Fatdutchman
Practically Family
- Messages
- 559
- Location
- Kentucky
It's here, it's here! My new horsehide jacket! It's been 3 or 4 months in the making, and it was well worth it!!!
I wanted a 40's-ish styled horse hide waist length jacket. What I did not want was a "half belt" type of jacket with the cinch buckles about 8" up from the bottom edge of the jacket. I just simply cannot wear those. They cinch tight in the middle of my back, and the bottom just kind of hangs there flared out. I would be forever tugging the bottom of the jacket to try to pull it down, as it would be tight too high, and it would always feel like the jacket was raised up! I wanted it to be snug at the bottom....like it should be
. I could do without adjustment buckles entirely...if the jacket was fitted well, you don't need them anyway.
It seemed for a while, I was pretty well screwed. My only option, it seemed, was something from Aero leather. I had two major problems with this proposition. One, a jacket would end up costing me about $800. Two, sizing would be an absolute nightmare, with little, if any, chance of ever getting it right. I thought surely there was someone in America that would make me a "classic style" jacket.
Well, Johnson Leather was recommended to me. I looked on their website and they make a "M-200", which is a classic-style motorcycle jacket. It looked pretty durn good. It was very reasonably priced too. I thought if I could have a few changes made to it, it would be just right. Well, I contacted them, and Alan there was VERY helpful to me. He understood what I wanted to do, and he said he was very familiar with vintage jackets, as he did a lot of restoration work on them (and then sent them all to Japan.....). He sent me a trial jacket in a stock size to try on, which was too big. We ended up sending three jackets back and forth before we got figured out what we needed to do (the man was exceptionally patient with me).
I have a real thick chest, which causes problems. A size 48 would zip up fine on me, but the back was too broad, which made the armholes too far away from my armpits. That wouldn't work. A size 46 was sent, and with the jacket unzipped, it fit wonderfully. I could raise my arms, and move around and everything. There just wasn't enough front there. Zipped up, it pulled my arms forward, and just wasn't right for me. I figured to take this size, add 1" on each of the front panels along the zipper line (and add 1" in length to the body, which we always knew we would have to do), and then it would fit just right. Surprisingly, the sleeves were just right. Alan agreed after looking at photos, and said he was sure we had it nailed down.
Now, the stock jacket comes with an insulated nylon lining. I couldn't have that. I found some plaid brown shirtweight fabric that I sent him to use as a lining. The jacket also comes with zippered cuffs. I don't like buttons, or zippers, or buckles or anything on my cuffs, they hang on EVERYTHING, and I asked if I could ditch the zippers and leave them plain open barrel cuffs, and he said "no problem". I also had him add about 1/2" to the width of the collar for a more vintage look. I also told him I had to have brown. He said "sure, we got 6 shades of brown to choose from" and sent me some samples, one of which was brown horsehide. Aha! that's what I wanted, and that's what I got.
Well, here's the finished product (and now it's 75-80 degrees, and I won't be able to wear it for 6 or 7 months now!!!). I love it.
I can even raise my simian arms in it without jerking the jacket up to my armpits!!!
I am super pleased with the results. It is really nice. Even the pockets are lined in leather! The horse hide is maybe a bit heavier than heavy cowhide, and it is a bit "stiffer". Now, when you think stiff leather, you think something like 6oz oak tanned cowhide. It's nothing like that. It's just a bit stiffer than regular jacket cowhide. No one should be afraid to order horsehide because they've been told it's "heavy and stiff". The jacket has a biswing back that is well designed, and looks pretty good. He said I could have it removed from the pattern, but it didn't offend me, so I kept it. It's really well done, and I can't speak highly enough of their workmanship and customer service. Give them a call or an email and ask for Alan, and I'll bet he can work out just about anything you want.
It looks good and feels good, and goes great with my new Irish cap!!! The final cost of the jacket (after shipping and all) was $600 ($100 of that was the horsehide option...take off that amount for cowhide). I had never spent so much money on any such thing in my life (and likely never will again!), but, I now have a quality jacket that should last my whole lifetime.
Oh, yes, their website is www.johnsonleather.com
I wanted a 40's-ish styled horse hide waist length jacket. What I did not want was a "half belt" type of jacket with the cinch buckles about 8" up from the bottom edge of the jacket. I just simply cannot wear those. They cinch tight in the middle of my back, and the bottom just kind of hangs there flared out. I would be forever tugging the bottom of the jacket to try to pull it down, as it would be tight too high, and it would always feel like the jacket was raised up! I wanted it to be snug at the bottom....like it should be
. I could do without adjustment buckles entirely...if the jacket was fitted well, you don't need them anyway. It seemed for a while, I was pretty well screwed. My only option, it seemed, was something from Aero leather. I had two major problems with this proposition. One, a jacket would end up costing me about $800. Two, sizing would be an absolute nightmare, with little, if any, chance of ever getting it right. I thought surely there was someone in America that would make me a "classic style" jacket.
Well, Johnson Leather was recommended to me. I looked on their website and they make a "M-200", which is a classic-style motorcycle jacket. It looked pretty durn good. It was very reasonably priced too. I thought if I could have a few changes made to it, it would be just right. Well, I contacted them, and Alan there was VERY helpful to me. He understood what I wanted to do, and he said he was very familiar with vintage jackets, as he did a lot of restoration work on them (and then sent them all to Japan.....). He sent me a trial jacket in a stock size to try on, which was too big. We ended up sending three jackets back and forth before we got figured out what we needed to do (the man was exceptionally patient with me).
I have a real thick chest, which causes problems. A size 48 would zip up fine on me, but the back was too broad, which made the armholes too far away from my armpits. That wouldn't work. A size 46 was sent, and with the jacket unzipped, it fit wonderfully. I could raise my arms, and move around and everything. There just wasn't enough front there. Zipped up, it pulled my arms forward, and just wasn't right for me. I figured to take this size, add 1" on each of the front panels along the zipper line (and add 1" in length to the body, which we always knew we would have to do), and then it would fit just right. Surprisingly, the sleeves were just right. Alan agreed after looking at photos, and said he was sure we had it nailed down.
Now, the stock jacket comes with an insulated nylon lining. I couldn't have that. I found some plaid brown shirtweight fabric that I sent him to use as a lining. The jacket also comes with zippered cuffs. I don't like buttons, or zippers, or buckles or anything on my cuffs, they hang on EVERYTHING, and I asked if I could ditch the zippers and leave them plain open barrel cuffs, and he said "no problem". I also had him add about 1/2" to the width of the collar for a more vintage look. I also told him I had to have brown. He said "sure, we got 6 shades of brown to choose from" and sent me some samples, one of which was brown horsehide. Aha! that's what I wanted, and that's what I got.
Well, here's the finished product (and now it's 75-80 degrees, and I won't be able to wear it for 6 or 7 months now!!!). I love it.
I can even raise my simian arms in it without jerking the jacket up to my armpits!!!
I am super pleased with the results. It is really nice. Even the pockets are lined in leather! The horse hide is maybe a bit heavier than heavy cowhide, and it is a bit "stiffer". Now, when you think stiff leather, you think something like 6oz oak tanned cowhide. It's nothing like that. It's just a bit stiffer than regular jacket cowhide. No one should be afraid to order horsehide because they've been told it's "heavy and stiff".
The jacket has a biswing back that is well designed, and looks pretty good. He said I could have it removed from the pattern, but it didn't offend me, so I kept it. It's really well done, and I can't speak highly enough of their workmanship and customer service. Give them a call or an email and ask for Alan, and I'll bet he can work out just about anything you want.It looks good and feels good, and goes great with my new Irish cap!!! The final cost of the jacket (after shipping and all) was $600 ($100 of that was the horsehide option...take off that amount for cowhide). I had never spent so much money on any such thing in my life (and likely never will again!), but, I now have a quality jacket that should last my whole lifetime.
Oh, yes, their website is www.johnsonleather.com
