered mine.

 

[thor]

I'm always hit and miss with "standard" sized A-2's Smithy. A size 46 long/tall is usually spot on for me. With the WPG, if I went with the XL it would be too short in the sleeves but good in the body. E-mailed them and got a "return authorization code" and I'll ship it back on Monday. No worries (I've got no shortage of A-2's in my closet!).
It is a nice jacket Smithy; you snagged a good deal my friend. Wear it in good health.

 

[Smithy]

I'm always hit and miss with "standard" sized A-2's Smithy. A size 46 long/tall is usually spot on for me. With the WPG, if I went with the XL it would be too short in the sleeves but good in the body. E-mailed them and got a "return authorization code" and I'll ship it back on Monday. No worries (I've got no shortage of A-2's in my closet!).
It is a nice jacket Smithy; you snagged a good deal my friend. Wear it in good health.

Thanks mate

 

[Trotsky]

Just wanted to say I recieved mine today (XXL) and it fits my 5'10" way too fat body perfectly. I am seriously giddy on well it fits. The price is unbeatable. Quality is pretty good as well. Very, very happy. Been wanting an A-2 for a while but didn't want to break the bank. The WPG jacket makes it.

 

[Smithy]

Just wanted to say I recieved mine today (XXL) and it fits my 5'10" way too fat body perfectly. I am seriously giddy on well it fits. The price is unbeatable. Quality is pretty good as well. Very, very happy. Been wanting an A-2 for a while but didn't want to break the bank. The WPG jacket makes it.

Good to hear Trotsky. I've worn mine virtually everyday for just over 2 months now and love it.

 

[Smithy]

Thought I'd give an update on my WPG A-2. I've had it now for coming up 5 months and it's had a lot of wear and is bearing up beautifully, getting really nice grain popping up in the high movement areas like goat usually does.

Well being so thrilled I thought I might order another one from WPG in the next size up so I could have a jacket that could layer under over winter (especially moving back to Norway later this year) - my large size is perfect with a shirt and even thin jumper but anything more and it's too trim. So I ordered an XL from WPG and when it turned up what a disappointment. The workmanship was shoddy - loose threads, nicks and scuffs out of the leather here and there, the collar was off kilter and the pocket flaps were unfinished and seriously shoddy. Honestly this was a million miles different from my first WPG A-2 which is a surprisingly well-made jacket, not far off the quality of the premier maker jackets I own.

Here's a couple of examples. First pic is the pocket flaps on my first WPG A-2, properly finished. The second was the XL size version, unfinished leather improperly done.

I returned this XL one and expressed my complaints with it and WPG quickly exchanged it for another. But sadly it still has the unfinished pocket flaps, the collar is not a patch on my first Large size WPG and the workmanship is still nowhere near as good as my first one.

I can't say for sure but my first WPG A-2 was one of the very first that they made and it really is a peach, in all honesty it is so close to some of the premium jacket makers in terms of workmanship that it was the reason why I was so keen to sing its praises in this thread. But these later jackets are nowhere near the standard of my first. A real shame as my first WPG A-2 shows what WPG's contractors are capable of. Sadly it seems that quality control is a bit all over the shop.

I'm just pleased I got my first one. But just really wanted to add this update in case some read this thread and ended up with a jacket which was not of the same exceptionally high quality as my first and which I had talked up here.

I wouldn't sell my first for three times the price I paid but I'd flog the second one for a song.

 

[Worf]

Wow, what a difference. I'm sorry you're so disappointed. Perhaps they realsized what a bargain they were selling and decided to cut the cost of production to raise the profit margin. Or, more likely, they switched sources and the workmanship has suffered. Sorry man...

Worf

 

[Smithy]

Wow, what a difference. I'm sorry you're so disappointed. Perhaps they realsized what a bargain they were selling and decided to cut the cost of production to raise the profit margin. Or, more likely, they switched sources and the workmanship has suffered. Sorry man...

Worf

It's Ok Worf as my first one is just such a really great and well-made jacket so I'm so happy I have it. But I think it's a shame that some of them (and perhaps these are the later ones) are so far different in terms of quality that they may as well be a different jacket.

I just wanted to give this update as after the tooting the horn for my first one I would hate to think that someone might have read this thread and ordered one and ended up with something of lesser quality than my first. Perhaps I was unlucky but this XL and it's replacement may as well be from a different manufacturer. They are as different as chalk and cheese from my first WPG A-2.

You might very well be right about changing suppliers, either way it's a shame that all their offerings couldn't be of the same standard as my first one.

Caveat emptor.

 

[morrison2951]

Sorry to see this happen- sort of a bait and switch with the lesser quality apparent in the later jackets.

 

[Smithy]

Sorry to see this happen- sort of a bait and switch with the lesser quality apparent in the later jackets.

Thanks Morrison.

Even the leather is different. My first has different leather compared to the others. The first one has lovely grained supple leather, the follow-ups had drier, less grained hides. That's probably even apparent in the pics above which were taken at the same time, in the same location and lighting conditions.

A good upside from all of this is that I've decided to take the plunge and get a Good Wear. I bought this original WPG A-2 just purely to see if I could live with (and like) the A-2 design and it's done that. I've got a great jacket with my first WPG A-2 which will hold me in good stead until I can get the Good Wear

 

[Sloan1874]

Which GW do you have in mind? At least at the moment - I suspect I'd change my mind 10 times over before I settled on one.

 

[Spitfire]

Bugger!!!! I think the same thing happened when they started doing "Irvins" a few of the first ones were actually rather nice - whereupon they started replacing some leather parts with plastic/artificial leather - cutting corners here and there, just in order to earn more on each jacket. Stupid way of doing business. If I may say so. I am at the mo waiting for my A2 from Aero in Scotland to arrive. The season is right for it.

 

[Smithy]

Which GW do you have in mind? At least at the moment - I suspect I'd change my mind 10 times over before I settled on one.

Probably a Dubow 27798 in seal HH Sloan but I've got plenty of time to change my mind over the wait period which knowing me will no doubt happen

Bugger!!!! I think the same thing happened when they started doing "Irvins" a few of the first ones were actually rather nice - whereupon they started replacing some leather parts with plastic/artificial leather - cutting corners here and there, just in order to earn more on each jacket. Stupid way of doing business. If I may say so. I am at the mo waiting for my A2 from Aero in Scotland to arrive. The season is right for it.

Bet you can't wait! Post a ton of pics when it turns up Søren. Cecilie was saying just the other day that when we're back, one of the first trips we have to do is to KBH to take Anna to the Tivoli and to see you guys!