How cold w/Aero Irvin

[marauf]

Good day frens!

I am considering an Aero Irvin for winter. I am curious what's the lowest it can hold temperature wise with just a light sweater or shirt. I get it it's a bit subjective. However, I am curious about experiences. Maybe it's a general idea that anything lower than -10 would need something warmer.

It does say it is a 0.75 inch thick shearling.

https://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/british-armed-forces/raf--pre-war/military021


Lemme know!

Thx fellas.

 

[Zoro]

As you say, it is highly subjective.

At -10ºC I would not even consider wearing it just because I would want a longer coat and handwarmer pockets. Others might find it the perfect temperature to use it. Or after a quick search, it seems it was historically worn in -40º(C?) cockpits, so it may be overkill at -10?

Perhaps mention what you would wear at that temperature to try and figure out "equivalences".

 

[MrProper]

My Coastal Command Irvin is fine down to -10 degrees with relatively little underneath. But if you sit around for a long time, the cold still gets through at some point.
It's definitely my warmest jacket, which I like to wear even at 0 degrees. It provides dry, pleasant warmth in seconds.

 

[marauf]

Appreciate the responses.

I don't get super cold and typically like to layer with something thin like a merino sweater or a flannel tops. Being in the cockpit and specifically air force cockpits I imagine they moved a lot and likely kept em warm.

I was thinking about the Irvin but now I am thinking about the handwarmer pockets lol.

 

[MrProper]

Appreciate the responses.

I don't get super cold and typically like to layer with something thin like a merino sweater or a flannel tops. Being in the cockpit and specifically air force cockpits I imagine they moved a lot and likely kept em warm.

I was thinking about the Irvin but now I am thinking about the handwarmer pockets lol.

Whether hand warmer pockets are a good idea or not is a question of use. I mainly wear mine in the city on the way to work or on walks. On shorter routes I almost always keep my hands in my trouser pockets, on longer routes it either gets warm enough for me to leave my hands outside or I put on warm gloves. Most hand warmer pockets are a bit too small for me anyway It's a different story with a coat.

 

[twistdh]

at -10c i usually wear a Leather jacket with 100% alpaca (or merino) sweater and Leather gloves (cachemire lined)…i don’t have an irvin or something like it (i love shearling jacket but is too warm were i live…it’s difficult to go under 0/-5c), but -10c would be my base temperature with it

 

[Carlos840]

I don't have an Irvin, but have a couple B3s, IMO you need temperatures colder than -5c to not overheat in one.
At 0c it is still too warm to wear, at -5c they become comfortable, at -10 you are barely entering the temperatures they where designed to be used in...

Unless you live in a an area that gets -10c on a regular basis these jackets are pretty useless, i live in Belgium and get to wear mine once or twice every couple of years.

I wear my B2 every year as that one is comfortable in the -3 to +5c range which is far more common where i live.

 

[MrProper]

Unless you live in a an area that gets -10c on a regular basis these jackets are pretty useless, i live in Belgium and get to wear mine once or twice every couple of years.

Here you can see how differently people perceive cold.

Apart from the fact that I think a B-3 is warmer than an (Aero) Irvin, I also really like it at temperatures below 5-7 degrees. I have three shearling jackets (D-1, B-6, Coastal Command) and actually wear them all winter long in Austria. If it gets too warm, I open the jacket a little or unzip the sleeves. But that only happens when I'm walking faster and longer distances. Otherwise, I find it very comfortable to stand on a drafty train platform and snuggle into the fur ;-)

I have no idea how I would feel in a thick B-3 ;-)

 

[Carlos840]

Here you can see how differently people perceive cold.

Apart from the fact that I think a B-3 is warmer than an (Aero) Irvin, I also really like it at temperatures below 5-7 degrees. I have three shearling jackets (D-1, B-6, Coastal Command) and actually wear them all winter long in Austria. If it gets too warm, I open the jacket a little or unzip the sleeves. But that only happens when I'm walking faster and longer distances. Otherwise, I find it very comfortable to stand on a drafty train platform and snuggle into the fur ;-)

I have no idea how I would feel in a thick B-3 ;-)

Yep, at 5-7c in shearling i turn into a sweaty monster just standing still.

I think its a good idea to experiment with cheap shearling before commiting to expensive shearling, just to make sure one's weather conditions and reaction to cold warrants spending a lot on expensive shearling.

For me, running warm and living in Belgium or London shearling has never been useable more than a handful of days a year if i was lucky.
Because of that i only ever bought second hand shearling and would never consider spending big money on a made to measure shearlign coat.

 

[LuddGang]

I live in the UK bought a fantastic big old Shearling coat around five or six years ago. In all that time there’s been maybe three days where I’ve actually worn it, and even then it was too much pretty much as soon as I actually started moving around. Unless you’re in a properly cold country I would really think about how much you’ll actually use it. The one situation where I think it would be great would be standing on the terrace at the football in the depths of winter, but even then it’d only be a handful of matches each season.

 

[Edward]

It really is entirely subjective. I have a LW B3 and an ELC Irvin both, and I have worn both in London Winters from mid-November until end February in some years. Usually with a shirt under in November and February, and a sweater as well in December and January.

 

[Monitor]

There is no place on Earth cold enough for an Irvin jacket. And if there is, sans battery heated jackets, nothing warmer exists.
As @Carlos840 stated, these jackets are designed to handle extreme weather conditions and extreme temperatures so while I know we're all different and all that, when it comes to quality shearling flight jacket, I would say that it is not subjective at all.

 

[Worf]

I've an Aero Irvin bought used here on the lounge. I wear it for outdoor winter use like snow blowing or light shoveling. It' PERFECT for watching football or pond hockey in Upstate New York. So I wear it anytime I'll be sitting outdoors in the winter.

Worf

 

[8 0722]

I live outside Toronto and made it through last winter with a toque and this Aero, goat skin, cotton drill. I wouldn't wear it if I was outside for an hour, like shovelling the driveway, but it was fine for every day.

 

[RDS]

I had an Aviation Leathercraft Irvin a couple of decades ago but sold it within 3 years because I found the number of times I could comfortably wear it were so few. More often than not I ended up too hot and sweating buckets, but on the odd occasion when the conditions did warrant it everything below my waist became cold. And, of course, unless one wants to end up smelling like a damp dog heavy sheepskin jackets are best not worn in the wet.
However, despite all that, over the years I’ve still been regularly tempted to acquire another, albeit something like an Eastman or Aero, but have to just keep reminding myself that for me the dollar per wear costs just don’t stack up.
For the price of an Irvin or B3, which would spend virtually the whole time unworn, I could have more than one other quality leather jacket and wear them almost daily.

 

[John Lever]

All Irvins are short so inevitably there will be the possibility of having a cold lower back/waist. These jackets were part of the Irvin suit that comprised of the short jacket and high waisted trousers.

 

[Trouser Bark]

...it was historically worn in -40º(C?) cockpits, so it may be overkill at -10?

Same / Same.

-40*C is -40*F

 

[Smithy]

There is no place on Earth cold enough for an Irvin jacket. And if there is, sans battery heated jackets, nothing warmer exists.
As @Carlos840 stated, these jackets are designed to handle extreme weather conditions and extreme temperatures so while I know we're all different and all that, when it comes to quality shearling flight jacket, I would say that it is not subjective at all.

This quote by this member is utter nonsense.

I haven't been on here in years but got a notification that I had a PM so hence I came over here and whilst doing so had a look around.

Sorry but this Monitor fellow hasn't probably ever worn an Irvin nor been in very cold temperatures and hence why I felt compelled to post a response.

I live inside the Arctic Circle and we have a cabin in the mountains that sits at 433 metres ASL. It's not uncommon for it to get very chilly there. The worst we have recorded has been - 34 Celsius ambient temperature but in a full storm so below -65 effective.

Irvins were designed as part of the Irvin suit (jacket and trousers) and to be worn in a cockpit. They were not designed to be worn running around in a blizzard. They offer no protection to the lower back either.

There's a reason why people in Svalbard, doing research in Antartica and inside the northern Polar Circle don't run around in shearling/sheepskin but rather in full length parkas insulated with duck and geese feathers.

 

[Carlos840]

This quote by this member is utter nonsense.

I haven't been on here in years but got a notification that I had a PM so hence I came over here and whilst doing so had a look around.

Sorry but this Monitor fellow hasn't probably ever worn an Irvin nor been in very cold temperatures and hence why I felt compelled to post a response.

I live inside the Arctic Circle and we have a cabin in the mountains that sits at 433 metres ASL. It's not uncommon for it to get very chilly there. The worst we have recorded has been - 34 Celsius ambient temperature but in a full storm so below -65 effective.

Irvins were designed as part of the Irvin suit (jacket and trousers) and to be worn in a cockpit. They were not designed to be worn running around in a blizzard. They offer no protection to the lower back either.

There's a reason why people in Svalbard, doing research in Antartica and inside the northern Polar Circle don't run around in shearling/sheepskin but rather in full length parkas insulated with duck and geese feathers.

This is why people say that Finns and Norwegians have no sens of humour...

 

[Monitor]

This quote by this member is utter nonsense.

I haven't been on here in years but got a notification that I had a PM so hence I came over here and whilst doing so had a look around.

Sorry but this Monitor fellow hasn't probably ever worn an Irvin nor been in very cold temperatures and hence why I felt compelled to post a response.

I live inside the Arctic Circle and we have a cabin in the mountains that sits at 433 metres ASL. It's not uncommon for it to get very chilly there. The worst we have recorded has been - 34 Celsius ambient temperature but in a full storm so below -65 effective.

Irvins were designed as part of the Irvin suit (jacket and trousers) and to be worn in a cockpit. They were not designed to be worn running around in a blizzard. They offer no protection to the lower back either.

There's a reason why people in Svalbard, doing research in Antartica and inside the northern Polar Circle don't run around in shearling/sheepskin but rather in full length parkas insulated with duck and geese feathers.

Alright, so how exactly does this narrative you chose to argue my utter nonsense - That the Arctic Circle is cold, that the Irvin jacket wasn't designed precisely for the purpose of Antarctic research and that I never wore an Irvin jacket - disproves my claim that the B-3 is an extremely warm jacket?

USAAF chose sheepskin for their flight suit because tested under (extreme) conditions, such and beyond those that you describe, it outperformed or matched all other available material, nylon stuffed with feathers included so even dismissing its primary purpose, by analyzing these facts, one shouldn't be all too terribly impeded from reaching the only logical conclusion, which is that the B-3 is a warm jacket.

And that, Smithorama, is all I said.