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M422 best manufacturer
- Thread starter Thomas Koehle
- Start date
Ken at Aero Leather
Well-Known Member
Hi Otter
The A-2 isn't a jacket that breaks down into equal timed parts, vital to good production line.
Taking an educated guess I'd have thought WW2 jackets were made in these stages, the ones in bold were probably, but not neccessarily, done by the one operative working on two or three jackets at a time
Leather Cut for individual jackets
Lining cut, batches of at least 200 at a time
Lining sewn by Lining Machinist
Body Shell completed and lining fitted up to knit stage
Knits fitted on different machine
Jacket closed
Turned through, "closed" and ready for top stitch by non sewer, odd job guy.
Top Stitch done
Studding and neck hook fitted
QC Check
Eight operatives in total?
Last edited:
Ken at Aero Leather
Well-Known Member
I do hope I'm not the "Ken" you suggest to be AKA Ole?
Ken at Aero Leather
Well-Known Member
That's pretty much how we worked on Levi Vintage contracts with painting, washing, aging and drying thrown in.
I very much doubt it would work on much less than 500 identical pieces
Ken at Aero Leather
Well-Known Member
I should have made it clear that these figures are for The A-2
USN Jackets, due to the complexity of the design, could be broken down into far more operatives and the general better quality sewing of the originals suggest that was probably the case. For instance a USN lining will take at least 4 times as long to cut and sew than an A-2.
The lack of nessesity to match the leather would also help in the setting up of a proper production line.
It would have also helped that goat skins always match each far better than even both ends of the same horse front quarter
DiamondDave
Well-Known Member
Very underhand indeed I should say Dave.
Ken at Aero Leather
Well-Known Member
Not necessarily quicker, probably not, but getting the body shell ready to fit the knit would should split, time-wise, into four sections, 1. Fronts, 2. Back, 3. Sleeves & Collar, and 4. puting the six sections together and attaching the pre-made liner at the same time.
With the same small section being done over and over again by the same machinist, week in week out, the quality becomes better, more uniform and less prone to some of the dreadful sewing found on some original A-2s, Aero Beacon maybe being the worst offender, perhaps that's why they never got a M442 variant contract?
STEVE S.
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone! Hope everybody is doing well. I haven’t been on the forums in awhile, as many of you know I have moved out of the city to the mountains which has kept me hopping for almost a year. Still trying to find things that are boxed up & remember where I put things that have been unpacked...
After reading thru this thread, thought I would add my 2 cents in. Some of the viewpoints I agree with, some I disagree with & some leave me scratching my head. Two things my father taught me about business are always be honest & give your best effort, as in the end, all you really control 100% is your name & reputation. Second is never talk bad about competitors work in the field. I use the term competitor but don’t feel like I am competing with anyone. I got into this more to make friendships than money & have made some lasting friends out of customers. To me, that friendship holds more value than profit. With that said, I won’t be commenting on products, but more of an observation of people. First, shouldn’t the customer be the one to decide what they are happy with? It kills me with the negativity in this industry. Someone gets something they are pleased with and others are just waiting to blow it up for them. Just vicious circles, “it’s too perfect to be authentic but if it has a couple of warts, it’s shoddy workmanship.” I won’t mention names/places but have seen three types of people in this industry. First, you have the guys who are always willing to help out a friend. Be it tech info, material recommendations etc. they are always available for advice & don’t look at it as a competition. They care about people as a whole & want to help you consistently improve. I will always be grateful to those. Second, you have the ones who are like this “Platon” character, who from what I hear gets removed from forums & keeps popping back up under different names. Good thing is, they are vocal enough, you know exactly where they stand on something & how they feel. The third kind are the ones I have issues with. They play nice in public or are completely silent so nothing will reflect back on them publicly, but privately are quick to contact your customers behind your back and speak negatively about you. I consider that piss poor business ethics & in all honesty, it just reflects negatively on them. I have had a couple of these types doing this over the years & just have just brushed it off. I have learned in the last few yrs that life is short & I want to enjoy every minute of what I have left. Must be a sad, miserable existence for some with all the negativity towards others.
Take my thoughts with a grain of salt, as I am truly a “one man operation” without a “proper” jacket factory... By the way, I asked Alexa, Siri & Google “what is a proper jacket factory?” None of the jacket manufacturers I am familiar with popped up....
After reading thru this thread, thought I would add my 2 cents in. Some of the viewpoints I agree with, some I disagree with & some leave me scratching my head. Two things my father taught me about business are always be honest & give your best effort, as in the end, all you really control 100% is your name & reputation. Second is never talk bad about competitors work in the field. I use the term competitor but don’t feel like I am competing with anyone. I got into this more to make friendships than money & have made some lasting friends out of customers. To me, that friendship holds more value than profit. With that said, I won’t be commenting on products, but more of an observation of people. First, shouldn’t the customer be the one to decide what they are happy with? It kills me with the negativity in this industry. Someone gets something they are pleased with and others are just waiting to blow it up for them. Just vicious circles, “it’s too perfect to be authentic but if it has a couple of warts, it’s shoddy workmanship.” I won’t mention names/places but have seen three types of people in this industry. First, you have the guys who are always willing to help out a friend. Be it tech info, material recommendations etc. they are always available for advice & don’t look at it as a competition. They care about people as a whole & want to help you consistently improve. I will always be grateful to those. Second, you have the ones who are like this “Platon” character, who from what I hear gets removed from forums & keeps popping back up under different names. Good thing is, they are vocal enough, you know exactly where they stand on something & how they feel. The third kind are the ones I have issues with. They play nice in public or are completely silent so nothing will reflect back on them publicly, but privately are quick to contact your customers behind your back and speak negatively about you. I consider that piss poor business ethics & in all honesty, it just reflects negatively on them. I have had a couple of these types doing this over the years & just have just brushed it off. I have learned in the last few yrs that life is short & I want to enjoy every minute of what I have left. Must be a sad, miserable existence for some with all the negativity towards others.
Take my thoughts with a grain of salt, as I am truly a “one man operation” without a “proper” jacket factory... By the way, I asked Alexa, Siri & Google “what is a proper jacket factory?” None of the jacket manufacturers I am familiar with popped up....
Silver Surfer
Well-Known Member
yup, well said, open minded and with unambiguous honesty.
Brettafett
Well-Known Member
johnwayne
Well-Known Member
Ken dear boy, can I just say how much I appreciate you sharing your years of knowledge, very enlightening I must say and if ever I thought about attempting to make a jacket then you've totally put me off, I'll leave 'to those who know' like your good self and the rest of 'the few'!!
