Jason
Active Member
My wife & I are going to a fancy dress party where the theme is uniform or occupation... you can see where this is headed already!
I've never had any experience with anything other than the flying jackets of the period, so leaping into the rest of the uniform is breaking new ground for me. Wearing an entire uniform isn't something I'll be doing often, so my thoughts were to get something somewhat looking 'the part' but not spend a fortune in doing so. The A-2 jacket is taken care of already, and as it happens my now obsolete work uniform pants have a similar shade to the uniform 'pinks' - definitely not the same cut, but after unpicking the company logo... close enough.
That left a shirt and cap to get. For those, I turned to Spearhead. Here's my impressions of both:
Spearhead crusher cap: oh dear.
*I wasn't expecting much, but for USD $60 or there abouts, I was expecting better.
*Everything is just ever so slightly asymmetric on it: seams, visor, band - it's all a few fractions of an inch off 'centre'.
*The inner band had come unglued, too.
*I can see that it's modelled after a Bancroft Flighter, and it sort of looks reminiscent of that make, however with a few minor adjustments to the pattern, it could have looked much better in shape.
*The materials aren't quite spot-on to the real thing, and this detracts from the overall appearance.
*At least the size was spot on.
My recommendation: unless price is your absolute primary concern, avoid!
Spearhead chocolate Rangoon shirt: much better. Let me qualify that I've never seen or handled the real thing.
*This shirt certainly looks quite convincingly good when worn.
*It's also very comfortable
*Being made of gabardine wool, you certainly build up a massive static electricity charge!
*The colour appears excellent - again noting that I've never seen the real thing in person, only going on pictures seen on the world wide web.
*Quality wise, there's a few minor issues which are easy enough to fix:
*The button holes have a lot of loose threads around them from where the button holes were cut into the fabric - these can be easily trimmed off with a pair of small embroidery scissors and a bit of patience
*The machine that had sewn the stitching around the button holes left a small mark - like the material had been pinned down too hard and partly crushed the material - this should come out with a couple of washes.
*Some of the buttons had been sewn on with an uneven number of threads through the two pair of holes.
*The label in the shirt even looks sufficiently 'of the period' - a nice touch on a low cost repro.
Other than those few negative observations, I'm actually very happy with this USD $59 (approx.) purchase. Sizing for me can sometimes be difficult, as I have a thick neck in comparison to my torso, and then I also have short arms. I ordered an XL, and the collar only just fits around my neck, and as expected was too long in the torso - but that is actually my preference for shirts anyway. The arms I was expecting to be hideously too long, but strangely they weren't, they were only just slightly too long, perhaps only by an inch.
My recommendations: perhaps not the highest quality reproduction going, but with only minor issues - I think it's good buying.
I'd heard Spearhead can take a very long time to send out deliveries, but my experience couldn't have been any more different. Both arrived in 8 days after ordering. Definitely can't complain at that. So one hit and a miss from Spearhead.
I've never had any experience with anything other than the flying jackets of the period, so leaping into the rest of the uniform is breaking new ground for me. Wearing an entire uniform isn't something I'll be doing often, so my thoughts were to get something somewhat looking 'the part' but not spend a fortune in doing so. The A-2 jacket is taken care of already, and as it happens my now obsolete work uniform pants have a similar shade to the uniform 'pinks' - definitely not the same cut, but after unpicking the company logo... close enough.
That left a shirt and cap to get. For those, I turned to Spearhead. Here's my impressions of both:
Spearhead crusher cap: oh dear.
*I wasn't expecting much, but for USD $60 or there abouts, I was expecting better.
*Everything is just ever so slightly asymmetric on it: seams, visor, band - it's all a few fractions of an inch off 'centre'.
*The inner band had come unglued, too.
*I can see that it's modelled after a Bancroft Flighter, and it sort of looks reminiscent of that make, however with a few minor adjustments to the pattern, it could have looked much better in shape.
*The materials aren't quite spot-on to the real thing, and this detracts from the overall appearance.
*At least the size was spot on.
My recommendation: unless price is your absolute primary concern, avoid!
Spearhead chocolate Rangoon shirt: much better. Let me qualify that I've never seen or handled the real thing.
*This shirt certainly looks quite convincingly good when worn.
*It's also very comfortable
*Being made of gabardine wool, you certainly build up a massive static electricity charge!
*The colour appears excellent - again noting that I've never seen the real thing in person, only going on pictures seen on the world wide web.
*Quality wise, there's a few minor issues which are easy enough to fix:
*The button holes have a lot of loose threads around them from where the button holes were cut into the fabric - these can be easily trimmed off with a pair of small embroidery scissors and a bit of patience
*The machine that had sewn the stitching around the button holes left a small mark - like the material had been pinned down too hard and partly crushed the material - this should come out with a couple of washes.
*Some of the buttons had been sewn on with an uneven number of threads through the two pair of holes.
*The label in the shirt even looks sufficiently 'of the period' - a nice touch on a low cost repro.
Other than those few negative observations, I'm actually very happy with this USD $59 (approx.) purchase. Sizing for me can sometimes be difficult, as I have a thick neck in comparison to my torso, and then I also have short arms. I ordered an XL, and the collar only just fits around my neck, and as expected was too long in the torso - but that is actually my preference for shirts anyway. The arms I was expecting to be hideously too long, but strangely they weren't, they were only just slightly too long, perhaps only by an inch.
My recommendations: perhaps not the highest quality reproduction going, but with only minor issues - I think it's good buying.
I'd heard Spearhead can take a very long time to send out deliveries, but my experience couldn't have been any more different. Both arrived in 8 days after ordering. Definitely can't complain at that. So one hit and a miss from Spearhead.
