The Magic of Steve Sellers

I bought my first A-2 back in 1986/87, an Avirex from the Cockpit catalog. I opted for the $45 hand-painted AAF "decal" on the shoulder along with "Army Air Force" under it. The letters weren't bad for being hand painted, and they even looked decal-ish from 5 feet away. I went to a local leather worker and had him make a name tag for me (I didn't know of anyone making and selling those otherwise). I wore the jacket with pride for years. It wasn't until long after that I realized the artist left the "s" off of "Forces" and the jacket itself wasn't the spot-on repro of an A-2 that the catalogue said it was. Still, it reminded me of good times over the years and became quite special. Plus, I was wearing this jacket with the AAF insignia and leather-strip name tag at a time I when such a combo wasn't exactly falling from the trees. Now that I've discovered what a true A-2 should look like, I'm not inclined to relegate the Avirex to my closet. So, I sent it down to Steve Sellers and told him to send me back the closest thing he could to a Cable Raincoat #23382 that went through a Depot Re-dye. Steve took up the challange, both of us aware of the fact that the jacket would be a very loose Cable Raincoat A-2 (so for those of you who'll be inclined to point out the flaws, there's no need as I know there are many).

What Steve did: 1) Replaced the lining the a more correct mustard-brown shade ( all cotton of course, as opposed to the Avirex blend) and covered the inside collar snap grommet with lining material ; 2) got rid of the loop hanger and added a leather strip hanger with the correct box stiching; 3) shortened the sleeves an inch (I'm no fan of tunneling); 4) replaced the knits with russets ones (all wool and not the Avirex blend knits that pill); 5) replaced the Scovill zipper (actually a high quality American zipper) with a correct Conmar one by taking the Conmar parts and transplating them onto the existing tape; 6) shortened the collar by about an inch; 7) replaced weird collar hooks with correct copies (only my Avirex seemed to have strange hooks, kinda like they ran out of the A-2 ones and found a couple in Jeff's granny's sewing box); 8) got rid of an annoying aspect where the jacket would tend to curl outward on one side of the front; and finally, added an inspection stamp. The stamp blew my mind--why? Steve drew it on the liner freehand, no stamp.

We sure had fun with the project. I say "we" because Steve kept me relevant by showing me the steps and asking if I wanted this or that. He won't just plow ahead with a detail if he's not sure that's exactly what you want. He'd ask me, every time. The guy is a true gem.

The first photo is the 1987 Avirex in its original configuration. The rest is Steve's work. My apologies for only 6 photos. I think you'll get the idea.

Bitchen! The man is is way and above talented. I mean, Steve somehow figures things out oganicly. Genius. I did a similar dance with Steve, turning an older house elc goatie into a cable 10008. Besides all of what ya might expect in the transformation, it’s the details that made it a spot on on 10008 clone. Funny thing is, now I am considering selling it……just too many horses and goats in the stable.

He really is a great person and a treasure to the community. Looks awesome!

Steve is a great guy and a great artisan. The guy should have his own reality show.
He literally can restore anything from jackets to vintage gas pumps .

What a cool project. Thanks for sharing - looks like it’s ready for the next 38 years!

Great story …

Pats on the back for Steve! From memory those early Avirex weren’t really that bad and from your pics look so much better but given Jeff Clyman’s knowledge at the time he started Avirex begs to ask the question as to why he couldn’t have come up with a truer looking repro?

Excellent, I always appreciate good craftsmanship.

johnwayne said:

Pats on the back for Steve! From memory those early Avirex weren’t really that bad and from your pics look so much better but given Jeff Clyman’s knowledge at the time he started Avirex begs to ask the question as to why he couldn’t have come up with a truer looking repro?

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That’s a good question and one I’ve myself pondered. Competition often leads to higher levels of achievement and Jeff had no competition (and no shortage of salesmanship puffing). The first iterations of pretty much anything often later get pilloried by those who fail to judge the pioneer in the context of his/her time. With that, he made a very decent jacket from 1975 to the end of the 1980s and most of us here bit. You could pick the best one from the catalog or from the NYC store, namely the “WWII issue” model, and look like you just dropped out of the hatch of a B-17. Outwardly, the only detail missing on that one was the correct leather hanger strip (I believe the earliest jackets actually did have the correct hanger—not sure why he switched to a loop). At some point I guess, he succumbed to the mainstream and expanded the line to became more “Aeropostale-ish” with map linings, very thick “worn” leather and side-pockets. Business-wise, it was probably a good decision and would be quite reasonable to assume he walked away from it all with a good chunk of change. After that, the guy could buy every Goodwear jacket he wanted with income generated in the time it took him to scan Time magazine on the throne.

way back I n the day, [ late '70s] I went to the original avirex-cockpit show room-factory in a 7th floor loft on lower broadway near Houston street. while in the small show room,, you could hear, and see the machinists working away on the jackets. what I could not figure out was after Jeff going on about was, how the jackets he was making were identical to ww2 jackets, they just didn't look "exactly" like the original examples he had hung up on the walls of the show room. never the less, like so many others, I bought one, as it was the only repro game in town at the time. four or five blocks east, on the bowery, you could still find the occasional original a-2, in these used clothing shops that catered to the wino population.

Very cool Vic! Were you ever lucky enough to score an A-2 form one of those shops, or at least buy one from a wino who did?

What a difference, looks great, hope you enjoy many more years of it, I also had a cockpit A2 back in the early 80s, I remember they had a commercial on all the time like at 2 o'clock in the morning I always caught. they were the only game in town at the time.