One year old and just had their second proper wash.

I can safely say I’m converted when it comes to the 142 denim being an ‘everyday’ friendly material.

@truongj28:

Knight and Neph, thanks for the advice. I will report back in about a week. Normally my wife would take a pic but I just told I bought these and she isn't too stoked about it…hehe....

Mine are about 18 months old and I’d say the first 3 months I couldn’t even get my fingers in to the front pockets and my thighs were constantly under pressure but this eventually relaxed.

Have faith, the main thing is that you could ‘just’ squeeze in to them brand new so I’ll bet my bottom dollar they’ll mould to you perfectly.

@truongj28:

It's really the thighs that are concerning me since the waist buttons up somewhat easily.

I do recall the thighs on mine being the last to stretch out as well as the pockets were borderline unusable. The waist does stretch a lot so I’d insist on getting a properly fitting belt.

@neph93:

@truongj28:

Hey guys, just scored a pair of these in and they are amazing. How much stretch can I expect in the thighs? They are a touch tight right now but I'm hoping they relax and loosen a bit because everything else is perfect.

It is 21oz so they will relax and loosen. Calling it stretch is a little strong. Wear them for your everyday activity and it sounds like you’ll be fine. Personally I think a little tightness in the 21oz at the start is a good thing.

The heaviness of the denim increases the feeling of tightness. Once you get used to it and the denim relaxes it sounds like you’ll be fine.

Get a couples of pics up if you’re unsure. A little third party opinion never hurts.

Agreed. If you can ‘just’ button them up and they feel snug to the point of “barely fitting in them” then they’ll eventually fit you perfect. You’ll walk around like the tinman following the yellow brick road for the first few hours but the denim does relax quite a bit. Be warned that eventually you’ll consider this weight of denim normal and anything lighter will feel like tissue paper in comparison.

@gaseousclay:

I almost pulled the trigger on this jacket during R&H’s sale but decided to show some restraint. My son’s bday is coming up which means presents for him rather than myself [emoji16]

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Should have bought him one, he’ll grow in to it.

I'm actually surprised this jacket thread hasn't seen as much attention as the others!

I'm now the proud owner of a 142 and it's probably the best IH jacket in my opinion, and that's saying something considering my name is probably on the IH crews dartboard  Let me explain….

I've sent back 90% of the jackets I've purchased from IH mainly down to the premise that I'm extremely fussy and not a direct reflection upon the products themselves. This stems from a 12 year career in the aerospace industry where you develop an annoying case of OCD which in turn causes you to notice little details that most folk wouldn't, here's examples of the jackets I've sent back:

IH-526-SBG: Lovely denim and fitted me perfectly but I found the body length just a little too short. I ended up keeping this for a year and the denim never quite relaxed properly so ultimately ended up selling it.

IH-526L-OD: Body proportions were all perfect but the body length was a touch too long and the unevenness of the overdying left random streaks where it has obviously creased during the process and it didn't suit me.

IH-526PJ: Denim was perfect and proportions were great but the arms seemed overly boxy, I'm a skinny fool so 'regular' sleeve widths look odd on me.

IH-956PJ: Admittedly this jacket was perfect but like it's indigo brother the arms were too loose, in line with the traditional 'trucker' fit but I like my clothes to have a slimmer fit.

So after this I was pretty bent on avoiding IH products as they just didn't seem to suit me. That was until I saw that their UK stockist Rivet & Hide had a decent sale on and one of the items featured was the IH-526J-142! I looked at the measurements, the fit pictures and the shoulders seemed a little small but I figured there was nothing to lose so added it to my order.

The jacket turned up and admittedly I was expecting to find something that would annoy me, I opened the box and the first thing I noticed was how solid it was for a 14oz denim (I know it's made the same way as the 21oz). I checked it over and also noticed there was a slight slubbiness to the material that I wasn't used to but I've grown to like in other products purchased. Now the fit......perfect!! The body length is spot on, the shoulders sit right where they're supposed to and best of all the sleeves are quite narrow, just the way I like 

If you're looking for a slim fitting IH product but don't want the heft of the 526L which I hear also fits on the slim side then check out the 142 jacket, very versatile material for mixed weather and it looks like it can still take a beating like it's bigger sibling. Can't wait to see how this one will age!

@Giles:

Denim will always stretch where pressure is applied…Though because of the construction of the shoulder (felled seam), this will limit the fabrics ability to stretch as much as in non-stitched areas...

That’s reasonable.

It was more out of curiosity as I’ve noticed that the 526-14 is slim shouldered too so wondered why they measure up smaller than their ‘beefier’ counterparts.

The shoulders seem pretty narrow on both the 142 & 142OD in comparison to other jackets of similar sizing. No doubt makes for extra trim fit but is there room for stretch?

The shoulder measurements on the westerns do seem pretty small in comparison to other shirts with similar measurements, im assuming this is to give them a more trim fit?

I know this may sound a little daft but are the black snaps fitted as standard to the UHF westerns any different from the black ones available as an upgrade?