Fivestar Monarch 23378

[B-Man2]

View attachment 160887View attachment 160889View attachment 160891View attachment 160895View attachment 160897357th fighter group had a number of pilots that were issued Monarchs. Chuck Yeager was one that was issued a Monarch.

I too got a Monarch from five star. I went with his reddish brown with OD threads. It more closely match’s the color of original Monarchs that I have seen in pics.

Was surprised to see my jacket was full grain and not sanded/shaved top grain. Hair follicles and scars are evident in the leather.

My personal choice would be to have it just the way yours is . It’s much more authentic and looks the way the originals did when they were issued , complete with natural scars . Yours looks great by the way .

 

[Camel24hrs]

It looks good.

Comment/question though: What makes it a "Monarch" after the extensive pattern modifications to fit you?

I like Five Star, and Shawn. I have two Five Stars myself (an A-2 and a "Crusader"). I'm not casting shade on them or your jacket...it does look nice. But for the most part there's not a lot to differentiate one Five Star model from another. Some have a collar stand and some don't...his Werber has the line of stitching over the waist knits and the double row at the pocket...and a couple of his models were patterned off an original that he got his hands on. Most were not, so I don't know where the pattern/measurements were derived from. But there honestly aren't a lot of differentiators. Same leathers, pockets, epaulets, and in examples where he hasn't examined and copied an original, same size chart.

However, once the pattern has been altered to that extent to fit, and specified down to thread color, at that point it's "just" a Five Star custom, and doesn't matter what "original maker" label is sewn in. I'd honestly be happy at that custom level to have a WW2-style label that says "Five Star" rather than "Monarch" or "Rough Wear" or whatever else.

I want to point out one last time that I'm not knocking it. It's a great fit and a great product, and Five Star customer service is stunning. This is just an academic question regarding their product.

I guess Good Wear also completely customizes the jacket to the wearer, so maybe I'm just missing something.

Not that a WW2 flyer got to choose a pattern ("excuse me sir, I'd prefer a Rough Wear over a Perry, thank you!"), but back then the pattern probably mattered more than anything on the fit. You just walked in and got a size 40, or whatever, and the fit of that 40 depended on the manufacturer. There was no customization. You can get closer to customization in today's military because you can get a 40R, 40L, or 40S, and even then, you're probably not getting a "perfect" fit. Just close enough, so pattern still kind of matters, even though the pattern now is purely baggy Avirex/Cockpit.

As you can see when comparing jacket sizing from same contract same size there is naturally variation in measurements. These are RW 23380s. So slightly changing up the measurements to fit one doesn’t make it less of a repo. Ever look at the pics of Keslo or Goodwear jackets? They use the same color cognac threads on their Repos as well. No one is going to say theirs are not repos.
As far as jackets Shawn has looked at I enclosed a pic of the list. However since this list I know he has a Weber first contract in his hands. Which is impressive in that there were only 350 made according to Eastman. And I know he examined a Monarch as well. Now he does take liberty to for example use RW 27752 and produce a RW 28830 without having a 23380. However those contracts were practically identical except for the tags.