 G'day. How are you going? Welcome. My name is Tech and welcome to my channel, Bootlossophy. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands that I live and work on, the Wajik people of the Nungar country or Nungar Buja. Today I'm moving off boots again and just getting in a look at this A2 style flight or bomber jacket from Mont 5 of Pakistan. Okay, so I've had a look at a couple of jackets lately that really go with the boots I review in that heritage gear sense. I recently took a look at the Flint & Tinder Waxed Trucker jacket, which you can view up there. I've also reviewed the RM Williams Dry Skin Aussie Bush Oil Skin jacket. So this week I thought I'd pull out one of my favorite jackets, this Leather A2 style jacket from Pakistani leather goods company Mont 5. I bought this jacket about three or four years ago now when I finally had to say goodbye to an earlier leather bomber jacket that I'd owned for some 21 years. In leather jackets, I really like the flight or bomber jacket version and I searched for one through the internet, Perth being a moderate climate city and not particularly well known for retail shops selling good quality leather jackets. The problem I found is one that I think is commonly reported. You find either cheap fast fashion questionably leather jackets, if you give them the benefit of the doubt, or expensive high-end brand or real heritage brand jackets that cost well over a thousand dollars. I also wanted to support the smaller company and hopefully find something from a developing country where the artisans are still working in traditional ways. I came across the Pakistani company Mont 5. I'll tell you about the company later but I came across this jacket which they call the Nanga Parbat Fur Collar jacket. As you can see it's clearly a World War II style A2 type flight jacket. The US Army Air Corps introduced the Type A2 flight jacket in 1931, originally made of brown horse hide. Some later models were made of goat skin and then later cow hide. The A2 was initially issued to officers but by the start of America's entry into the war was being issued to all ranks. Usually after completion of basic flight training and before going on to advanced training. I suppose if you had to earn your wings you had to earn the jacket that you pinned them on. This jacket has made a thick heavy full grain chrome tanned cow hide. There aren't any bare edges that I can measure but from some of the rolled edges I'm estimating that the leather to be around 2mm thick. It feels supple under the hand but it does have a tendency to feel dry and needs regular conditioning. I'm not sure at all if it's because of the tanning or the quality of the leather or the fact that it's bovine but it's not as soft as another goat leather jacket that I have. It is full grain and I can clearly see the pores and the grain of the animal skin. For the most part it's even and smooth and it does crease particularly at the elbows just like the leather wood and the vamp of your boots. But on this right sleeve it's showing some loose grain and it's actually a little unsightly. The jacket weighs about 2kg so it feels really solid and heavy when you put it on. But I do love the feel and fit of it. Oh boy I wish there was a smell origin because the smell of the leather is delicious. Although soft it's thick and behaves and smells and sounds like bridal leather like a saddle or horse tackle. Originally the jacket was offered with a shearling collar but I bought it to wear in temperatures from cool to cold so I didn't necessarily want the fur collar and I asked them to make this for me without. It is a short waist length bomber jacket with an elasticated knitted waist and elasticated knitted cuffs. The knit on both is thick and properly elastic but the cuffs are starting to sag and I might have to dip them in cold water. The lining is a satin polyester lining textile. It feels smooth and silky and apparently durable because it hasn't snagged or torn or wore in the last few years of quite regular wear. The full length zip is a YKK brass zip and smooth to pull up and down. If a little tricky to connect at the bottom you're trying to do it up fast because of the leather gathered in the fold down at the bottom. In terms of pockets there's the regulation two generously sized patch pockets closed by flaps and plastic buttons. They're generously sized and you can throw lots of things into them. Although originally stiff the buttons are now easy to do up. Behind them are hand warmer pockets which apparently are not original since the A2 was originally for officers and it was thought un-gentlemanly for an officer to tuck his hands into pockets like this. Inside there are two inner breast pockets, one on each side. The left one can be closed by a zip. The right one is open and unbuttoned. They're at a nice height to tuck in your phone or wallet and big enough and deep enough for a thick notebook. At the back there is a waistband sewn on and I guess it's to style the waist and to stop it from stretching out of shape. Also at the back are gussets at the shoulder so that it helps to allow easy movement. The collar is sewn directly to the shoulder pieces without a neckband or a stand piece like a shirt collar. But the leather stands up so I don't think it needs one anyway. All the edges and the edges of pieces that are seen are rolled before they're stitched and that gives each piece and scene a finished look. There are inner leather panels reinforcing the zip panels and here is one complaint that I have. On more expensive jackets these will have some reinforcing at the collar and down the inner leather panels to stop this panel curling outwards. As you can see once the leather breaks in and relaxes there's a tendency for this edge to roll out and not sit properly affecting the positioning of this side of the collar. In terms of quality of construction as I said all the edges are rolled as are the seams. The materials used they look reasonable to good and the finish is really pretty good. All the stitches are straight and even and where they can be hidden they are. The buttonholes at the pockets are big enough to be able to unbutton and button easily especially after the leather breaks in. Just a quick word about the brand Mott 5. The name is based on the fact that out of 14 mountain peaks in the world that are over 8,000 meters high five of them are in Pakistan so Mott 5. Pakistan has a really big leather tanning and leather goods industry. As a country they are famous for both veg tanning and chrome tanning. But I have to say unless you check carefully you could be buying leather goods that use a tannery that's not certified and could be doing some serious damage to the environment and to the health of their workers. Mott 5 say that they choose certified tanneries and keep the supply chain local so they can see the suppliers. The founder of Mott 5 Mr. Zia Gafoor worked in leather goods in the UK finding mid-range leather jackets difficult to source and finding higher end jacket prices and profit margins hard to understand for him because he knew what the true costs were. Returning to Pakistan he saw that many of the high end jackets sold in the UK were made in the city that he came from and at low costs where the makers hardly got to see a fraction of the actual selling price. So he decided to create a model where he sourced local tanneries and supplies as much as possible employed local craftsmen and dealt directly with the customer cutting out many layers of middlemen. In doing so he supported local industry and employment, used recyclable packing materials and kept his carbon footprint low. Launching from a successful Kickstarter campaign Mott 5 now enjoys an established business. They make a jacket on order based on standard patterns but tweak to your body measurements which you supply on order. They have craftsmen each of them with 20 years experience who make the pattern different ones cut the pattern and then different ones stitch the panels and yet different ones then mould the pieces with heat that into curves that fit the body. Finally they apply a quality inspection on the product before shipping by a QC expert. From what I can gather it's very hands-on expert-led process. From my own experience order to shipping is a matter of a couple of weeks. They're proud enough of their craftsmen and I guess their craftsmen are proud and satisfied enough to work there and their names and photos are displayed on the website. As to sizing and fit you can choose between standard sizes from extra small to 2XL with all sizes in between or a custom fit. They do have a size chart giving you their standard measurements for your chest, shoulder, mid torso, waist, sleeve and the length of it. The measurements for the sleeve in my medium size were a little long so I opted for a custom fit. When you do that you choose custom on the website and you place your order and then you get an email with instructions to measure your key body measurements and then they make it for you to your measurements. As you can see this one based on a medium for my 176cm height of slim to medium build fits perfectly. They got my sleeve length and shoulders just right giving me plenty of room and enough room to flex and move my arms helped by these gussets under the arms. There's enough room in the torso and the sleeves to put this on over a thick jumper. In terms of comfort it's like a bespoke jacket but it's heavy and when you pull it on you do feel the weight and thickness of the leather. As a result of the thickness it is a very warm jacket. I wear it in late autumn, winter and early spring. Anything outside that weather and in my opinion it's a little too warm even in just a t-shirt. I think I said earlier that it's a dry leather. Even though I condition it regularly with either liquid meatsfoot oil or liquid mink oil it still feels dry even now. When I apply the oil it just soaks it up like a paper towel. Then in a few months the leather feels dry again and starts to squeak. I've come to the conclusion that it's probably just the way it is. The conditioner doesn't damage the leather and each time it just adds to the soft feel and suppleness so I don't mind. I'm beginning to think that perhaps one day I'll switch to a balm type conditioner maybe that waxiness will sit on the surface and help to seal the leather from weather and also from drying out too quickly. Now how about value? This jacket currently costs $599 AUD. I have to tell you in my search for a replacement leather bomber jacket what is it three or four years ago now? It was and I still think it remains the lower mid-range for a quality leather jacket. Most flight or bomber jackets sell for $500 AUD and above, mostly above. So that's over 700 AUD. Thursday Boot Company make a leather flight jacket with a detachable shearling collar for $425 AUD. Even then, that's about $600 AUD. Nowadays though, I think MOT5 has some competition from the Indian subcontinent itself as others see the opportunities of making a better quality jacket with reduced middleman charges. For example, the jacket maker, another Pakistani leather goods maker sell an A2 style leather jacket for $480 AUD. Now I haven't seen it in the flesh as it were so I can't compare materials or quality but the jacket maker's website describes the leather as real leather and unfortunately that's often the code word that is highly corrected and imprinted leather splits. So from what I've seen and touched, this jacket remains one that I can vouch the value for. So there you are, the last in my series of jacket reviews at least for now. I hope you liked it. I hope you liked the series and if you haven't seen them check out my review of the Flint and Tinder Wex Trucker Jacket and of the RM Williams Dry Skin Jacket up there. Also let me know if you like this kind of stuff. I don't know this stuff as much as I know about boots but if you like, I can research them. I'll bring you my reviews of jackets, bags and other gear that interests you and of course don't forget to click on the like and subscribe. It really helps me get my videos out to more people and supports my channel. Thanks for doing it. I'll bring you more videos of boot reviews of course. I have a review of an RM Williams Comfort Craftsman in the beautiful Caramel Carve Skin coming out soon as well as a long-term review of Caswell's Lisbon Boot. Look out for that. But wait, there's more. Just keep an eye out or subscribe and let YouTube notify you when I upload them. Until then, take care of yourselves and I'll see you soon.