Well, I was one of the lucky ones, too, in that I think I got one of the "real" thin lace systems from that guy. It was a month late, and I had to hound the guy like you wouldn't believe (I mean I was flat out relentless -- the guy could wake every morning knowing he was going to have an email, a text and a voicemail from me waiting for him), but he eventually got one to me (wrong color, wrong pattern except for the front contour, wrong everything -- the guy just sent me somebody else's order, but made sure it was "bigger" than mine so I could cut it down to size and dye it -- maybe I should have sent it back so that it could be sent to the guy who actually ordered it, but I decided to keep it realizing there was no guarantee that he wouldn't just ship it to another "wrong guy"). I'm still wearing it right now. It's a genuinely outstanding product, and it is the best I've ever seen or worn.

At the moment, I'm waiting on my first custom piece from TL (I've had a couple of excellent stock pieces from TL in the past, beginning when I exchanged an earlier Korean piece that had almost completely shed after less than a month). I'll let y'all know if I notice any significant differences between the new TL piece and the "other guy's" thin lace. If there is, I'll be happy to ship the thin lace piece to John for a "look-see" so that he might consider sending it to his factories as a proto-type. But, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For all I know, I may get the best thing since sliced bread in the mail from John in a couple weeks. I certainly am appreciative of his attention to detail and customer service. I haven't had to blow up his phone a single time or even think about sending any nasty emails. Lol. That's quite a welcome change.