Looks like Diamond Dave is Closing up the Jacket Business

[ausreenactor]

It's way beyond just getting on Ken for a post now?

 

[Officer Dibley]

You’d have thought any mod’ with half a brain would have locked this thread pages ago .... alas there are none. Perhaps too busy flouncing in big collared jackets or bored of the forum in general.....

DD, i’m with you but please let it go: you are better than this and are in danger of overreacting to the point of folks putting you in the same box as Ken and i am certain you neither want nor deserve that “accolade”.

Be well buddy and make me a crusher !

Dave

Ahem.. at the risk of repeating myself ....

Personally, i’m gonna stop watching this thread. DD & KC both need to take their handbags elsewhere. Seems now that each party is as bad as the other and i no longer take a side.

Seems almost all jacket makers are like BK & i have to endure enough of that crassness in my work life without letting it into my leisure time.

 

[Steve27752]

Ahem.. at the risk of repeating myself ....

Personally, i’m gonna stop watching this thread. DD & KC both need to take their handbags elsewhere. Seems now that each party is as bad as the other and i no longer take a side.

Seems almost all jacket makers are like BK & i have to endure enough of that crassness in my work life without letting it into my leisure time.

Well said that man.

 

[Micawber]

Indeed. Enough is enough gentlemen. This thread is no longer serving a purpose other than provide an ungracious spectacle.

 

[DiamondDave]

Gents,

If you are not interested in this post anymore I understand totally, but you must understand that this battle has been a long time coming, and Ken has systematically tried to undermine my business throughout the entirety of my tenure. If you don’t care for it, please look away, as there are loads of other threads.

That said, Ken does not get to just keep crapping on me whenever he feels like it, and not have me eventually say something. He only had to let me go graciously, but he had to start in. You have no idea the mistreatment that I have suffered by this grumpy old man. Again, if you knew the whole story, you’d understand, and soon you probably will.

DD

 

[Southoftheborder]

I don't share some members aversion to honest disagreement in public. Clearly KC jumped in on this thread and put the boot in to DD with his size ten's as he often does and DD has fought back. As he has every right to do. I for one would be interested to know the background and DD's point of view. So do tell us what went on between Aero and you and JC.

 

[jeremiah]

Disagreement is one thing. Publicly labeling another craftsman’s work subpar is another thing entirely. I hope as a fellow craftsman I never get to that point.

that being said, what was done is done. I am sure Ken and DD can work this out.

 

[A2 B3au]

I’d prefer to see how they would react in person in real time

 

[Cogerrunt]

Two hours for a simple style like an A-2 is not particularily fast, there are at least two quicker machinists at Aero than me

If you found one of my early A-2s I can assure you you'd find them worse than yours, (Probably all of the first 125) in my defence there wasn't the info available then and I'd no-one to help me
Also in my defence they went out at £75 each in 1981 (£280 in today's money) not $1000!!
Maybe someone has one bought off me from Exchange & Mart

Yes I have one I bought of off you via exchange and mart. Bought in late 85 or early 86. Cost about £150 I think. Found it in the closet other day; too small now. I started my design degree in Staffs polytechnic Oct 86 and that was my one and only outerwear. Pockets just large enough for a wallet in one and my poly library pass and union card etc in the other. I promised before to take some photos and post them. That's my job for the weekend. I'll even try to get some shots wearing it. It's a lovely thing.

 

[Cogerrunt]

Some photos of the jacket.

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

Takes me back, shame about the aftermarket sudding

This one is from 1983

This one is from 1984

 

[regius]

It's a jungle out there.
There are far too many military repro makers for there not to be casualties. the market hasn't grown that much. These days If Aero relied on militaria we'd have a work force of around 5 unstead of our current 25

Same thing happened to the UK Vintage market in the 1970s (OK it wasn't known as vintage then)
The boom started around 1965 with maybe half a dozen shops, by 1971 there were several hundred vintage shops in London, yet by the time we opened The Thrift Shop in 1976 there were probably less than a dozen still trading,


New and recent start ups need to design (well) to survive, they need a USP

Ken what's a USP?

 

[regius]

USP...nevermind, figured it out Ken. brain dead today.
My two cents on Diamond Dave, there is distinct overshadowing effect at play here. LIke (I think Burt?) indicated, in the neuroscience of learning, the order in which stimuli appear makes a big difference. GW was already established, then DD appeared like a "back up" option, but they are really not, same amount of work and cost of material etc, but there is just no way DD can top GW, so in the microcosm of "God of A2 repro", you end up with two "Tigers" in the same mountain (as the Chinese saying), which would only result in one dead or chased out.

 

[SunshineKid]

Hey, Dave, if you see this . . . are you really totally out of business? If so, my sympathies. For years I wrote novels for a living, until that business changed and I could no longer publish. Some people vocally hated my books; some thought I'd written the best novels ever -- there's no pleasing everyone. Your jackets look fantastic to me. So if you're not TOTALLY out of business . . . just this week, I became alerted to your fine work, and I left you both a voicemail and a note through your website. If you feel inspired to make one more Buco J-100, please let me know.

 

[DiamondDave]

Hey, Dave, if you see this . . . are you really totally out of business? If so, my sympathies. For years I wrote novels for a living, until that business changed and I could no longer publish. Some people vocally hated my books; some thought I'd written the best novels ever -- there's no pleasing everyone. Your jackets look fantastic to me. So if you're not TOTALLY out of business . . . just this week, I became alerted to your fine work, and I left you both a voicemail and a note through your website. If you feel inspired to make one more Buco J-100, please let me know.

Im still around. Answering all of my emails today. Thanks for the heads up.

DD

 

[Pio]

Here you go. Two of my most beloved jackets. Ken's J-106 and David's J-100. Is one of them far superior to the other? I don't think so. they are both good jackets. So let's treat each other with respect. we are part of a big family after all arent we?

Peace!

 

[B-Man2]

And besides ........ it’s the Christmas season.., time to put it all away for a while.

 

[TarHeel1911]

I've just had a look over at Facebook at Dave's announcement and there's a very telling factor in his reasons for doing this. He suggests that a major factor in this is a lack of "follow on orders".

When I got seriously interested in flying and vintage jackets back in 2006 and was a fairly prolific member over at the Hat Place, there were a lot of guys buying new repros. It wasn't uncommon for members to be buying several new high end repros a year. These's weren't millionaires but ordinary everyday guys, but there was a difference in the prices of these high end repros. Back then it was easier for the everyday enthusiast to buy a few of these jackets but now for a lot of folks I just don't think it's as easy. A year or two back I chartered the actual price increase in a decade for a couple of makers and the increase far outstripped inflation and wage growth.

It's not really surprising then that the kinds of people who are members here and over at TFL aren't repeat buying high end repros the way they were back in 2006ish. Now before somebody jumps up and down, I'm not saying that nobody is a repeat buyer of high end repros now, I am merely suggesting that maybe not as many buyers are repeat buyers as were back a decade or so ago. The way prices have risen over that period it's not really surprising.

I have a Diamond L-2 A which I absolutely love, and Dave was super helpful through the ordering process. That said, I agree with the comments re follow on orders- if you're selling $600.00 jackets, lovely as they are, you aren't going to get very many. My DD nylon is the pinnacle of my very modest jacket collection (US Authentic goatskin A-2, and ATF Tanker Jacket). Like my Hamilton watch, and my Bowen Classic Arms revolver, a jacket in this price range is a once in a lifetime purchase. Sorry to see Dave shut things down, but not sure it was a sustainable business model to begin with.

 

[mulceber]

Sorry to see Dave shut things down, but not sure it was a sustainable business model to begin with.

It’s actually not clear he has. Just today on Facebook he posted a photo of a new (and very rare) original B-3 he just acquired, which certainly suggests plans for the future. Whether he’ll be able to implement them is anyone’s guess, but I think we’ll have a better idea of the future of Diamond Clothing Co. when the COVID dust settles.

 

[stanier]

I'd still be interested in one of those chrome tanned Aero's. Just couldn't make contact. Got a one word answer once on FB Messenger then no more.

I might also have been interested in an L-2a, without the three extra inches if I could make contact.

I do have a made to measure DD Flighter crusher... love it...