Five Star Leather, weird armpit wear, advice appreciated

[mulceber]

I hope Shawn makes some adjustments to the goatskin he uses after this. In the meantime, you might consider Burt's trick for tackling high-point wear.

 

[busdrivermike]

Update:
Shawn has replied saying that he is willing to re-dye the jacket, very good on his part.
Unfortunately, his justification for this leather wear is that "most" of his customers wish for, demand, and even purposely cause this distressed leather look.
That may be so, but it was not made clear to me in the beginning that my G-1 leather would do that. I proceeded on the assumption that Shawn's leather (like other brands) would hold colour as normal. Only after it began to fade and I contacted him did he mention this fading process.
In future, I hope that he will be more upfront with this problem or ‘feature’ of 5 star's leather.
It is important that buyers go in with their eyes open from the start and that they are not under any assumptions that might be incorrect to their detriment.
Yes, the assumption may be a fault on the buyers behalf, but taking a hands off 'its the buyer's fault' approach is not a good way to retain business.

To be clear, I do not want anything from Shawn. But I think it important that everyone sees the potential leather degradation of five star hides and to decide for themselves if they wish to buy a five star. Shawn's customer service is the best I have ever seen; I hope his jackets and leathers will continue to improve in the future.
Unfortunately for me, I don't think I will wear my 5 star G-1 any more. A seal brown jacket with tan armpits looks plainly ridiculous.
I write this with great disappointment; other than this issue, I really do love my 5 star. What a waste, truly unfortunate.

I do agree on your thoughts, I would want to know if a jacket I was buying was built to show faster aging/weathering
It’s not what I would want in a jacket I prefer to do that myself over time, I think it’s something that should be
Listed or offered as a choice as some customers apparently want this feature but others may not want this feature
It does seems a waste to not wear it again, you could try and dye it yourself lots of info on line, or see if local shoemaker can do it.
Or do what the Indiana Jones guys like to do with their jackets , add more of it to the rest of the jacket so
The armpits no longer stand out , and you can have a good beater jacket, you could even go the whole post apocalypse look
It beats having it sit in a closet annoying you every time you see it. And if you not gonna wear it what have got to lose ?

 

[MaydayWei]

I do agree on your thoughts, I would want to know if a jacket I was buying was built to show faster aging/weathering
It’s not what I would want in a jacket I prefer to do that myself over time, I think it’s something that should be
Listed or offered as a choice as some customers apparently want this feature but others may not want this feature
It does seems a waste to not wear it again, you could try and dye it yourself lots of info on line, or see if local shoemaker can do it.
Or do what the Indiana Jones guys like to do with their jackets , add more of it to the rest of the jacket so
The armpits no longer stand out , and you can have a good beater jacket, you could even go the whole post apocalypse look
It beats having it sit in a closet annoying you every time you see it. And if you not gonna wear it what have got to lose ?

I had not thought of that.
Thanks mike, I might just look into doing that ...
Got nothing to lose at this point!

 

[ausreenactor]

Looks like those early Chinese Broncos and Rough Wears that popped up on EBay's pages years ago. Perhaps a dud batch/hide lot?

Go a Dubow!

 

[MaydayWei]

Update #2:
Shawn has been an absolute gentleman; he reached out to me and offered to make me a replacement jacket free of charge (I just have to pay for shipping).
I have to clarify, on his behalf, that the issue with my jacket did NOT stem from the quality of the leather/five star's hides, as evidenced by @PilatusPilot 's jacket (post 324) here:

FIVESTAR LEATHER G1 JACKET

Sizing aside I think it came out looking pretty good though

www.vintageleatherjackets.org

Rather, it turns out, Shawn has accidentally made my jacket out of the incorrect type of leather. He had used 'quick-aging' leather by accident instead of normal non-distressed seal brown goatskin. One can see how the mistake was made because they are the same colour; namely, seal brown.

I had to clarify this on his behalf because this was only made clear in our private conversation.
So, everyone please be sure to tell Shawn that you wish for non-distressed leather. Be clear, be precise; lest mistakes arise from misunderstandings.
Thank you @Shawn Ali for everything; truly the best service I have ever encountered.
He took responsibility for his mistake and is correcting it; one could not ask for more.
This is how all manufacturers should act. For all their short-comings, you have to give props to 5 star for that.

 

[Brylcreemer]

Ah I'm so glad I found this thread! I was having exactly the same issue with my 5* G1 - I'd only worn it a handful of times, and each time it was peeling off, on areas where there was natural friction, to reveal an orange colour. I thought I was going mad, but it quickly became more and more noticeable.

I assumed it was defective and had no idea that it was intentional; I too must have accidentally been given the wrong hide. I emailed Shawn with pictures, so hopefully he'll be able to address mine too.
Adam

 

[MaydayWei]

Ah I'm so glad I found this thread! I was having exactly the same issue with my 5* G1 - I'd only worn it a handful of times, and each time it was peeling off, on areas where there was natural friction, to reveal an orange colour. I thought I was going mad, but it quickly became more and more noticeable.

I assumed it was defective and had no idea that it was intentional; I too must have accidentally been given the wrong hide. I emailed Shawn with pictures, so hopefully he'll be able to address mine too.
Adam

Hey Adam,

I'm very glad you found this helpful. The whole point was to avoid such mistakes from happening again.
Such mistakes are no good for either us the consumers or him as a seller.

 

[Thomas Koehle]

I do agree on your thoughts, I would want to know if a jacket I was buying was built to show faster aging/weathering
It’s not what I would want in a jacket I prefer to do that myself over time, I think it’s something that should be
Listed or offered as a choice as some customers apparently want this feature but others may not want this feature
It does seems a waste to not wear it again, you could try and dye it yourself lots of info on line, or see if local shoemaker can do it.
Or do what the Indiana Jones guys like to do with their jackets , add more of it to the rest of the jacket so
The armpits no longer stand out , and you can have a good beater jacket, you could even go the whole post apocalypse look
It beats having it sit in a closet annoying you every time you see it. And if you not gonna wear it what have got to lose ?

i was watching one of those videos ... - maybe their use and vision is totally different than mine but i would never do something like that in order to make my jackets look used

Well actually they destroy their gear and i would never do that for purpose with a leather jacket

i like them showing character but i want the kind of character a jacket gets whilst getting used

 

[fleet16b]

If it were me, I would settle for no less that a replacement jacket
If 5Star stands behind their product they should be offering a replacement not a re-dye

 

[MaydayWei]

If it were me, I would settle for no less that a replacement jacket
If 5Star stands behind their product they should be offering a replacement not a re-dye

Shawn has indeed offered to replace it for me.
We shall see how the new one turns out.
Good point on your part.

 

[daw]

Please update us when you get the new one. Too bad about that strange wear with the first one. It did look rather strange.

 

[bn1966]

I’ve got a 5* G-1 in the ‘non distressing’ goat hide & it will take decades to make much impact...

 

[Brylcreemer]

I’ve got a 5* G-1 in the ‘non distressing’ goat hide & it will take decades to make much impact...

Can I ask which goat you went for? - thickness, colour, premium/non premium? Cheers

 

[Grant]

Really strange wear I've never seen on an issued USN jacket (even the later low quality 7823E series) or a good quality reproduction. I'd send it back and demand a refund.

 

[bn1966]

Can I ask which goat you went for? - thickness, colour, premium/non premium? Cheers

Was about 1 mm Seal, can’t recollect whether it as stated as premium or not.

 

[bn1966]

 

[Brylcreemer]

Was about 1 mm Seal, can’t recollect whether it as stated as premium or not.

Ta

 

[MaydayWei]

UPDATE:

BACKGROUND:
Shawn has sent me a new jacket entirely out of his own pocket; I only had to pay for shipping. Truly 5 star service from 5 Star Leather.
A little background, my first 5* G-1 jacket pre-maturely gained patina and seem to wear our at high-wear points very quickly though without much wear.
As it turns out, it was not an issue with the quality of 5* hides, but rather I had been accidentally given specially treated goatskin that was meant to patina and 'faux'-age far quicker for a more vintage look.
Shawn acknowledged and took responsibility for this mistake and offered me a new jacket; to which the following is about.

PART I: TO LOOK OUT FOR: FAUX-PATINA vs. NORMAL GOATSKIN:
Firstly, I wanted to post some pictures comparing the quick-aging faux patina leather in comparison to normal goatskin which fade over a natural period of time.
The first picture is the quick-aging leather and the second picture is the normal goatskin.
The most noticeable difference between the two is that the quick-aging leather has a smaller, finer grain; whereas the normal goatskin has a larger more pebble-like finish. This is the biggest visual difference.

Quick-Aging (faux-patina):

Normal Goatskin:

PART II: ON THE NEW 5* G-1 JACKET:
Secondly, I wish to address a few things with the new jacket.
Before I begin, I would like to say that I really do not want to pressure Shawn into making another jacket for me; indeed, even if he offered me another, I would not accept it. There is little benefit in pressing a hard-working, independent jacket maker and for using this forum as a means of leveraging Shawn.
This forum is for sharing our passion with like-minded people and not to attack the reputation or to the threaten the business and livelihood of a jacket maker when something does not go 100% our way.

That being said, I am dissatisfied with the consistency of the quality of 5*'s jackets.
My new jacket had 3 main issues:

PROBLEM 1:
It looks like one side of zipper tape is separating from the leather at the collar area. This only appears on one side, and not the other.

The other side of the new jacket.

The old jacket is perfectly fine in comparison. No problem at all on the old jacket.

PROBLEM 2:
I understand that no leather hide can be perfect, and leather is prone to imperfections.
But this is a clear hide problem and I’m not sure why Shawn missed it; it is in such an obvious spot.

PROBLEM 3:
The zipper is very poor compared to the old jacket.
It has a weird wavy pattern (see pic above) that I know for a fact is not how healthy zips are supposed to look.
Indeed, the old jacket’s zip did not have this problem.

As you can see, these are some truly glaring quality control issues.
I can accept that problems 2 (small discolouration) and 3 (zipper) are really just nit-picking the details.
However, problem 1 (leather separation) is a big issue indeed.

PART III: SOLUTIONS
As said previously, pressuring Shawn into giving me a new jacket is absolutely the furthest from my intentions.
Indeed, everything else about the jacket is perfect. Perhaps not purely historically accurate, but the hide is supple and heavy, the wool knits are robust (unlike Buzz Rickson's), and (most wonderfully) the new mouton collar is an absolute joy. Oh, and the measurements are perfect, too.

That being said, and with the advice of @B-Man2, I decided to do some makeshift repairs on my jacket fully knowing that this would violate any warranty on it, if any even existed at all.
I trimmed the piece sticking out with a pair of scissors, then bent it in on itself and pushed it into the crevice.

Originally:

After fixing it myself:

I can consider this issue done and sorted. @Shawn Ali, we are squared my friend.
Despite my issues, I hope that no one who is thinking of buying a 5* is deterred.
They are a wonderful company whose made the measure options and service are bar none.
I wish 5* leather success and I will continue to support Shawn and his team as they continue to grow & improve.

If you have made it this far, I thank you for taking the time to read this.
Finally, to end. Look at 5*'s new mouton collar in dark brown; absolutely superb!

 

[B-Man2]

Nice job Wei.

 

[ausreenactor]

With the quality of the goatskin I think the USN jackets will be a long term winner. I think the horsehide wait is the only thing holding back a LOT of A-2 orders..

This looks like a great jacket.