Right on target Smithy.



I am very sad to hear about Dave's company. I bought a Flighter crusher cap from DD back when he was making them. That cap was amazing!! Great craftsman Diamond Dave, I can only hope that he will start back up with the hats now that he is stopping the jacket building.



This evolving market is having ripple effects across the board in the Military Repro industry. There are more options now in the lower tier level, and some of these jackets have been improving at a steady rate. Of course this improvement is relative. As they are nowhere near the top tier level.



I think as well that the standards have changed. It seems more acceptable to have zippers that almost look legit but are cheap, Knits that are not 100% wool, sub standard hides that look cheap and thin, and details that are not correct. This mentality of bargain over authenticity is a bit troubling to me.



It takes a true passion in these jackets and a lot of study and research to get things up to a decent level of authenticity. This can't be done by using cheap alternative parts and trying to have the jacket done "just good enough to be acceptable and sell", rather then as authentic as possible regardless of the cost.



Passion will take you a long way in this industry. It will take you so much further than just being spoon fed the details from "The Experts". It provides for you the desire to study and research these jackets in depth. For example, it took over 5 years to nail down all the details on the Aviatrix, Earhart's jacket. The results are a design that is closer than anyone has come to an exact reproduction. This intense research resulted in identifying details that others had missed, like the ID on the gusseted arms. An unknown feature until I found obscure photos of that portion of the jacket.



In the end it is the customers that make a company successful or not. This shift in the market is effecting many companies at some level. Reduction of sales can have devastating effects on a small business and I believe this is part of what we are seeing here with Diamond Dave's outfit.



I can only hope that in the end, some customers will not be satisfied with the cheap alternative jackets with sub standard parts, and will want something more authentic and of higher quality.