LOST WORLDS is renowned for our Flight Jackets. Many companies purport to manufacture "correct" and "authentic" flight jackets. Ours meet such criteria completely and uncompromisingly. Amazingly, to those who know.

The Golden Age of American military and commercial leather flight jackets covered a mere twenty years: from the mid-1920s to the end of WWII, following which synthetics, chiefly nylon, replaced leather. During these two decades the major hides were Horsehide, Goatskin and Sheepskin. At the outset, Lambskin (Cape leather) was used in the A-1, but proved fragile and short-lived, one reason for the scarcity of genuine A-1s.

The most famous leather flight jackets are the Army Air Forces A-2, 1931-43, and the USN/USMC G-1, early 1940s-present (in all its specifications). Although the USAF and USN/USMC currently sport respectively an A-2 and G-1, these modern quasi-renditions resemble the original issues but in name, differing significantly in materials, hardware, details, cut and quality.

Hence the novice who's only heard of these jackets can easily fall prey to inaccurate hype. When for instance, a vendor claims to sell the genuine USAF current issue A-2, know that for those who know and cherish the original WWII jackets, this is akin to calling a veggie burger Steak Tartar! (Or is it veggie-tanned burger!)

How, then, can one distinguish between the claims of competitors in an esoteric field?

Research and diligence -- comparison and common sense. Try to see original examples. Try to see as many of the many reproductions awash in the market place as you can.  Speak to those who know, as opposed to those who pretend to know. To whit --

BE VERY WARY OF SO-CALLED "NON-COMMERCIAL," "INFORMATION ONLY" WEB SITES AND CHAT GROUPS, RUN BY SELF-APPOINTED "EXPERTS." SUCH ARE USUALLY  MANUFACTURER SHILLS OR "BASEMENT BOMBARDIERS" ("Mom, throw down some more soap." ) OF A HILARIOUS, SELF-IMPORTANT SORT. (Think the priceless and hopelessly plump Comic Guy in THE SIMPSONS!)  The manufacturer shill is, of course, the "stooge" who stands in the crowd during the shell game and puts up twenty after twenty to entice others into the fraud. REMEMBER WHAT GOEBBELS SAID: THE BIGGER THE LIE, THE MORE READILY PEOPLE WILL BELIEVE IT.  Unfortunately this is true in the esoteric business of flight jackets. Distrust ostensibly objective, here-to-help-you "enthusiasts."  Rampant and almost beyond belief on what we affectionately call  "THE FAIRY FORUMS," where "men" like to talk to other "men" about how they look in flight jackets. Cross-dressers. Trainspotters. Eunuchs. The "JACKET QUEEN" phenomenon. Ambassadors of geekdom. Replicants. THE INTERNET MAKES THIS KIND OF FRAUD PAINLESS AND CHEAP. THOSE WITH HIDDEN AGENDAS HAVE THINGS TO HIDE. THE UNWARY AND GULLIBLE WILL PAY THE PRICE. CONTACT US IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS.

At some point, if you're serious about dead authenticity and quality that even exceeds originals, you'll audition a LOST WORLDS jacket. We don't consider our jackets replicas, rather continuations.

Our knowledge of the history and manufacture of American flight jackets is deep, yet there's always more to learn if you're a manufacturer. The LOST WORLDS COLLECTION includes many memorable examples, only some of which are shown on the site. Thus when we recreate a design we have many references on hand and a database of literally hundreds of originals we restored and examined over our twenty+ years of collecting and manufacturing. We can compare, distinguish, synthesize. Owning so many originals, we know and see the big picture. We don't make mistakes from inexperience or piecemeal research.  We don't make mistakes, period. Nor pander to what amateurs believe or are brainwashed (this may be giving them benefit of some doubt!) into believing what was true of the originals. Hence we don't manufacture undocumented jacket-of-the-month ephemera and bosh. Again, basement bombardiers -- so little light enters down there.

Operating our own factory immerses us directly and continually in the complexities of making jackets originally designed, sewn and flown in a wholly different world. Producing many related but distinct styles in some quantity for Retail and Wholesale customers keeps quality standards at their highest. Conversely, it's small, insular production that impairs quality because the manufacturer doesn't benefit from ongoing development. He doesn't make enough to see enough. With these jackets one's always learning. Stop learning and you're like a fish that stops swimming. 

The manufacturer must be a clothing professional rather than hobbyist -- he must pursue and understand complexities of pattern, fit and correctness. How something looks and fits on a vintage jacket is not necessarily how it should be. What if the operator who made the vintage piece wasn't top notch? If the pattern was flawed? In a typical WWII factory one set of workers would make A-2 pockets, another sleeves, collars, etc. Then the pieces would go to another area for attachment; then to another for the inclusion of the lining and topstitch. Etc. Uniformity of manufacture was thus impossible and endless variation ensued. These important facts quite elude some, who see the tree and not the forest! A high degree of specific knowledge about clothing and culture -- books, movies, music, furniture, architecture, the whole nine yards -- is necessary to escape the tunnel vision of the hobbyist, who has little learning and less comprehension since he obsesses on the little he thinks he knows as a security blanket, in denial of the big, adult world he fears -- the "trekkie" mentality. Ecce nerd.

Jackets like these are indices, signs, to the culture that produced them, now indeed a lost world. If the manufacturer's horizons are narrow he can't reproduce the essence, the ineffable quality of the piece. Knowing how a Bugatti crankshaft was forged doesn't translate into sewing a jacket. However, knowing how in the Mechanical Age craftsmen like Bugatti solved production problems manually, with one's eye, one's brain and one's experience, mistrusting shortcuts and partial knowledge to obtain a goal of craft perfection, is absolutely important for understanding why something is -- and frequently isn't -- on an original jacket. Is it only so obvious to us? LOST WORLDS works from the inside of a jacket out, not the opposite. The signature of a piece is immanent, not a Xerox copy. Superficiality is easy. Hence "Reality Television!" !!! Reality for those unreal is a contradiction.

Although our jackets cost more than some others we've never -- NEVER! -- heard from a customer that the difference wasn't worth it. Frequently a first-time customer has reservations about spending "so much." When, however, the jacket arrives, he thinks it's cheap at the price. But not everyone needs the Best. If YOU do....