Field Leathers

[Squirrel_hero]

I actually have a Badalassi doctor's bag. Thought it'd be nice to have a jacket to go with it View attachment 283037 View attachment 283038 View attachment 283039

Lol another leather piece you own I want! what brand is this Dr bag? sorry I swear I’m not stalking you, you’re just all over this forum!

 

[Marc mndt]

Lol another leather piece you own I want! what brand is this Dr bag? sorry I swear I’m not stalking you, you’re just all over this forum!

You recently visited Firenze right?

This one was made by Infinity, a small workshop in the heart of Florence.

 

[Damon141]

You recently visited Firenze right?

This one was made by Infinity, a small workshop in the heart of Florence.

View attachment 492519 View attachment 492520 View attachment 492521

Those look great.
I see your love of leather and fine craftsmanship doesn’t stop at jackets.

Have you come across leather bags by F. HAMMANN?
https://www.fhammann.com/

I like the look and love the idea of them being Germany’s oldest leather goods manufacturer.

 

[Damon141]

Exactly. Moleskin by itself demands cold weather. Moleskin plus leather (plus Florida) sounds like masochism.

You’re doing a good job of scaring me away from this Moleskin but I can save it for colder days since I have my Himel and will have 2 total Field Leathers jackets. We do have some colder days and that demand more a leather jacket, at night it can get into the 40’s F.
I paid too much for a mere meter of this stuff and I wouldn’t want to be a pest and contact them more than I have to, Sam is doing so much work for me, Fields Leather truly has the best customer service I have encountered in a long while, Greg too when I spoke to him on IG but since then Sam has taken over and she is so damn pleasant to work with.

 

[Aloysius]

You’re doing a good job of scaring me away from this Moleskin but I can save it for colder days since I have my Himel and will have 2 total Field Leathers jackets. We do have some colder days and that demand more a leather jacket, at night it can get into the 40’s F.

40° is not remotely cold enough to wear moleskin-lined leather, whether you believe us people who own lots of moleskin or not. Like I said, I wear it to shovel snow.

I don’t think it would overly trouble Sam if you asked her to set it aside for now. Just my 10¢.

 

[MrProper]

40° is not remotely cold enough to wear moleskin-lined leather, whether you believe us people who own lots of moleskin or not. Like I said, I wear it to shovel snow.

I don’t think it would overly trouble Sam if you asked her to set it aside for now. Just my 10¢.

40 and moleskin would be too cool for me. Under 45 I unpack my shearlings. Cold sensation is different. Where one still runs around in a T-shirt, the other already wants a jacket. I am the one with the jacket lol

 

[Squirrel_hero]

You recently visited Firenze right?

This one was made by Infinity, a small workshop in the heart of Florence.

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Wow I’m bummed I didn’t know about this place! I should have asked you about good spots. I found that most of the shops sold tourist trap crap leather.

Was a real disappointment all the crap leather they try to sell as “fancy Italian leather” when most of it was garbage

 

[Marc mndt]

Wow I’m bummed I didn’t know about this place! I should have asked you about good spots. I found that most of the shops sold tourist trap crap leather.

Was a real disappointment all the crap leather they try to sell as “fancy Italian leather” when most of it was garbage

Yeah, 95% of what you see is mass produced factory made crap.

There's a handful of artisan workshops throughout the city, you just need to know where to find them

 

[Marc mndt]

Have you come across leather bags by F. HAMMANN?

Never heard of them. Thanks for sharing, their duffle bags look nice.

 

[MrProper]

I'll add https://www.campomaggi.com. I like the washed leather and the way they build bags. I have one business bag, my wife has countless. All beautiful.

 

[ton312]

Why on earth would you buy that…. When you could get this…..not even the same league…. View attachment 492757

That is not a new jacket. You posted a fresh cut and sewn jacket vs a completely broken in and worn jacket. You aren’t making valid comparisons. You’ve also generalized “shinki” leather, which takes multiple forms, and it seems you don’t like FL for anything they offer. Why not simply take your money and go elsewhere?

Go slap down your credit card and buy an off the rack Japanese jacket, spray it with a water bottle, and post the same picture you posted above, 20 minutes later.

 

[ton312]

That’s exactly what I did….got a refund….taking my money elsewhere…and okay I’ll post a pic of a gorgeous new Rainbow Country so you can see how nice they are, that way it'll be “apples to apples “ comparison. And while I think Shinki is some of the best leather in the world, generally speaking, I was very specific when I said his black semi aniline option is nice but the brown pigment shinki is pretty ugly in my opinion. And yes at this point Field doesn’t have anything to offer me which is why I asked for a refund. I wanted a 30s half belt in brown horsehide….which is what I ordered…

Cool! Please do post your jacket when it arrives. While I’m not necessarily a fan of Japanese made jackets for reasons extending beyond hide qualities, I can appreciate them.
Please post your jacket here:
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...ou-wearing-today.82949/page-2263#post-2986016
Look forward to seeing it!

 

[ton312]

View attachment 492767
Here you go….a beautiful, brand new Rainbow country half belt. Absolutely gorgeous leather, rich depth of color. . Not really much more than a cowhide Field leathers . Far superior leather. also fits this guy way better. You would think the Field leathers would fit better since it’s a completely bespoke jacket but this one looks way cleaner and better fitting. And no pointy shoulders. also drapes perfect not like the other that looked like so much extra leather it was like a set of curtains….

This jacket has vacant shoulders.

I wouldn’t consider this a perfect fit (not that there really is such a thing anyway). But if there were, this ain’t it.

 

[navetsea]

that dimple on the back of the upper sleeve near the shoulder seam is usually a sign when the sleeve angle is rotated forward a little, so at neutral position the sleeve is under a little tension and creates dimple there.

but seriously if your size is normal, and you like a model readily available in a hide you prefer, and you can get it within days or weeks, why bother queuing for a custom made project that might take a year or more to be started. custom project is for people who want something not available elsewhere. I like both his square and rounder shoulder from pictures, I think square shoulder might break in into a cool look one day when the jacket is broken in.

 

[MrProper]

And while I think Shinki is some of the best leather in the world, generally speaking

I don't think so. In my opinion, Shinki is overrated.
Is this statement convincing if I only owned one Shinki? Hardly. Just as little as your statement.

that’s necessary so he can move his arms

that dimple on the back of the upper sleeve near the shoulder seam is usually a sign when the sleeve angle is rotated forward a little, so at neutral position the sleeve is under a little tension and creates dimple there.

Exactly that.
You can get this dimple at FL too.
And no, I am not a fan boy, even though I started this thread.
I get the impression that you are kind of offended and therefore trying to create a mood against FL instead of moving on.

Edit:
Something else I would like to add... no matter what leather Greg chooses, I very much expect that he will not compromise on quality. In this respect, I maintain that the Italian cow is at least as good (if not better) than the Shinki he usually uses.
Whether you like the characteristics is something else.

As for prices... the market determines the price. a where we are moving, $500 will be more or less irrelevant. And whether a company is new or old is irrelevant when it comes to pricing.

 

[Marc mndt]

I’ve said repeatedly that shinki is great leather but I don’t think it’s necessarily the “best in the world”. I do think it’s better then what Greg and Sam are offering in it’s place.

That depends on how you define 'better'.

I also think it was pretty terrible business practice to take deposits from people for a particular build and then because you dont want to pay for shinki anymore just screw a bunch of people out of their orders .

I agree that it's not the best business practice, taking deposits for a jacket while they can't source the leather for it.

But you're assuming it's because they don't want to pay for Shinki. I don't think that makes much sense. I recently had a chat with another maker, he explained to me that Shinki isn't necessarily more expensive than premium hides from other tanneries.

I think the problem with the brown pony is that it's wildly inconsistent in terms of color, grain and temper. Because Greg buys in relatively small batches, he therefore has a lot of trouble getting the hides / panels to match. The result is a lot of wastage, something he can't afford being a small startup business.

1) price- I give him a 6; way too much money for a company this new that is still developing their patterns.

Honesty, I don't think he's getting rich of it. It takes him one day to sew a jacket. That's 8 hours. Add another 4 hours for pattern making and customer communications. That's 12 hours of work that goes into making a jacket. At €75 an hour that's €900. Add another €400 for material costs and you're already at €1300 which about the current base price of a 'Manhattan'. Then there's taxes, rent and other overhead costs.

Here in the Netherlands €75 hourly wage for someone who's self employed isn't all that much.

Long story short, I don't think he'd make any money if he were to sell his jackets at a lower price point.

2) Pattern- (7) his patterns are okay, the last jacket he posted a video of himself walking in looked too big, and again too pointy in the shoulders.

Yeah, those pointy shoulders are definitely an issue. I found out how to adjust to pattern in such a way that the shoulders look more natural. If I were them I'd incorporate some of those adjustments into the standard pattern.

Here's a sneak peak of my latest FL, no pointy shoulders.

Also the cowhide he is now using seems to be less rigid with less temper than the horsehide and as it breaks in maybe it stretches or something more than horsehide and makes the jacket drape in a way to make it look larger and floppy. Just my opinion but not to my liking.

It's definitely not as stiff as their semi or fully aniline option. If you want stiff leather, this is not a good choice.

I don't think it'll look floppy though. I own a Thedi in what I think is the same leather. Not a floppy jacket at all.

This is what the Thedi cow looks like with some wear. I think it looks great. Great color depth, subtle creases, fairly even grain. Quite similar to a lot of my vintage jackets.

Greg's camera doesn't do a good job capturing the color of the brown cow. Here's some of his pics of my new jacket.

This is what it actually looks like :

The cowhide is really pretty forgettable. It is definitely no shinki pony hide, that is evidenced by the fact that Greg still, to this day, posts more pictures of shinki ponyhide jackets than his cowhide ones. If that cowhide is so great then let’s see it age instead of continuously posting pics of the discontinued ponyhide.

Did you see any of his IG stories this week? I saw almost exclusively cowhide jackets.

 

[Marc mndt]

Why on earth would you buy that…. When you could get this…..not even the same league….

Why on earth would you buy that…. When you could get this…..not even the same league…. View attachment 492757

That's a particular look which you may or may not like. It looks nothing like a vintage jacket though.

The leather on vintage jackets actually looks a lot more like Greg's cow.

Greg made a leathertogs repro for me in brown Italian cow. I have a feeling it'll age similarly to the originals, who's leather also looks somewhat floppy. They certainly don't look like the Shinki Rainbow country with it's hard sleeve creases.

 

[Daniel Veit]

Yeah, those pointy shoulders are definitely an issue. I found out how to adjust to pattern in such a way that the shoulders look more natural. If I were them I'd incorporate some of those adjustments into the standard pattern.

Hey Marc,
would you mind to share your wisdom here?
I have two FL jackets coming in short order and am not too keen on these pointy shoulders myself.

Having learned a lot here from you and others and having enjoyed the great patience of Sam, I have to say that I think the ordering process could be more streamlined.

The base patterns have so many well established variants that it seems reasonable to me to offer them straightaway.
There are a choice of backdesigns, collars and lapels, linings (currently none offered on their Homepage) and cuff variations which are often chosen because they are shown on IG or here.
If there were a way to opt for less pointy shoulders that would be great for us customers and could help his business as well. If only because it would reduce the need for communication.

 

[Jasonissm]

That's a particular look which you may or may not like. It looks nothing like a vintage jacket though.

The leather on vintage jackets actually looks a lot more like Greg's cow.

View attachment 492834
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Greg made a leathertogs repro for me in brown Italian cow. I have a feeling it'll age similarly to the originals, who's leather also looks somewhat floppy. They certainly don't look like the Shinki Rainbow country with it's hard sleeve creases.

View attachment 492835 View attachment 492836

Love that Leathertogs with the super grainy D-pocket, I wonder if Greg would allow for a request click the leather in a similar way...

 

[Marc mndt]

Hey Marc,
would you mind to share your wisdom here?

It definitely worked for me but I really don't know whether this will work for everyone. I'll share my thoughts and how I specd my jackets, but this should not be taken as an instruction on how to spec your own jackets.

This is a size 42 fit jacket, as you can see the back girth is really small as compared to one of my other size 42 aviators.

This made me to believe that their patterns are undersized. Therefore I chose to go one size up. I ordered my jacket in a size 44 base pattern while specifying ptp and shoulder measurements in line with a normal size 42 (23" 18.5").

FL jacket sleeves are quite slim while being very much curved. Too much curvature if you ask me. As a result the jacket doesn't sit natural on the body (the sleeves push the back of the body down while the front rises up. This is what causes the square shoulder imo).

Also note the material bunching up on the back of the sleeve.

If you slightly rotate the sleeve, it'll follow the the natural curve of the arm better. As a result the body also sits better. No more bunching up on the lower back, no more front rising up, no more square shoulder.

In the pic above the sleeve pitch was rotated by 1". The problem is, the adjusted sleeve pitch greatly reduced the ability to move my arms forward. Therefore I chose to be on the save side with 0.5" adjusted sleeve rotation.

Another way to address the problem is by simply making the sleeves wider. Which I did by going up one size, from 42 to 44.

This is what worked for me, making adjustments on their Manhattan pattern from one year ago. They probably adjusted their base patterns in the meantime so the adjustments as described above will probably not translate well to their current patterns.

Here's the spec sheet for my last two jackets. Again, this is what worked for me. I'm definitely not saying these tweaks will work for everyone.