My custom lambskin Wested ROTLA

[MaX]

I finally got my Wested jacket! It's been made in authentic lambskin. It was a hard choice between this and the dark brown lamb. Ultimately I went for the one picked for the movie, thinking that I could always make it darker.

I ordered the jacket specifying a bunch of specs compiled by agent5. Wested got most of them spot on. Discrepancies are at most 2mm, except for sleeve and back length, which are longer than specified. But as it turns out, this is to my advantage. The longer back fits me better, and the longer sleeves yields room for shrinkage / crumbling, which I hadn't accounted for when I ordered.

There are a few things that I forgot to specify when ordering, so unfortunately the zipper does not extend all the way to the bottom.

I'm planning on distressing it, so I took some before pics, some of which you can see below.











And here is the easily readable certificate of authenticity. Great font choice. ;D

[irishindyfan]

That's a very nice jacketm Max. I'm glad you've received it eventually. Still waiting on mine. If you don't mind my saying so, maybe it's just the lighting or whatever, but does the lambskin look brown AT ALL? I ordered the LC/CS Authentic Lambskin and now I'm worried it won't look brown. With all due respect, your jacket looks grey in those pics.

[MaX]

I don't blame you for thinking so. I've found it extremely difficult to photograph it properly. Depending on the light, it looks very dark brown, almost black, as seen in the full front and full back pictures. Other times it looks very brown, as seen in the third pic, the one of the collar. Don't worry, it WILL look brown.

[irishindyfan]

That's good, Max. I was getting worried there for a second.

[zmarty]

nice jacket! Wested's leather always seems to be top notch stuff. really slick jacket. post some full gear pics so we can see the full affect of the jacket

[MaX]

Thanks! Yeah, I guess I lucked out a little. I've heard stories of them messing up custom specs pretty badly.

I actually just added full gear pics today!

[Noah]

That jacket looks really good. It looks like the color isn't coming through in the picture, but I'm sure it looks brown. Seeing other authentic brown lambskin jackets, I really like the look of it. I've actually seen some pretty big differences in the color of authentic lambskin.

[MaX]

The color is really hard to capture, I think... Which explains why I've been hesitant to purchase this, just based on pictures. In the pics I saw, it didn't look just right to me. But I'll tell you, it looks great IRL!

You've seen big differences in pictures or IRL? This is my first IRL experience with it, but I've also seen a lot of different colors in pictures.

[Noah]

EDIT: I was mistaken about the two jackets I was talking about being authentic. They were DARK BROWN. And they were not purchased a year apart, but a couple of months apart. Just wanted to clear that up. But it still remains that they both had different looks in the color of the leather.

But your jacket looks really good! Looks well constructed.

[MaX]

And they were both "authentic"? Strange. Maybe one just got darker with time.

[Noah]

EDIT: Like my above post, I didn't remember correctly. They both were DARK BROWN and they were purchased a couple of months apart. But, the batches of leather must have been different. One was "milk chocolate" brown, and the other was dark brown. But they both look really good.

If you can, could you take some pictures of the jacket outside in natural sunlight?

[MaX]

All the sunlight I get at the moment has been while I'm at work. When I get the chance I'll snap some photos.

[Noah]

I edited my above posts. I corrected the information about those jackets I was referring to.

[MaX]

Hmm, maybe they mistakenly used a regular authentic for one of them... How far apart are the colors?

I got home early today, so i thought I'd take some outdoors photos, but it's cloudy outside, so this is the best I could do. More sunlight brings out the brown more.







I'll snap more if the sun gets out. Hopefully it will, before I start distressing it.

Edit: Btw, all the pics in the first post are actually in natural lighting. It's indoors, but lighted by the sun through my windows.

[Noah]

Thanks for those pictures! The jacket looks really good! I can see more brown in it outside. The leather is very nice.

Yeah it's possible they accidently used authentic on one of them. One jacket has dark brown leather, and the other has lighter brown leather so it looks more like authentic lamb.

[MaX]

Okay, I started the distressing process. I've tried both household alcohol and isopropyl alcohol. Neither took the shine off. I probably just didn't rub long enough, I'm not sure.

So I decided to go ahead and gently work it with sand paper. Some parts of the jacket took to it a lot faster than others, so it doesn't look the same all over, but I think it works.

Sorry about the lousy mobile cam photos. Better photos will come. Tomorrow I'm taking a bath with the jacket (unrelated to the photo part, just saying ;D). Fingers crossed.

[Pennsylvania Jones]

Looks awesome! Isn't uneven distressing wonderful?

When I get my jacket (when I start collecting Indy Gear), I'll probably stick to the simpler distressing methods like throwing it into the washing machine and wadding it into a ball to dry.

With my current jacket I have distressing sessions while I empty the vacuum. 'nuff said.

Steven

[Noah]

Great job with the distressing!

The water should take away some of the shine. I wore my Todd's out in the rain for a short while and it already looks a little less shiny.

[MaX]

Thanks! I just took a shower with it this morning. The water was pretty cold, but it actually felt warm through the jacket. I got shocked when it hit me directly, when going over the collar, though.

I considered the balling up method, but I wanted to be sure to get those wrinkles in the sleeves. After it's dried out I might ball the body up, leaving the sleeves un-balled, and leave it like that for a while.

It would be great if some more of the shine went off after the shower. Otherwise I might give another turn with the sand paper.

[Noah]

Cool! The best thing to do after you soak it in the shower is to wear it so that you get those nice wrinkles in the sleeves. It will conform to your body. Just wear it at least until it almost dries.

I'm guessing some of the shine will come off. That's what I hear when people soak their jackets. If not, a bit more sand paper could help.

Post some pictures later!

[MaX]

I'm actually still wearing it. It just won't dry out! I've cheated a little, using a hair dryer, which can blow cold air.

So far, wrinkles in sleeves: accomplished! And it does seem to fit me better.

Since it's not completely dry yet, I can't tell about the shine. At the moment it doesn't look like any/much shine has gone up. Also, the jacket hardly looks distressed when it's wet. It's beginning to show again now that it's almost dry.

[Noah]

Yeah they take a while to dry. You can even sleep in it!

Glad to hear the sleeves are getting wrinkled and it's fitting you better. When it dries it will be easier to tell if any shine has gone off. And after it dries use some Pecards on it and it should be fine.

I like your new avatar!

[MaX]

Hmm, maybe I should sleep in full gear, just so it doesn't seem weird. ;D

I think I've found at least one area that needs just a touch more with the sand paper. Won't pecards add shine? I'm thinking I might not put pecards on it. At least for halloween. I have a suspicion it'll look more authentic.

Thanks, I thought the avatar would be appropriate.

[Pennsylvania Jones]

Nice Avatar, MaX!

ARCHIVAL EDIT: MaX's Avatar:

Nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist.

Steven

[MaX]

Thanks PJ!