How many fedoras and leather jackets were made for Raiders of the Lost Ark?
Because 1941 (which I designed) was a financial disappointment, Lucas came on as producer of Raiders as a favor to Steven. We were working on a “B picture” with a B budget, but all the people were the “A” team. I needed a decent budget to accommodate the many stunt people, stand in’s, additional units, and dummies (stuffed). But the unit production manager was ruthless. It was not pretty. I had budgeted for 10 jackets and to save money I ordered them from the very reasonably priced Wilsons House of Suede and Leather in Los Angeles who custom made them for me based on a prototype I made at Western Costume Company. This is before any of us ever went to London to begin pre production at EMI Elstree Studios. When the jackets arrived from Wilsons I understood they would be unusable for the film. As I tried to age the first one, the leather peeled away in my hands, immediately the color of the leather came off, and giant holes appeared. I discussed this with Steven, George and Harrison. And
