New Chinese Made Alpha L2B Jacket

[bn1966]

Alpha L2B Flight Jacket in XL (Chinese made) arrived today in the Replica (Dark Blue) & I was very pleasantly surprised.

Colour is great & very similar to the Buzz L2A I had (that was slightly too small & ended up being moved on).

Chinese L2 quality surpassed the NOS (USA Made) XL Civvy Alpha L2B from the 90s that I recently acquired & rapidly moved on (cut very small...sticky zip etc etc)

Measurements on the Replica Blue were good for an XL: 29"on the pits, shoulders approx 22" & I would guestimate (didn't measure) around 26" in length. Fitted me well at 46" chest & 5.10 in height.

Alpha are advising to size up on the L2Bs: 'tight fit'...not IMHO. An XL fits an XL and a 2XL is a very large jacket to fit an XXL.

 

[Phantomfixer]

pics would be awesome...are these contracted /sold by Alpha or Alpha clones made in China, if that makes sense...website?

 

[Rutger]

pics would be awesome...

ditto.

Is there a GI repro tag in the jacket?

 

[Jason]

I predicted some years ago that the Chinese would one day shift their focus from cheap mass production to inexpensive-but-good-quality mass production in order to continue taking market share globally. Seems like that day is soon coming, if not already here. Is that a bad thing? Perhaps that's a question best debated in another section.

But as for us jacket-heads in this instance: bonanza! +1 on the pics. Be interesting to see if the world masters of copying/reverse-engineering things will soon be making A-2s & M422s & Irvins for our consumption?

 

[bn1966]

Thanks for the replies Guys,

Will try & post some pics over the weekend (Fedora Loungers have made the same request).

I started off purchasing only L2Bs that were made in the USA (apart from a Buzz L2A that was slightly too small). I am an MA1 / B15 fan & for warmer weather I wanted an alternative to my trusty A2 Horse hide.

I purchased a 1966 Alpha L2B XL & that was too small. Spiewak did a limited L2B which fitted but was smothered in patches (great quality & fit but I felt conspicous wearing it).
Gibson & Barnes do a light weight MA1 (far too long in the body for me though)..still trying to move that one on. Sourced an old Alpha NOS L2 XL but that was so small I wouldn't even have called it a Large.

I wanted to avoid cheap & nasty Chinese mass produced jackets (mines manufactured by Alpha), saw some poor reviews for the Alpha L2B (mainly fit...not quality). Contacted Alpha customer services (USA) to discuss but they seemed not to know much about the product (even though they were selling them).

Decided to take a gamble & it's paid off. The Chinese made Alphas are genuine Alpha (imported as they say) not clone rangers. Quality is very good & IMHO on a par with many of the old USA made Alpha jackets (intended for the civilian market). I have seen some very positive reviews on a number of Chinese Alpha products. Would appear the quality control is there & decent materials are being used for the construction.

Labelling is pretty much the same as my 1966 L2B. If you're my build / chest size and want a decent L2B there isn't much in the market place apart from the Chinese Alphas (the Made in China label is hidden in a pocket). One of the good things about these jackets is that the length is geared towards pairing with pants / trousers & not a flight suit.

I have a number of repro WW2 Leathers which are all from ELC (in the UK). Ordering a D1 from them in a few weeks, I hope to be able to continue purchasing from such companies long into the future. Shame they don't make L2Bs.

 

[bn1966]

Having problems putting up images here for some reason. I have posted pics @ the Fedora Lounge. Please see link



http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthre ... zing/page2