Leather jackets vs. leather western shirt

[natefreezy]

Hi all -

Would like to get people's thoughts who have or had both of these. Which is more versatile? When did you prefer one vs. the other? Is it just weight / temperature or did you wear or style them differently?

I was (and still am) looking at leather jackets but am also intrigued by the Y2 x Vancouver Shop Tom leather western shirt, Iron Heart Pale Rider, etc.

I've never had a leather shirt but they seem cool. I think in both cases I'd primarily wear with a short or long-sleeve t, not much layers.

 

[Canuck Panda]

Leather jacket (straight zip / single rider) but shirt-like fit would probably be the better way to go. A leather shirt is mostly limited western styled, or worse, those baggy work shirts in leather...

The other advantage of leather jacket is that it can have more body taper so it doesn't bag out at the waist. Where a shirt leather shacket is usually more straight torso with just a slight curve, like a shirt, and it bag out a bit at the waist.

Leather jacket shirt fit vs leather shirt, same thickness leather, similar in sizing:

worn open

I am also looking at picking up the Y2 leather shirt. The heart wants what the heart want, and logic goes out the window...

 

[natefreezy]

Nice comparison!

Haha, yes the heart wants both so trying to use my head to prioritize for my wallet...

 

[Tom71]

In terms of versatility, there is no real difference, as the shirts these days use the same leather as jackets (Y2’s “Tom” indigo leather is even slightly thicker than on their Type 1/2 jackets: the Pale Rider seems to use the Conipel hide in 1,1mm which is easily jacket territory too.).
Y2 is lined, so that adds to the substantial „Shacket“ feeling too.

As far as sizing and therefore layering options go, I’d say that typically you won’t look at a shirt to layer much, but even that’s possible, of course.

To add to what @Canuck Panda said, the Y2 „Tom“ does come with a nice curved torso, while the .„Pale Rider“ is pretty boxy. The former looks more refined, but buttoned up this may interfere with your own „nice curved“ belly.

I never thought of myself as the „guy with the leather shirt“, but when I tried I found I like it very much. I’d still prefer a jacket over a shirt. For me that’s just proper „outerwear“ that gets wet, dirty, has an inside pocket, is shrugged off indoors etc. It’s the one thing I haven’t really figured out for me: I beat up my „Pale Rider“, it soils etc. Do I still want to wear it as a shirt, at the breakfast table, watching telly, or is it just a jacket-replacement?

some pix (Tom vs. Pale Rider)

 

[natefreezy]

In terms of versatility, there is no real difference, as the shirts these days use the same leather as jackets (Y2’s “Tom” indigo leather is even slightly thicker than on their Type 1/2 jackets: the Pale Rider seems to use the Conipel hide in 1,1mm which is easily jacket territory too.).
Y2 I’d lined, so that adds to the substantial „Shacket“ feeling too.

As far as sizing and therefore layering options go, I’d say that typically you won’t look at a shirt to layer much, but even that’s possible, of course.

To add to what @Canuck Panda said, the Y2 „Tom“ does come with a nice curved torso, while the .„Pale Rider“ is pretty boxy. The former looks more refined, but buttoned up this may interfere with your own „nice curved“ belly.

I never thought of myself as the „guy with the leather shirt“, but when I tried I found I like it very much. I’d still prefer a jacket over a shirt. For me that’s just proper „outerwear“ that gets wet, dirty, has an inside pocket, is shrugged off indoors etc. It’s the one thing I haven’t really figured out for me: I beat up my „Pale Rider“, it soils etc. Do I still want to wear it as a shirt, at the breakfast table, watching telly, or is it just a jacket-replacement?

some pix (Tom vs. Pale Rider)

View attachment 579645 View attachment 579646 View attachment 579647 View attachment 579648

Those both look great! Yeah I wasn’t sure about the cut of the Pale Rider, I also thought it was maybe a little long in the torso, but looks really good in those photos.

I know IH said they’re doing something different with the Pale Rider next time, wonder if that will just be leather or maybe cut too.

 

[jchance]

I need to define something before getting into the leather jacket vs shirt discussion. Generally, the difference between a piece of clothing on a model vs a celebrity is that the model (whose look is typically skinny and bland) supposed to highlight the clothes, whereas the clothes is supposed to highlight the celebrity. Clothes generally look better on a celebrity than a model. Put another way, on a celebrity, the person is wearing a jacket, whereas on a model, the jacket is wearing the person.

For leather jacket, the general public’s eyes are very used to its look, so it doesn’t have such a highlighting effect. A person wearing a leather jacket can look like a celebrity. In contrast, for a leather shirt, it’s not a common sight and the shirt would appear to stand out so much that the shirt is wearing the person (like a model), not the other way around. It’s generally not a good look and very difficult to reverse that effect. Just my 2 cents.

I saw some Rainbow Country leather shirts in Tan (sizes 36, 38, 40) that look very good and reasonably priced (about $250) on JP sites, much cheaper than a leather jacket. I refrain from buying one because of its lack of versatility and it would prob hang in my closet without seeing much wear, if any at all.

That said, I thought this IH shirt looks really good in the photo. Maybe one just needs a full beard and some tan chinos to go with it.