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I don't think he gets it RD. Keeps trying to justify himself with there's no right or wrong and .....that's OK....
Dear mods, I think it is now really time to close this thread... OP has now repeatedly commented on it and explained itself ... I also believe that enough has been written / blasphemed about the work of Himel Bros. Ultimately, everyone can decide for themselves whether they want to order a leather jacket from Himel Bros. or not.
Thanks for the informative post. Not acceptable at the price point and I’m one that isn’t obsessed with laser perfect stitching.
Bartender Edit: Let's not go over this all again, please. The matter is now closed.
Custom charges can be claimed back if the item is defective and needs to be returned. Not saying this is changing things at all but if one wants to go down that route it seems like at least in Carlos case there is a way out with no further expense.
Why the obsession about closing threads? Can't people handle a discussion or debate online anymore?
This is really getting annoying now. Editing member's posts? How great. One can no longer voice an opinion in this forum without being censored apparently.
No one here wants free things. No one here simply wants to bitch. No one here is saying Himel doesn’t have killer designs and most of their products are artisanal beauties. What they want is the guy to stand by his product that should have customer service that’s premium to match their premium costs.
For years now I wanted to get myself an Himel. But this thread sure made me pause. I am shocked that such a jacket---if we can call it that--- could leave Himel's workshop and receive its seal of approval. You can get a better made jacket at the corner store! It seems to me that Dave Himel owes us an explanation. Thanks jeo for sharing this useful information.
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Despite all these flaws, I still love my Frobisher. It is my best fitting jacket and the leather is amazing.
When I met Dave at Inspriation LA he assured me that the Imperial he was going to make me will be perfect. This was my dream jacket so I went ahead and plunged a significant amount of money for him to make it for me. My Imperial came out much better than my Frobisher.
As I mentioned in other threads, I never brought this up until now since I saw no reason to, but after Himel's post about standing behind his products, I felt I needed to tell people about my specific experience and am writing this thread with the purpose of informing the great people of TFL community as well as prospective buyers.
I hope this thread will serve well in that purpose.
To me, Himel's response on the issues with @Carlos840 Chevalier (offering to make a replacement jacket because Carlos's jacket had serious issues,
see link below) came across as cheap and easy damage control instead of the action of someone who stands behind his product.
Why? Because I've seen several pics online of Himel jackets that had similar issues. Not all as bad as Carlos's jacket, but definitely not the standard you'd expect from a man who prides himself in interviews on his company's sewing techniques. Just look at the issues on Jeo's jacket. These are not one-offs that shouldn't have made it through QC. I see a pattern. Apparently Himel's jackets aren't that good as he says they are. Yes there are many good ones, but there's a reasonable chance of getting a bad one too when you buy a Himel.
I quote Dave Himel:
"The ones whose jackets do not fit or have manufacturing errors get their jackets replaced, remade or redone. I can count on one hand how many times a year we have to do it, but we do it. "
Now we know why he can count the remakes on one hand. Apparently Jeo's jacket is not below Himel's own standard. Otherwise Jeo would have gotten a remake.
Link to Himel's response:
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...ets-are-overhyped.103390/page-15#post-2781831
Edit: typo. misspelled Chevalier
Glad to see this thread, it needed to be shown.
There is a consensus, if I read this right, that this is not an acceptable product from any of the makers here. The response is disappointing to put it mildly, but maybe not so surprising. There was a white deerskin jacket that had the wonky stitching on the collar that was once shown here - unfortunately, the picture does not show anymore. And this was shortly after Himel had made a tweet post showing his superior craftsmanship if memory serves.
His answer is here:
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/himel-brothers-leather-co.62833/page-33#post-2264984
I have discussed deerskin with several makers, and indeed it is a challenge to sew. But it is not impossible to get it straight. To me "handmade product" should not be used to cover for lack of skill or mishaps. I have seen it overused in other products.
Did Himel ever sew his own jackets? It makes me wonder about his team dynamics...
So, Ive asked Parker to reply tomorrow. I will say it was badly sewn. We stand behind our work. I will of course happily remake the jacket Jonathan. I stand behind our work and if a customer wants a remake due to errors on our part, fit, bad sewing or any other mistake we try and resolve it, offer a solution. I've asked parker to go back in his emails and see what resolution we came to. Again Parker was new and unused to qc at this time. Errors happen in our production, it is rare, unusual and certainly not the norm. I am very disappointed that FL is the place where the rare exceptions are going to in order resolve their issues. I can certainly post reviews from the handfuls of customers we have remade jackets for at our expense, issues are typically wrong configuration, wrong measurements, or issues with buttons coming loose. This one jacket is not representative of the quality of our work and is the exception after 3500 plus jackets I am pretty sure if it was not the case people would be complaining and I would be out of business. So...in typical unedited format...JE get in touch with us, we will send you a shipping label and when we get the next shipment of dark brown in we will remake the jacket. I will encourage anyone else if you ordered a bespoke jacket and you are unhappy and have legitimate grievance drop us an email to work it out. I cannot understand why anyone would come here to work out their problems without contacting me or parker first. If I let you down Jonathan I will happily make it right, you liked your second jacket so I am going to assume the first one well made will bring you back to us. Again for anyone else if you have an issue we stand behind our work as there are thousands of customers who thank me and have become friends, reach out instead of going online to complain, we are here and we care about what we do.