My new "Alexander leathers" Dakota in Black Goat

[Charlie]

Hello

Let me introduce you to my new Alexander leathers Dakota in Black Goat, size 38 :

as you can see I like close fiting jackets !

I need a good hait cut !

closed (YKK zipper)

Quite a bargain for the price (with no customs charges as I live in France, in the EU !)

Thanks to Amanda !

 

[Charlie]

I'm an "old guy" in the vintage things since I collected them since 2004.

Let me invited you to my "vintage room", I'm a straight razors fanatic (I only shave with "wedges" straight razors more than 150 years old), vintage cloths (leather jackets, hats, boots and so on and on), vintage watches (wrist or pocket, I own no quartz watch), very olds books (the oldest date from 1550) etc...I do no collect things that I can't use...

All this drives my wife crazy... ;-)) as you can imagine !

I have some repros leathers jackets : (aero, lost world, eastman...)

and a great deal of vintage ones (maybe 50 or so), so I can judge of the quality of my alexander jacket, which is excellent for the price !

 

[Rudie]

Very nice. And finally a jacket with a good fit.

I think they might have taken inspiration for this style from my Aero 30s half belts, which I ordered when the old management was still in place.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?63912-Custom-Aero-1930s-Slim-Fit-Halfbelt-in-Russet-Goat-Pictures!!!&highlight=

 

[Charlie]

I agree, there is clearly an "air de famille" !

 

[Sloan1874]

I would tend to agree. I love the russet goat of your one btw. I wonder if that's still in Aero's stock?

 

[Rudie]

The russet leather or the jacket they had on their sales page? The jacket is long gone. The leather is their A-2 goat as far as I know.

 

[Sloan1874]

The leather, but I like your design too. Do you still have the jacket? How's it broken in?

 

[Rudie]

I sold on the horse (bad fit) and kept the goat. It's breaking in nicely, though far from the patina you get with FQHH. Still, I think it has lots of character. I treated it twice with liberal amounts of Elephant Leather Preserver after being caught in the rain a few times and it has darkened a bit as a result. I like it even better now.

But let's not hi-jack the thread. This is by far the best jacket I have seen from AL so far.

 

[Sloan1874]

I agree on both counts. A very nice jacket.

 

[Charlie]

By talking about an "air de famille" check this :

The man on the left

thanks for the comment about the fit, certainly due to my perfect body ! ;-))

As I wrote as I'm a "vintage size"'s guy between 38 and 40, I have found a lot of jackets for a song in the early days of Ebay back in 2004 ! I have stopped Ebaying jackets because I own to many, price is too hight for what I'm intresseting in now -rare birds-, and custom charges are too heavy from the united states as I live in France...

 

[Rudie]

Looks more like A-2 pockets to me, while our jackets have Hartmann style pockets with slightly bigger flaps.

 

[Capesofwrath]

I bought one in black goat a little while ago and it is a very nice hide and the jacket's a good fit in a HWM style. I bought another later in a different hide which was neither. But there you go. BTW VAT is payable within the EU and the last time I looked Scotland was still in the EU. So not sure I understand about you not paying it.

 

[Charlie]

It was a mistake : of course I paied the VAT, but not the custom charges (unlike if I lived in the USA, outside EU)

 

[hpalapdog]

The 20% VAT is inclusive, so on a £300 jacket it's £50.

 

[schitzo]

very nice fit my man. Looks a little tight around the top of the chest area at the front, but I'm sure the leather will settle down and loosen up a bit with wear - making this one just right on you.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Charlie]

Many thanks for the comment, what is really great with goatskin is that the hide is supple and elastic, unlike the stiff cardboard horsehide, so the jacket looks allready fine, there is no "breaking in" that is needed !

 

[djgo-cat-go]

Congratulations on your new jacket. Looks very good on you. You've got an impressive collection of jackets and vintage parafernalia.. I am not a collector myself but I can see why one is..

I ordered the Dakota myself in Seal-Goatskin.. It should come in this week. Hope it fits like yours does to you..

 

[djgo-cat-go]

Offtopic: Are you going to try and shape the collar a bit to get rid of that stiffness? How would you go about this?

 

[Charlie]

I'll just let the time do his eternal work ! The leather will relax, and the pleated will be taken.

 

[Metatron]

Very nice indeed! Did you specify that you wanted a slim fit?
Seeing as you have jackets from all these different makers, would you say that there are any 'highlights' in your collection?