Anyone own an FWF jacket?

[goatchild]

Hi all.

Thinking of buying an FWF 350N jacket. Anyone have any comments/criticisms? It looks pretty nice, but I have no safety net of word of mouth and so am relying on y'all. thanks!

[banane16]

in our club, a lot of people use FWF gear and they all are very happy with it. the fabric is very nice to wear, and durable. yet sizes are slightly different from eg. uhlmann gear, so i would suggest to try it on before buying.

the plastron and lamee they sell is nicer to wear than any other gear i have seen so far. very good customer service: a guy at our class had a problem with a glove, he was given compensation without any problems.

do try their weapons also, i really like my FWF foil better than anything else i have fought with so far. (but, fencing for about 12 month now, was only two or 3 other brands).

[tubbyFencer]

Am presently using the FWF plastron, fits like a glove! Have tried the Allstar plastron as well, find the German one giving a more snug fit and a wee bit cooler than the AllStar.

[Inquartata]

Originally Posted by tubbyFencer

Am presently using the FWF plastron, fits like a glove! :

You have fingers on your shoulders?!

[Zilverzmurfen]

Originally Posted by tubbyFencer

Have tried the Allstar plastron as well, find the German one giving a more snug fit and a wee bit cooler than the AllStar.

Allstar is German too...

[keropie]

Allstar WAS German, but a great deal of their manufacturing has been moved to China. The company is still German, but the equipment is less and less German (I know that their tips and mask shells, for instance, are made in China).

[goatchild]

Thanks all. Based on your comments I believe I will be getting this jacket (from f.net )

But BANANE, you mention odd sizing. I don't think there would be anyway for me to see/try before I buy, so now I'm concerned about which size. I know with many jackets you should order a little bigger than your chest, but is the FWF supposed to be skintight (re: stretch?). I guess my question is should I buy the size that corresponds exactly to my chest which would be the Euro 50 size, or should I go with the 52 for a little mroe give...really i think my question is because I don't understand the difference between stretch uniform fit and nonstretch fit.

Thanks so much for your help!

[JayhawkPawn]

Go to their website. Email them, they will ask for your measurements, and they'll send you the appropiate size. Sigrid responds to emails personally. I have the 350N jacket in gorilla-size, and it was sent promptly, and even being made in a custom size (62 Euro for the curious.) I was only charged a 15% tailoring fee. (Hint hint Alex.) Now, if only I can get them to do the same for a sabre lame.

[CvilleFencer]

Originally Posted by JayhawkPawn

Go to their website. Email them, they will ask for your measurements, and they'll send you the appropiate size. Sigrid responds to emails personally. I have the 350N jacket in gorilla-size, and it was sent promptly, and even being made in a custom size (62 Euro for the curious.) I was only charged a 15% tailoring fee. (Hint hint Alex.) Now, if only I can get them to do the same for a sabre lame.

Fair warning, there sizing can be a bit off. I sent them the same measurements that LP used to make my last two sets of kit (that fit very well, a little loose if anything) and everything they sent me, jacket, plastron and pants, are all at least one, maybe two sizes two small.

It is nice kit from looking at it (obviously I have not been able to use it), but it is not that easy to size in my experiance. I guess I will be giving Barry a call again sometime soon for my next set of kit. By the way, anyone looking for a nice set of brand new top line FWF FIE gear? Xtra Large (52-54 US jacket and plastron, 42 pants) RH mens sizes?

[banane16]

FWF jackets do stretch better than other brands. the size is not exactly odd, just (a bit) different. in our club, it is worn a lot by rather small women (app 5 ft 5) and tall, skinny men (6 ft). beeing a city club, the vast mayority of fencers are rather slender.

euro 50 size is second smallest men size. if you you are a heavyset person, it might be better to ask for a custom size or go for 52 or even 54.

in the end it is a matter of choice – i do not like my gear totallly skintight, because i hate this with normal clothes , too. (bigger target area? forget about it, these days i am one big target area anyway ...)

but some people at our club wear FWF very skintight, and they say it stretches very well.

[brtech]

I've ordered knickers and lames direct from FWF. I must say that the customer service experience with them has been excellent, and the quality of the goods is also excellent.

However, we have had quite a bit of trouble with the clothing.

The knickers just did not fit. We tried 2 sizes, and my fairly average height female fencer had the waist/hips right, but way, way too long legs. Uhlmann fits fine on her (that is what she has now).

The lames we got failed the "french cut" test at Summer Nationals, and yes, I was on the armory staff, and yes, I failed them right away. I used them as the "worst case" example. They are being replaced by FWF. The material is very nice, but the fit is not so nice on both of my daughters that have them. Again the Uhlman fits very nice, as does the new Absolute lightweight that has a very similar material as the FWF. Most of the vendors are aware of this issue, but make sure you get properly cut FWF foil lames if that's the direction you go.

Remember if you do order direct that it costs at least $20 shipping to send anything back. They also use UPS to ship out, which is very fast, and trackable, but the customs hit was a bit bigger than I expected. When I order from Uhlmann, they send it via Air Parcel Post, which takes quite a bit longer, but either has no customs (although you should report and pay duty for some items).

The mechanical stuff (points, wires, plugs, sockets) look just like what Uhlmann used to sell. But that is another story.

[epeeisky]

I have the FIE FWF jacket, and I love it. The material is very shiny at first for some reason. The fit as everyone has said is a bit weird. According to their website I am a 58, but when I got the jacket it did not fit. Craig then got me a size 60, and it fit perfectly. It seems that their cuting is off by about 2cm in their garments. All the hastle was worth it however as the jacket is very well made and rather comfortable/breathable.

[goatchild]

Originally Posted by CvilleFencer

By the way, anyone looking for a nice set of brand new top line FWF FIE gear? Xtra Large (52-54 US jacket and plastron, 42 pants) RH mens sizes?

I'm a lefty, but may I ask your exact chest measurement so I could get an idea of what size chest is too small in a 52 (you mention US sizing, but I thought fwf was euro sizing??).

I hope that is not too personal a question, and thank you for your help.

They do look like very nice uniforms.

[goatchild]

Originally Posted by epeeisky

I have the FIE FWF jacket, and I love it. The material is very shiny at first for some reason. The fit as everyone has said is a bit weird. According to their website I am a 58, but when I got the jacket it did not fit. Craig then got me a size 60, and it fit perfectly. It seems that their cuting is off by about 2cm in their garments. All the hastle was worth it however as the jacket is very well made and rather comfortable/breathable.

thanks epeeisky. It looks like I'm gravitating toward getting one size bigger than my measurements.

So when everyone says they fit weird, is it accurate to say they fit a little smaller generally then do other brands?

[epeeisky]

Originally Posted by goatchild

thanks epeeisky. It looks like I'm gravitating toward getting one size bigger than my measurements.

So when everyone says they fit weird, is it accurate to say they fit a little smaller generally then do other brands?

That is what it seems. However, once you find the appropriate size, the fit is wonderful. My FWF FIE jacket fits me almost perfectly.

[wbowman]

Originally Posted by JayhawkPawn

Sigrid responds to emails personally.

Is that Sigrid Schwab, who used to be at Uhlmann?

[banane16]

the manufacturer of FWF, Roiser fechtsport (www.rolser-fechtsport.com) used to work for allstar and uhlman, but for some reason this was stopped in 2005, and they decided to built up their own distribution. it is explained at the Roiser history section, but it seems only in german.

sigrid mentioned a few weeks ago that she had been with uhlmann for some time. FWF is selling at (local) tournaments over here quite frequently.

[mackillian]

if FWF can get their lames to pass that test, they'd be fantastic. I got to use my FWF lame once at my club, and it felt like I wasn't wearing a lame at all. Then it failed the test at Nationals. Very Sad.

[wbowman]

Originally Posted by banane16

sigrid mentioned a few weeks ago that she had been with uhlmann for some time.

Must be the same Sigrid then. I knew she was no longer at Uhlmann and wondered where she had gone. She's an extremely nice and helpful person. When I made a pilgrimage to the Uhlmann headquarters in Lauphaim a few years ago, she was the one who showed me around.

[Bran]

Originally Posted by mackillian

if FWF can get their lames to pass that test, they'd be fantastic. I got to use my FWF lame once at my club, and it felt like I wasn't wearing a lame at all. Then it failed the test at Nationals. Very Sad.

Sigrid is one and the same - used to work at Uhlmann.

The lames are being re-cut and should be available in about 1.5-2 weeks.

Since FWF is our "house" brand, we're soon going to post some special sales on their items. Check our website's "specials" link often.....

Bran