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FIVE STAR

bellumbill

bellumbill

Active Member
Hello all - first big post since rejoining the forum after a rather long hiatus. So, when Five Star first came on the scene I was quick to buy a Bronco - I believe size 48 - the jacket came and fit great. I then said to Shawn (this was all through ebay messenger) "hey I want another one exactly the same measurements." Jacket shows up I can't even zip it. Send it back - next one comes - same problem. I literally put the jackets on the floor next to each other with tape measures and took photos showing the considerable differences in measurements between the two jackets but Shawn insisted he made them the same. ??????? So, I pretty much just gave up at that point - probably all told out about $200.

Fast forward to now - Still can't shake this darn obsession with these jackets - so I re-join here and I see some people are very bullish on Five Star, esp. the Doniger. So, I go on the Five Star site and I see he has more sizing available and I pick something I think will fit - Doniger russet goat. So, now I wait........

Question - some of you have mentioned that the FS Bronco not quite there yet - always liked the Bronco contract - could you guys give me a little info. on what FS needs to get the Bronco "there"?

Thanks all!
Best,

Bill K.
 
F

fongman

New Member
Hi Bill, i think you can ask Shawn to do you a favor to measure the jacket dimensions with tailor tape and take photo before the shipping.
 
bellumbill

bellumbill

Active Member
Thanks Fongman - I appreciate it - He's already sent the jacket so I won't be able to do that this time but might give it a try IF there is a next time. Best, Bill
 
johnwayne

johnwayne

Well-Known Member
I rarely interact on this site now due to a member having a pop ‘cos I offered my views on Five Star, in particular the Doniger and which I was accused of trolling!
However, I have a GW Doniger and bought it direct from JC many years ago after handling an original owned by another former member (who left for similar reasons!) and have to say my repro is pretty much indistinguishable from that original in every respect.
So to the point of my post, Five Star are unarguably good value and I actually think the new B3 looks very good indeed BUT their Doniger is in no way like a faithful repro of that contract, sorry!! That roll on the collar is almost clownishly big, the pockets and flaps too big and why is it a ‘hot chocolate drink’ colour? A review elsewhere also shows quite deep/big knits that look like a mall jacket. Personally I can’t see what everyone else is raving over - as a stand alone A2 ‘look a like’ yes it holds up, well for the money maybe, but that about as far as it goes and I’m certainly not trying to compare 5* with GW plus, I totally applaud Shawn’s efforts in keeping many of you happy.
 
bellumbill

bellumbill

Active Member
Johnwayne - I really appreciate your response and your candor. I always hope that people take the reviews in the spirit in which they are given - constructive criticism. I appreciate having a low cost option and more importantly an option that I can get sooner than a year or two. That said, it must be a very good approximation of an original. I am somewhere in the middle on my A2 jacket expertise - certainly no expert on Doniger‘s since I never owned and original Doniger. I just received my 5 Star Doniger and my first thought was “the collar is too big”. I will have another look at the pockets and look at some photos here. My hope is that Five star will continue to refine their jackets based on reviews he might see on this site. Very best, Bill K.
 
B-Man2

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
The collar on a Doniger is definiteLy a bit smaller in width than the current 5 star version . However , having mentioned that, it’s important to keep in mind that each maker goes through a trial and error process, to get to the point where they’ve nailed down all of the intricacies of the specific contract they are attempting to reproduce. GW , Aero, ELC , BK , Platon all of them went through this process . If you compare an early GW or ELC or BK to a current one, the metamorphosis is there clearly visible .
original Doniger collar
A86A1669-9A01-4F6A-A6CA-AEA788DB1778.jpeg
 
Last edited:
bellumbill

bellumbill

Active Member
B-Man -

I appreciate your response. I agree that you are correct about a trial process and notice I mentioned my hope that Five Star will be able to refine their jackets over time. In my review they requested from me I mentioned the things I learned here - I hope Shawn uses the information.

Very best,
Bill K.
 
Smithy

Smithy

Well-Known Member
johnwayne said:
I rarely interact on this site now due to a member having a pop ‘cos I offered my views on Five Star, in particular the Doniger and which I was accused of trolling!
Click to expand...

That was me and I'm mentioning this because your "offered my views" is a hyper sanitised version of events and smacks of some kind of victimisation when none was involved.

And it wasn't just 5 Star, you'd been going into virtually every thread involving "cheaper" makers over a period of several months and berating the jackets as not being to the standard of things like GW (I backed this all up with quotes of your postings and the pattern that it demonstrated - and there were a LOT. Anyone who is interested can go back over your postings regarding these kinds of jackets).

There was no really constructive criticism and often it was done in a thread where someone had just received a new jacket, effectively pissing on their parade. Going into someone's new jacket thread and crapping on them from a great height is just mean, pure and simple. Saying oh it's not a GW every time about jackets which are a fraction of the cost is redundant as well. When you do it multiple times it does start to look like trolling even if that's not what is intended.

There's enough negativity in the world right now and trying to make people feel bad about the jackets they have just received doesn't really add anything, especially when guys around here know that a 5 Star/AVI LTHR/Bronson/etc, etc isn't and never will be a GW.
 
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