Corduroy Collar on a Leather Jacket?

[Vespizzare]

Hi all. I've been away for a while, but I have a new Johnson Leathers jacket in the pipeline and I'm sure I'll be sharing in some way, shape, or form.

Meanwhile, I was looking at Alexander Leathers' GT jackets for ideas and they have a corduroy collar. I've never seen that before, but I think I like it. So what's the story? Advantages? Disadvantages?

 

[Sloan1874]

My concern would be that the collar would wear out at a much faster rate than the rest of it. Also, there is the chance that it could just look plain crap. [huh]

 

[ButteMT61]

My concern would be that the collar would wear out at a much faster rate than the rest of it. Also, there is the chance that it could just look plain crap. [huh]

Agreed. Even on my Lee 101 blanket jacket, the cord on the collar seems like it will look like hell long before the denim or lining. I'd probably pass, unless I had a good, local, cheap tailor to redo it every few years...

 

[Vespizzare]

If it wasn't durable enough, why would Alexander Leathers use it on an otherwise primo jacket?

 

[Seb Lucas]

I don't like the look but they use cord collars for all those robust waxed cotton jackets and to line sleeves in Aeros so I can't see that it's a bad idea per say. My Aero half belt had stock cotton drill lined cuffs which in my view is a bad idea - they went shiny and smelly as you'd imagine they would. The combination of leather and fabric or wool is not a strange idea (knitted cuffs on the A2 which wear out long before the jacket does...) but I would say no myself.

 

[Sloan1874]

Good question. It's undeniably a Belstaff style, but it appears to be a leather version of one of their waxed jackets, which has the same type of cord collar. I'm just not sure that particularly combo is a great design feature - if you notice, Belstaff's leather jackets have dirt bike collars that are lined with cord.

 

[Dinerman]

Corduroy was a popular fabric for workwear, hunting clothes and for trim of jackets that saw heavy use (collars, cuffs, hems). It can be a very hard wearing stout fabric.

 

[Sloan1874]

Absolutely, as a lining, great. But as somebody who spent three years working for a paper out in the backwoods, I saw more ragged and knackered Barbour cord collars than any one person should have to. Not a fan.

 

[Vespizzare]

Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks for the input.

I'm definitely going in a different direction. (Of course, Alan at Johnson's never heard about this brainstorm and may have vetoed it himself.)

 

[Sir Jacket]

Wrong -- avoid. SJ

 

[Edward]

It looks fine on the shirt-style collar on a traditional Barbour country jacket. The Barbour / Belstaff style motorcycle jackets traditionally had a Mandarin style collar, which was lined in corduroy. The latter works; the collar from the former style of jacket transplanted onto the latter type (as some, though not all, of the AL jackets have) just looks clumsy and wrong. I don't think I'd care for it whatever they made it from, though. The ones they have that are closer to a copy of the original Barbour International type jackets look better, though the pockets are a bit oversized for my tastes. For the sake of full disclosure, mind, I note that I have never cared for this type of belted motorcycle jacket in leather at all. I prefer the waxed cotton. One of these in leather just looks 'wrong' to me - like a Schott Perfecto made from Harris Tweed. Naturally, your mileage may vary. I don't personally know of any reason why such a corduroy collar would wear out overly quickly, though I'd expect it to wear faster, with heavy wear, than the same collar in leather, on leather. Otherwise, its a matter of personal aesthetic preferences.