weathered Wested jacket

Posted by Max from ascend3-138.extern.uni-essen.de on November 11, 1998 at 10:25:07:

In Reply to: THE QUEST OF INDIANA JONES COSTUME IN LONDON posted by Azuma on November 11, 1998 at 08:45:35:

: THE QUEST OF INDIANA JONES COSTUME IN LONDON

: Hello:

: I went to London to search Indy's stuffs for 5 days between 30th Oct to 3rd Nov with my wested Indy jacket. It took me almost 20 hours to fly from Taipei to KL then transfer to London and spent me US$2000 for this trip. I did visit some store from the Indy supplier list which we can find in Indy diggs site and checked the Indy wax portrait figure. Actually I measured the costume of the wax very carefully and I don't think that is the original costume from movie, the jacket is made of cowhide(my opinion) and some slight difference between the one we got from Wested also the hat does not come from H.J. hatter. But I am not sure where did get the shirt and pants. The shirt is almost the same from movie, it got 1 and 1/2" pleats on each side through the pocket, but the buttons aren't match the one in the movie. the leather belt seems from "Raiders", but without whip holder. MK VII bag is in the color of dark olive(not the British issue) and the one inch leather strap which linked to bag with some slim rope and with no buckle on it so not adjustable. Military belt is in sand color with used buckle. Shoes could be the same one but shape is kind of strange.

: After long waiting for Chris info about weathered jacket, I decided to go to Wested by myself. I got there on 2nd Nov around 4:30PM, unfortunately I missed Mr.. Botwright there, but I met other staffs there. Jerry knows a lot of jacket details and gave me some of info about it who also showed me how they work on the jackets. Doris is the original tailor who did the jacket for Ford, she is really nice lady. And I did see the pre-weathered jacket. If you plan to buy the pre-weathered jacket, I would suggest you not to buy it. But you could buy the cowhide one, it maybe a little heavy but easy to be weathered by our own.

: H.J. hatter's no longer on the 10 Old Bond street, but I did not go to the new address, coz' it is not easy for me to travel in London, some location I could not find by myself.

: I also went to André Dometakis' shirt office. I would like to call it an office instead of shop, coz' you could only see a chair and a desk from outside, but unfortunately the office is closed until 9th Nov, that was sad to me for not reaching him in London, you know, 20 hours fly....

: Camden Town is a good place for searching antique stuffs, I found the most similar leather strap buckle for MK VII bag there, also a leather craft shop made me 2 top quality straps for my bags which cost 30 pound for both of them.

: I saw a different issue of MK VII in Covent Garden, it called Indian bag which look the same from outside, but different from the style of water drain holes and inside and was dyed into black. It costs 4 pound, but I don't think it is a good bag to buy, unless you can't find the real one at all.

: Any way, I think this trip brought me a lot of cool memories for my quest of Indy costume and I hope everyone could complete their own collection. Thank you for your attention.

:
: Azuma
: from Taiwan
: 12th November 1998

Azuma,

Do you have any photos or additional information about the weathered
Wested jacket? So it doesn't look authentic. Did they give you any
advise on how to weather a jacket to achieve the authentic look? I'm
just asking because Chris's promised description/photos never came and
also his email adress isn't valid anymore.
Bummer you didn't get to Herbert Johnson. I think you wouldn't have
had any problems finding it since it is only about 90yards away just
some streets away. Maybe next time. Anyway, is the old HJ shop now
occupied by another company?

Thanks a lot,
-Max

Follow Ups:

Re: weathered Wested jacket INDIANA GJR 15:02:36 11/11/98 (1)
- Back from London chris 23:43:23 11/11/98 (0)

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: : THE QUEST OF INDIANA JONES COSTUME IN LONDON

: : Hello:

: : I went to London to search Indy's stuffs for 5 days between 30th Oct to 3rd Nov with my wested Indy jacket. It took me almost 20 hours to fly from Taipei to KL then transfer to London and spent me US$2000 for this trip. I did visit some store from the Indy supplier list which we can find in Indy diggs site and checked the Indy wax portrait figure. Actually I measured the costume of the wax very carefully and I don't think that is the original costume from movie, the jacket is made of cowhide(my opinion) and some slight difference between the one we got from Wested also the hat does not come from H.J. hatter. But I am not sure where did get the shirt and pants. The shirt is almost the same from movie, it got 1 and 1/2" pleats on each side through the pocket, but the buttons aren't match the one in the movie. the leather belt seems from "Raiders", but without whip holder. MK VII bag is in the color of dark olive(not the British issue) and the one inch leather strap which linked to bag with some slim rope and with no buckle on it so not adjustable. Military belt is in sand color with used buckle. Shoes could be the same one but shape is kind of strange.

: : After long waiting for Chris info about weathered jacket, I decided to go to Wested by myself. I got there on 2nd Nov around 4:30PM, unfortunately I missed Mr.. Botwright there, but I met other staffs there. Jerry knows a lot of jacket details and gave me some of info about it who also showed me how they work on the jackets. Doris is the original tailor who did the jacket for Ford, she is really nice lady. And I did see the pre-weathered jacket. If you plan to buy the pre-weathered jacket, I would suggest you not to buy it. But you could buy the cowhide one, it maybe a little heavy but easy to be weathered by our own.

: : H.J. hatter's no longer on the 10 Old Bond street, but I did not go to the new address, coz' it is not easy for me to travel in London, some location I could not find by myself.

: : I also went to André Dometakis' shirt office. I would like to call it an office instead of shop, coz' you could only see a chair and a desk from outside, but unfortunately the office is closed until 9th Nov, that was sad to me for not reaching him in London, you know, 20 hours fly....

: : Camden Town is a good place for searching antique stuffs, I found the most similar leather strap buckle for MK VII bag there, also a leather craft shop made me 2 top quality straps for my bags which cost 30 pound for both of them.

: : I saw a different issue of MK VII in Covent Garden, it called Indian bag which look the same from outside, but different from the style of water drain holes and inside and was dyed into black. It costs 4 pound, but I don't think it is a good bag to buy, unless you can't find the real one at all.

: : Any way, I think this trip brought me a lot of cool memories for my quest of Indy costume and I hope everyone could complete their own collection. Thank you for your attention.

: : 
: : Azuma
: : from Taiwan
: : 12th November 1998

: Azuma,

: Do you have any photos or additional information about the weathered
: Wested jacket? So it doesn't look authentic. Did they give you any 
: advise on how to weather a jacket to achieve the authentic look? I'm
: just asking because Chris's promised description/photos never came and
: also his email adress isn't valid anymore.
: Bummer you didn't get to Herbert Johnson. I think you wouldn't have 
: had any problems finding it since it is only about 90yards away just
: some streets away. Maybe next time. Anyway, is the old HJ shop now 
: occupied by another company?

: Thanks a lot,
: -Max

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