dudewuttheheck
I'll Lock Up
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As some of you may know, I have continued to shrink even in the past few months after my big weight loss over a year ago. This means that I had to sell two Freewheelers jackets, including my all time favorite jacket which really hurt. I posted in the "What jackets do you have coming" thread that I ordered a brown deerskin Freewheelers Bodie as a replacement for the Mulholland and Sunset.
The plus side of this was that I really wanted another deerskin jacket after losing the Sunset and the Bodie seems like the perfect jacket for me in every way. The downside was that if left me with no black leather jacket. The plan was to switch my Field Leathers order to black from the brown pony hide.
This changed on Saturday when I went with my girl and a friend (some of you boot guys may know him - Nick from Stridewise) to Mister Freedom. At the time, I didn't necessarily plan on trying on a leather jacket while I was there especially because based on the size charts, the sleeves were much too long for me. However, I knew I would try something on. I'm definitely into the brand and have quite a few items from them already, but Alee my fiance is REALLY into MF and has a lot more from them than I do.
After taking some photos and encouraging Alee to buy a shirt, I decided to try on the size 36 Campus Stallion jacket. I went straight for the smallest size because I do fit into a size 36 ranch blouse. Plus, I figured this would be the only jacket with sleeves and body length to my liking.
To my pleasant surprise, it actually fit pretty well and as soon as I tried it on, I loved how it looked. Alee, being a wonderful and enabler as well as a major Mister Freedom fan she agreed that it looked great and told me to go for it given that I had no other black leather jacket.
The chest was a little tight, so I tried on another size 36 which actually did feel slightly more roomy, so I bought that one. It actually buttoned up decently well, but that doesn't matter anyway. I live in socal and this is a lightweight jacket so there is no reason for me to ever button up the jacket.
In terms of fit, I'm thrilled. It's nice and short. The chart says 23" back, but it's actually more like 22.25" by measurements which is great for me. The leather is tea core and based on other examples, should age pretty dramatically which should be fun. It's a nice and light cowhide leather with no lining and even in pretty warm weather that day, it felt comfortable which is great. The more I can wear it, the better.
The grain is pretty nice and variated in the leather, but it's not a rich, deep black. It's a fairly flat, painted look which I think is the point. I actually like the leather a heck of a lot more than I was expecting to. Construction quality is certainly solid for the price and I'm perfectly fine with it not being at Freewheelers level because it's 1/3rd the price of some FW jackets.
I feel like I'm getting to that tail end of the journey that some of you have already reached. I started out my leather jacket journey trying to figure out what I even liked, then I just wanted to get the very best, and now I'm fine with something that looks cool and fits me well. I've gotten to the point where I have had to sell off perfect jackets because they didn't fit me well enough.
The funny thing was that after leaving, I realized that this was the first time I had ever gone to a store and purchased a leather jacket off the rack. Given all of the leather jackets I have owned, it's kind of wild that this was the first time ever. I know I've owned at least 20 jackets and I figured that it would have happened at least once by now, but nope. This was the first. It was a really fun and spontaneous experience. I'm not used to this for leather jackets. Nick told me later he couldn't believe how quickly I made the decision to grab it. I realize that like with my impulse buy of my roughout Freewheelers jacket, the ability to be this impulsive this successfully comes from experience. I've made enough mistakes to be able to do this and not worry about it at all.
There's a lot more I could say, but I've gone on long enough. I'm curious to hear what you all think of the fit on this jacket. I've included some photos of the Mister Freedom store as well including one of Alee trying on the shirt she ended up walking out with (she took one size smaller though). If you're ever in LA, I cannot recommend it enough. It's the coolest clothing store I've been in outside of Japan, and it's cooler than a lot of Japanese stores too.
The plus side of this was that I really wanted another deerskin jacket after losing the Sunset and the Bodie seems like the perfect jacket for me in every way. The downside was that if left me with no black leather jacket. The plan was to switch my Field Leathers order to black from the brown pony hide.
This changed on Saturday when I went with my girl and a friend (some of you boot guys may know him - Nick from Stridewise) to Mister Freedom. At the time, I didn't necessarily plan on trying on a leather jacket while I was there especially because based on the size charts, the sleeves were much too long for me. However, I knew I would try something on. I'm definitely into the brand and have quite a few items from them already, but Alee my fiance is REALLY into MF and has a lot more from them than I do.
After taking some photos and encouraging Alee to buy a shirt, I decided to try on the size 36 Campus Stallion jacket. I went straight for the smallest size because I do fit into a size 36 ranch blouse. Plus, I figured this would be the only jacket with sleeves and body length to my liking.
To my pleasant surprise, it actually fit pretty well and as soon as I tried it on, I loved how it looked. Alee, being a wonderful and enabler as well as a major Mister Freedom fan she agreed that it looked great and told me to go for it given that I had no other black leather jacket.
The chest was a little tight, so I tried on another size 36 which actually did feel slightly more roomy, so I bought that one. It actually buttoned up decently well, but that doesn't matter anyway. I live in socal and this is a lightweight jacket so there is no reason for me to ever button up the jacket.
In terms of fit, I'm thrilled. It's nice and short. The chart says 23" back, but it's actually more like 22.25" by measurements which is great for me. The leather is tea core and based on other examples, should age pretty dramatically which should be fun. It's a nice and light cowhide leather with no lining and even in pretty warm weather that day, it felt comfortable which is great. The more I can wear it, the better.
The grain is pretty nice and variated in the leather, but it's not a rich, deep black. It's a fairly flat, painted look which I think is the point. I actually like the leather a heck of a lot more than I was expecting to. Construction quality is certainly solid for the price and I'm perfectly fine with it not being at Freewheelers level because it's 1/3rd the price of some FW jackets.
I feel like I'm getting to that tail end of the journey that some of you have already reached. I started out my leather jacket journey trying to figure out what I even liked, then I just wanted to get the very best, and now I'm fine with something that looks cool and fits me well. I've gotten to the point where I have had to sell off perfect jackets because they didn't fit me well enough.
The funny thing was that after leaving, I realized that this was the first time I had ever gone to a store and purchased a leather jacket off the rack. Given all of the leather jackets I have owned, it's kind of wild that this was the first time ever. I know I've owned at least 20 jackets and I figured that it would have happened at least once by now, but nope. This was the first. It was a really fun and spontaneous experience. I'm not used to this for leather jackets. Nick told me later he couldn't believe how quickly I made the decision to grab it. I realize that like with my impulse buy of my roughout Freewheelers jacket, the ability to be this impulsive this successfully comes from experience. I've made enough mistakes to be able to do this and not worry about it at all.
There's a lot more I could say, but I've gone on long enough. I'm curious to hear what you all think of the fit on this jacket. I've included some photos of the Mister Freedom store as well including one of Alee trying on the shirt she ended up walking out with (she took one size smaller though). If you're ever in LA, I cannot recommend it enough. It's the coolest clothing store I've been in outside of Japan, and it's cooler than a lot of Japanese stores too.
My campus is probably my most worn jacket, it's nice light weight and i imagine its perfect for cali weather too. Personally I enjoy wearing the sleeves back showing the corduroy lining (more of a relaxed look) not to everyones taste though. Love the pics from inside Mister Freedom, it's probably my favourite looking clothing store, i could get lost in there for hours. Thanks for sharing!
