I really didn´t want to buy another jacket after receiving my „Imperial“ from Himel earlier this year. After this considerable investment, I had finally arrived at the conclusion, that I had all my bases covered and many times over.
Then I saw @Robbie79´s post about his navy blue heavily customized X-Zip from Greg Field and reconsidered.
I really can say only good things about working with Greg. He is extremely responsive and very passionate about his craft. Discussing leather options, thread-color, even size-variations was nothing short of a pleasure and easily the most “personal” discussion I have had so far discussing a potential new order. For me, this is saying a lot, because I hold all the people in the leather-world in highest regards and always massively enjoy speaking to them.
I ended up ordering “The Michigan” in stock size 44 (P2P slightly smaller than standard) and custom measures for sleeves and body. I know this is pretty close to the design of The Imperial, but I felt, for what I had in mind, this jacket would work best.
I definitely wanted to go for navy-blue Shinki and upon receiving the new batches of leather, Greg was able to offer me the choice between a very smooth leather and a heavily grained variance. I went for the later and I have honestly not seen a hide with so much character right from the start.
Greg offers a lot of thread-options to choose from and taking the bright blue one was no easy decision as I was a bit scared that this might look too busy in the final jacket. I needn´t have worried; looks just great.
The jacket arrived this week. Pretty plain packaging, just a cardboard box and the jacket in a protective wrapping. As Shakespeare had it: “Not a lot of ado about a helluva lot…”.
Of course it´s way too hot to put up some proper wear, so I basically just take The Michigan with me when I leave the house and put it on when walking from the car park to my office. Ridiculous, I know, but aren´t we all the same here…?!?
The leather was pretty pliable, right out of the box (Much more so than my Imperial, and I am not even begin to compare it to Horween CXL stuff.).
It is also relatively lightweight (note the qualification “relatively”). I can only guess, but I think both effects will have something to do with the leather being pigment-finished, so there is comparatively little wax/oil in the hide. That’s me guessing…
Anyway, I do have a lot of heavy and really heavy jackets, so this is a very welcome deviation and of course, the jacket is by no means flimsy or insubstantial.
I like the fit a lot. It´s pretty short (specified at 25,5”), but I think this works well with the casual appearance of the piece. The cut is much less fitted than The Imperial in that it has no “natural” hourglass shape. The body can of course be taken in with the adjusters at the half belt, but I am hesitant to do that at the moment. Overall, the jacket looks much less elegant than The Imperial (more work- than sports-jacket) but definitely more casual.
You will note from the fit-pix that the jacket seems to have a slight “flare” at the front. This is not really noticeable to me in “real-life” wear, and I have no doubt that this will settle, once the leather is broken in a little bit.
Leather and stitching are beyond my expectations. The color is a much brighter blue than is apparent from the fit-pictures (and much more so than Horween´s navy-blue HH too).
The two photos in the sunlight show the “real” color pretty accurately. The bright blue stitching stands out, but in only the best way possible, IMO. The jacket is definitely a “looker”, without being over the top.
Stitching itself is very beautiful and accurate. I am not a stitch-counter but if I was, I am sure I’d be more than satisfied. I enclose a picture to show some details to the stitching.
I will let the pictures speak for themselves now. I will add more, once I get the chance to make some photos with natural lighting. Any questions more than welcome.
I am extremely pleased with the outcome and just wish I had more of a chance for some jacket-weather in the next weeks.
I can only recommend reaching out to Greg if you are cooking up some ideas for future projects. Of course, he is in some ways the new kid on the block, and his jackets aren´t exactly cheap (fully explicable looking at the hides he uses…).
On the other hand, he is by no means a “newbie” to his craft. Greg is so good to deal with, and my Michigan just oozes artisanal quality. I am glad, I did this with him and of course, it is always a good thing to support a start-up enterprise if it offers great product and service.
Then I saw @Robbie79´s post about his navy blue heavily customized X-Zip from Greg Field and reconsidered.
I really can say only good things about working with Greg. He is extremely responsive and very passionate about his craft. Discussing leather options, thread-color, even size-variations was nothing short of a pleasure and easily the most “personal” discussion I have had so far discussing a potential new order. For me, this is saying a lot, because I hold all the people in the leather-world in highest regards and always massively enjoy speaking to them.
I ended up ordering “The Michigan” in stock size 44 (P2P slightly smaller than standard) and custom measures for sleeves and body. I know this is pretty close to the design of The Imperial, but I felt, for what I had in mind, this jacket would work best.
I definitely wanted to go for navy-blue Shinki and upon receiving the new batches of leather, Greg was able to offer me the choice between a very smooth leather and a heavily grained variance. I went for the later and I have honestly not seen a hide with so much character right from the start.
Greg offers a lot of thread-options to choose from and taking the bright blue one was no easy decision as I was a bit scared that this might look too busy in the final jacket. I needn´t have worried; looks just great.
The jacket arrived this week. Pretty plain packaging, just a cardboard box and the jacket in a protective wrapping. As Shakespeare had it: “Not a lot of ado about a helluva lot…”.
Of course it´s way too hot to put up some proper wear, so I basically just take The Michigan with me when I leave the house and put it on when walking from the car park to my office. Ridiculous, I know, but aren´t we all the same here…?!?
The leather was pretty pliable, right out of the box (Much more so than my Imperial, and I am not even begin to compare it to Horween CXL stuff.).
It is also relatively lightweight (note the qualification “relatively”). I can only guess, but I think both effects will have something to do with the leather being pigment-finished, so there is comparatively little wax/oil in the hide. That’s me guessing…
Anyway, I do have a lot of heavy and really heavy jackets, so this is a very welcome deviation and of course, the jacket is by no means flimsy or insubstantial.
I like the fit a lot. It´s pretty short (specified at 25,5”), but I think this works well with the casual appearance of the piece. The cut is much less fitted than The Imperial in that it has no “natural” hourglass shape. The body can of course be taken in with the adjusters at the half belt, but I am hesitant to do that at the moment. Overall, the jacket looks much less elegant than The Imperial (more work- than sports-jacket) but definitely more casual.
You will note from the fit-pix that the jacket seems to have a slight “flare” at the front. This is not really noticeable to me in “real-life” wear, and I have no doubt that this will settle, once the leather is broken in a little bit.
Leather and stitching are beyond my expectations. The color is a much brighter blue than is apparent from the fit-pictures (and much more so than Horween´s navy-blue HH too).
The two photos in the sunlight show the “real” color pretty accurately. The bright blue stitching stands out, but in only the best way possible, IMO. The jacket is definitely a “looker”, without being over the top.
Stitching itself is very beautiful and accurate. I am not a stitch-counter but if I was, I am sure I’d be more than satisfied. I enclose a picture to show some details to the stitching.
I will let the pictures speak for themselves now. I will add more, once I get the chance to make some photos with natural lighting. Any questions more than welcome.
I am extremely pleased with the outcome and just wish I had more of a chance for some jacket-weather in the next weeks.
I can only recommend reaching out to Greg if you are cooking up some ideas for future projects. Of course, he is in some ways the new kid on the block, and his jackets aren´t exactly cheap (fully explicable looking at the hides he uses…).
On the other hand, he is by no means a “newbie” to his craft. Greg is so good to deal with, and my Michigan just oozes artisanal quality. I am glad, I did this with him and of course, it is always a good thing to support a start-up enterprise if it offers great product and service.
