Heisenberg
New in Town
- Messages
- 3
- Location
- Australia
Hi guys,
I don't often post here but am an occasional lurker. I thought I'd post this Johnson Leathers jacket that I just got as it's fantastic, but there seem to be very few photos out there of Johnson's work on the net, which is a damn shame.
I was on the hunt for a halfbelt similar to the one Tony Nowak made for the movie "Surrogates", and that I've seen a few members here with - the old California Sportswear "Pony Hide" jacket. Although Aero do a few halfbelts, as do Goodwear, the styling and/or cut of each of their offerings just didn't do it for me.
I started cruising for other custom jacket makers both here and on other boards, etc. There were some GREAT jackets made by Johnson Leather in San Francisco. Truly beautiful stuff. From all accounts very reasonably priced, so I got in touch with the owner there, Alan. Great guy; very professional. Incredibly patient and understanding of the process of getting things just right. I sent him photos of the jacket in the Bruce Willis promo shots from Surrogates, and a bunch of other shots of the same model of vintage jacket from here, Fortune and Glory and Film Jackets. Alan says sure, they can base it on one of their core patterns and heavily restyle it to whatever details I want.
Alan sent me some hide samples and mentioned that he has some lightweight horsehide in dark brown that may fit the bill. Looked great in photos, and excellent in person, so I jumped at it. In addition to some samples of beautiful hides that Alan was happy to use, Alan also had some great elk, deer, cow, etc. hides. Although they were all really tempting, the horse just NAILED my original idea of what I wanted from this jacket.
Anyway, build time was a ways off, so I spent some time thinking about what I wanted. I had no urge to go all crazy screen-accurate like I have done in the past with Indy jackets and hats. I really just loved certain details of the jacket - especially the back. Collar. The long sleeves and reversible button-up-button-down cuffs. I wasn't crazy about the strap orientation so I changed it to more of an Indy style, and got some vintage "dug" Civil War double prong ToD buckles. Alan graciously matched their tone to the zipper hardware, switching in some great zipper heads to match the slightly antique nickel teeth.
I was a little nervous about the cut and fit - especially length considering I was mainly going on the crazily cut Raiders jacket to indicate good fit and length, so when Alan mentioned that getting a mockup done was something that they offered, I jumped at it. For something like an extra $100 or so it was well worth it. From the mockup I did some sizing tweaks, and Alan's pattern-maker tweaked the cut of the body to give it more taper at the waist, so that was money very well spent. The mockup also had a slightly lower yoke than the Surrogates, but it suited me better so I kept it. They also went to pains to make sure the reversible cuffs were replicated correctly, and yes, they function properly like the vintage versions did.
For the actual jacket, I ditched the additional stitching on the main pockets, wanting to go something very minimal, and kept the wider spacing between the back panel and sleeve along the yoke. Just thought it looked cool. Removed the third panel from the sleeves as again, wanting to keep the look pretty clean.
Total cost in the end was just $825 plus delivery, which I thought excellent given that that included the whole 2 stage process with mockup to be 100% sure all was good, and a bunch of things that most makers would baulk at as they are "pattern changes".
The jacket is spectacular - to my eyes anyway. I can wholeheartedly recommend Johnson Leathers. They are now my go-to jacket guys. Whatever I want, I'm very confident in knowing that they will be able to achieve it for me.
Pics below. I've tried to take a bunch of similar ones in differing light to give you a real sense of it. To your real-life eye, the colour is closer to the mid and darker ones. The lighter ones are skews in the light, especially where it looks a bit marbled. VERY beautiful, supple-feeling stuff. Very "Italian" like a second skin, feels as soft as lamb, but as tough as nails. Not too light, not too heavy. Feels very substantial. To me, its the perfect leather.:
Hard to see here, but they even replicated the pleating of the half belt exterior in the way they cut the lining! VERY nice touch.
I don't often post here but am an occasional lurker. I thought I'd post this Johnson Leathers jacket that I just got as it's fantastic, but there seem to be very few photos out there of Johnson's work on the net, which is a damn shame.
I was on the hunt for a halfbelt similar to the one Tony Nowak made for the movie "Surrogates", and that I've seen a few members here with - the old California Sportswear "Pony Hide" jacket. Although Aero do a few halfbelts, as do Goodwear, the styling and/or cut of each of their offerings just didn't do it for me.
I started cruising for other custom jacket makers both here and on other boards, etc. There were some GREAT jackets made by Johnson Leather in San Francisco. Truly beautiful stuff. From all accounts very reasonably priced, so I got in touch with the owner there, Alan. Great guy; very professional. Incredibly patient and understanding of the process of getting things just right. I sent him photos of the jacket in the Bruce Willis promo shots from Surrogates, and a bunch of other shots of the same model of vintage jacket from here, Fortune and Glory and Film Jackets. Alan says sure, they can base it on one of their core patterns and heavily restyle it to whatever details I want.
Alan sent me some hide samples and mentioned that he has some lightweight horsehide in dark brown that may fit the bill. Looked great in photos, and excellent in person, so I jumped at it. In addition to some samples of beautiful hides that Alan was happy to use, Alan also had some great elk, deer, cow, etc. hides. Although they were all really tempting, the horse just NAILED my original idea of what I wanted from this jacket.
Anyway, build time was a ways off, so I spent some time thinking about what I wanted. I had no urge to go all crazy screen-accurate like I have done in the past with Indy jackets and hats. I really just loved certain details of the jacket - especially the back. Collar. The long sleeves and reversible button-up-button-down cuffs. I wasn't crazy about the strap orientation so I changed it to more of an Indy style, and got some vintage "dug" Civil War double prong ToD buckles. Alan graciously matched their tone to the zipper hardware, switching in some great zipper heads to match the slightly antique nickel teeth.
I was a little nervous about the cut and fit - especially length considering I was mainly going on the crazily cut Raiders jacket to indicate good fit and length, so when Alan mentioned that getting a mockup done was something that they offered, I jumped at it. For something like an extra $100 or so it was well worth it. From the mockup I did some sizing tweaks, and Alan's pattern-maker tweaked the cut of the body to give it more taper at the waist, so that was money very well spent. The mockup also had a slightly lower yoke than the Surrogates, but it suited me better so I kept it. They also went to pains to make sure the reversible cuffs were replicated correctly, and yes, they function properly like the vintage versions did.
For the actual jacket, I ditched the additional stitching on the main pockets, wanting to go something very minimal, and kept the wider spacing between the back panel and sleeve along the yoke. Just thought it looked cool. Removed the third panel from the sleeves as again, wanting to keep the look pretty clean.
Total cost in the end was just $825 plus delivery, which I thought excellent given that that included the whole 2 stage process with mockup to be 100% sure all was good, and a bunch of things that most makers would baulk at as they are "pattern changes".
The jacket is spectacular - to my eyes anyway. I can wholeheartedly recommend Johnson Leathers. They are now my go-to jacket guys. Whatever I want, I'm very confident in knowing that they will be able to achieve it for me.
Pics below. I've tried to take a bunch of similar ones in differing light to give you a real sense of it. To your real-life eye, the colour is closer to the mid and darker ones. The lighter ones are skews in the light, especially where it looks a bit marbled. VERY beautiful, supple-feeling stuff. Very "Italian" like a second skin, feels as soft as lamb, but as tough as nails. Not too light, not too heavy. Feels very substantial. To me, its the perfect leather.:
Hard to see here, but they even replicated the pleating of the half belt exterior in the way they cut the lining! VERY nice touch.
Thanks for the positive comments, guys. I'm really very happy with it.
