GraceNote13
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 165
Review of 1930’s Double Rider in CHL
Background info, due to gaining a lot of weight post Covid buying an off the shelf leather jacket isn’t an option. The sad part is I have a closet full of 42 size jackets that I’m 40# too heavy to wear. I spent weeks reading this thread page by page and purchased two 5* jackets over the course of 4 months. Like others my plan was the first jacket would basically be a fit jacket, so the second jacket could be perfect. If you only read one more thing scroll down to my conclusion to save yourself a lot of time and money.
The Good
Very happy with the CHL. The leather is 2mm thick with a soft hand, very pliable, supple, minimal break in required. Yes, it sounds crazy even though the jacket weighs in at 6.6 pounds the sleeves don’t require any break-in and feel great out of the box. Compared to my Lost Worlds 4+oz jacket this thing is soft as butter. CHL reminds me of an M500 from Johnson Leathers in their naked leather I use to have. The color is a low sheen black, in certain light has greyish tones, with gorgeous grain. The sleeves bend and flex with no effort. Only part of the jacket where the leather is really stiff and feels thicker than 2mm is the large back panel. If I had to guess they used the softer parts of the hide for the sleeves and jacket front leaving the thicker stiffer section for the back panel. The 2pc sleeves taper and curve nicely, stitching is straight and very clean.
No issues with communication, once all the details were agreed on, pattern took 2 days and the jacket shipped 1 week later. When I received the finished jacket pics, I called out the pockets were wrong on the jacket but I would take it as is. Fargham went ahead and redid the pockets, and the jacket was ready 2 days later. I hope the communication continues when I reach out to address the issues.
From Mysteryo’s vintage jacket I changed a few things:
-Black CHL instead of horse hide. (Originally requested the Black overdye Brown CHL but they no longer carry it)
-Lowered D pocket and went with traditional vertical hand warmer pockets.
-Maroon thread with the burgundy wine color satin lining
-Eliminated the large pleat down middle of back
-#8 YKK main zipper in gunmetal grey (after having several of my Talon #5 zippers break over the years I went with @ton312 advice)
-Deer skin lined pockets (if you’ve never done this, highly suggest it!)
-ZigZag stitching on back of collar and reduced collar width to 3”
-Zipper sleeves
The Mediocre
Leather does have a chemical odor totally different than the goat hides. It’s not horrible but it’s noticeable I’m guessing from the tanning process.
The Bad
Shoulders are way too wide, 1.5” wider than requested.
I also requested a much smaller armhole to have a nice fitted sleeve. When I questioned the size pics they said the minimum armhole in the thick CHL with my chest size was 11” measured diagonally from shoulder seam to pit. Regardless it looks huge and baggy.
Biggest issue is the collar position, it digs into the back of my neck even with my arms down at my sides. The leather bunches up right below the collar and pushes my neck forward, no bueno. It feels like the neck hole should have been positioned an inch further to the back. It’s also impossible to lift my arms without the jacket riding up to my ears.
Conclusion
I like some elements of the jacket, but the all-in costs don’t make financial sense. At $460 USD delivered the jacket is a good value, but it cost me $850 to get here and it’s still not right. Even if Shawn offers me a 50% off remake, I’ll be over $1,100 with no guarantee the new jacket will have the right fit. It’s not all 5* fault, they’re making exactly what we ask for most time, plus I’ll admit as leather jacket enthusiasts/collectors we’re very exacting and unforgiving in our standards.
Ultimately, I’m not a professional pattern maker and can’t provide 5* with nuance subtle details that make all the difference when it comes to making the perfect fitting jacket.
Will I buy another 5*? No, but… I’m an addict with a leather jacket addiction with more money than sense somedays.
I’ll take some pics outside soon so you can see it in natural light.
Background info, due to gaining a lot of weight post Covid buying an off the shelf leather jacket isn’t an option. The sad part is I have a closet full of 42 size jackets that I’m 40# too heavy to wear. I spent weeks reading this thread page by page and purchased two 5* jackets over the course of 4 months. Like others my plan was the first jacket would basically be a fit jacket, so the second jacket could be perfect. If you only read one more thing scroll down to my conclusion to save yourself a lot of time and money.
The Good
Very happy with the CHL. The leather is 2mm thick with a soft hand, very pliable, supple, minimal break in required. Yes, it sounds crazy even though the jacket weighs in at 6.6 pounds the sleeves don’t require any break-in and feel great out of the box. Compared to my Lost Worlds 4+oz jacket this thing is soft as butter. CHL reminds me of an M500 from Johnson Leathers in their naked leather I use to have. The color is a low sheen black, in certain light has greyish tones, with gorgeous grain. The sleeves bend and flex with no effort. Only part of the jacket where the leather is really stiff and feels thicker than 2mm is the large back panel. If I had to guess they used the softer parts of the hide for the sleeves and jacket front leaving the thicker stiffer section for the back panel. The 2pc sleeves taper and curve nicely, stitching is straight and very clean.
No issues with communication, once all the details were agreed on, pattern took 2 days and the jacket shipped 1 week later. When I received the finished jacket pics, I called out the pockets were wrong on the jacket but I would take it as is. Fargham went ahead and redid the pockets, and the jacket was ready 2 days later. I hope the communication continues when I reach out to address the issues.
From Mysteryo’s vintage jacket I changed a few things:
-Black CHL instead of horse hide. (Originally requested the Black overdye Brown CHL but they no longer carry it)
-Lowered D pocket and went with traditional vertical hand warmer pockets.
-Maroon thread with the burgundy wine color satin lining
-Eliminated the large pleat down middle of back
-#8 YKK main zipper in gunmetal grey (after having several of my Talon #5 zippers break over the years I went with @ton312 advice)
-Deer skin lined pockets (if you’ve never done this, highly suggest it!)
-ZigZag stitching on back of collar and reduced collar width to 3”
-Zipper sleeves
The Mediocre
Leather does have a chemical odor totally different than the goat hides. It’s not horrible but it’s noticeable I’m guessing from the tanning process.
The Bad
Shoulders are way too wide, 1.5” wider than requested.
I also requested a much smaller armhole to have a nice fitted sleeve. When I questioned the size pics they said the minimum armhole in the thick CHL with my chest size was 11” measured diagonally from shoulder seam to pit. Regardless it looks huge and baggy.
Biggest issue is the collar position, it digs into the back of my neck even with my arms down at my sides. The leather bunches up right below the collar and pushes my neck forward, no bueno. It feels like the neck hole should have been positioned an inch further to the back. It’s also impossible to lift my arms without the jacket riding up to my ears.
Conclusion
I like some elements of the jacket, but the all-in costs don’t make financial sense. At $460 USD delivered the jacket is a good value, but it cost me $850 to get here and it’s still not right. Even if Shawn offers me a 50% off remake, I’ll be over $1,100 with no guarantee the new jacket will have the right fit. It’s not all 5* fault, they’re making exactly what we ask for most time, plus I’ll admit as leather jacket enthusiasts/collectors we’re very exacting and unforgiving in our standards.
Ultimately, I’m not a professional pattern maker and can’t provide 5* with nuance subtle details that make all the difference when it comes to making the perfect fitting jacket.
Will I buy another 5*? No, but… I’m an addict with a leather jacket addiction with more money than sense somedays.
I’ll take some pics outside soon so you can see it in natural light.