John at J. Higgins is proving to be almost unbelievably good to work with.

As I wrote in an earlier thread, I gave up on another vendor and ordered a navy blue argyll from J. Higgins. Within an hour of placing the order and paying for it with PayPal, I got a call from John. He was concerned that the size I'd requested wouldn't fit. He offered to send me a black argyll in the size that he was going to recommend. He wouldn't charge me postage one-way, but I had to cover the postage back to him.

I hesitated, but he gently insisted, and I finally relented.

Man oh man, am I glad. I was going to order a 52 L. He said it sounded like I needed a 54 L. He was right about the 54, in the chest, but the body of the jacket was a bit too long and the sleeves were a good 2+ inches too long. So after communication via e-mail, and assurances that despite the price which is actually pretty close to what you'd pay for from an e-bay vendor, this is a custom garment....here's the upshot.

He let me change the order from gauntlet sleeves to plain.

I can get "plain" pocket flaps, they won't be the style that matches the gauntlet sleeve. The "gauntlet" sleeve is the default.

I'm getting a 54 R body on the jacket, but the sleeves will be trimmed shorter.

I'm still waiting to hear back about the buttons.

John answers every e-mail within 24 hours. He's upfront about this being a custom garment, so it's not returnable, but he is taking care that I get what is going to work for me. I have no problem with this not being returnable...that's why we're going over the details.

In short.....I AM IMPRESSED. If you are looking for an Argyll, Crail or Braemar jacket, and especially if you don't fit the "usual mold", I can't recommend J. Higgins enough....at least so far. Let's see how it goes, while the jacket is being made.