Photos of cool jackets owned by others (non-brand specific)

[Marc mndt]

I know you put FW on pedestal, but come on man, that guy is currently doing your custom jacket not even finished and already openly expected to be a second rate plan B, a spare tire, he would be super sad if reading this.

I don't think he would. I regularly discuss fit issues (eg tension on chest) and construction quality upgrades (eg skiving edges) with him and he's very much open for feedback. He's dedicated on getting his patterns perfect and on improving his already great techniques. He knows he's not at the level of FW, but he works hard to make his jackets better and better and judging from what I've seen from him so far since he started his own business, he's a fast learner.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

I don't think he would. I regularly discuss fit issues (eg tension on chest) and construction quality upgrades (eg skiving edges) with him and he's very much open for feedback. He's dedicated on getting his patterns perfect and on improving his already great techniques. He knows he's not at the level of FW, but he works hard to make his jackets better and better and judging from what I've seen from him so far since he started his own business, he's a fast learner.

Exactly. He's a very humble guy and always trying to improve things based on my conversations with him. Everyone has things they can improve on. As much as I basically worship at the altar of Freewheelers, there are things I wish they would do differently too. You of course would also know more because you already have a jacket from him.

 

[powerserge]

This is the Freewheelers version. I sent him photos of vintage examples from some Japanese magazines that I have and the Real McCoys New Zealand version as well. I believe he is basically going off of this FW version though as he said he liked it the most a lot.

...ugh... the pattern is gorgeous as are the details and materials, but the two tone leather makes me wanna vomit.

I sent him more than this, but I don't want to overly spam this thread.

That’s great looking jacket and yeah I agree the two tone does not work on this. Going with Greg seems to be a good choice and hope it works out well for you! The back of this jacket looks to be about the same as the San Mateo sans the lacing on the sides.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

That’s great looking jacket and yeah I agree the two tone does not work on this. Going with Greg seems to be a good choice and hope it works out well for you! The back of this jacket looks to be about the same as the San Mateo sans the lacing on the sides.

Indeed it is quite similar. This is apparently also based off of a 1930s Peters jacket so that would explain why the back design is so similar... same maker from the same era. I can't think of a better choice for something like this than Greg.

 

[navetsea]

I don't think he would. I regularly discuss fit issues (eg tension on chest) and construction quality upgrades (eg skiving edges) with him and he's very much open for feedback. He's dedicated on getting his patterns perfect and on improving his already great techniques. He knows he's not at the level of FW, but he works hard to make his jackets better and better and judging from what I've seen from him so far since he started his own business, he's a fast learner.

nice, very rare to have someone who develop custom pattern for each project at that level, share the process with the client and with such humble attitude to booth.
hope he doesn't burn out in the long run, yours, mr proper's, and other's I ve seen all look excellent worn open.

 

[red devil]

That is exactly what I am referring to. One example of this is how my Freewheelers Caboose technically has a smaller chest and basically the same shoulder measurement as my new RMC and yet even without a bi swing back, the Freewheelers is more comfortable to move around in and gives me more freedom of movement.

Another example is when I posted pictures of my size 42 Caboose jackets after they were FAR too big for me, people were still telling me that they looked great.

I actually think it is their biggest weakness.

I have the little wing, as much as I love it, it is near the bottom of my jackets in terms of range of motion. It is a rock style jacket anyway so I don't mind.

I have tried many of their models, when visiting Japan and have found their patterns to be all over the place, some worked and some didn't at all, no matter what the size. If anything getting a good fit from them is akin a lottery and that is not the hailmark of good patterns.

If they were that good at patterning, they would have done a much better job here

You seem to have reached the sweet spot in getting good fits out of their designs, but many have been disappointed and had to give up owning a Freewheeler. I personally am unhappy I can't fit in many of their models lol

 

[Marc mndt]

nice, very rare to have someone who develop custom pattern for each project at that level, share the process with the client and with such humble attitude to booth.
hope he doesn't burn out in the long run, yours, mr proper's, and other's I ve seen all look excellent worn open.

Worn closed as well

 

[ton312]

Vanson via Japanese virus ebay listings. Never have seen a dress collar CHP from Vanson before. Cool!

 

[navetsea]

That is exactly what I am referring to. One example of this is how my Freewheelers Caboose technically has a smaller chest and basically the same shoulder measurement as my new RMC and yet even without a bi swing back, the Freewheelers is more comfortable to move around in and gives me more freedom of movement.

Another example is when I posted pictures of my size 42 Caboose jackets after they were FAR too big for me, people were still telling me that they looked great.



I didn't say second rate nor did I say plan B. I literally said that I would probably still buy a jacket from Greg even if I wasn't having him make this jacket, so no, Greg was not a plan B. There was never a plan A for this jacket. As I mentioned in another thread, I sent Greg pictures of vintage and other brands' versions of this jacket. We just both agreed that the Freewheelers version was the best version to go off of.

I'm very excited for this jacket and while I personally expect the pattern to not be at FW level, I also think it has a very high chance of becoming my favorite jacket. I didn't say Greg is just "worse" than Freewheelers. I think I've talked to him enough for him to not be upset by reading what I'm writing here. Honestly feels like you're putting words in my mouth a bit. I expect the jacket to be top notch overall, not second rate. I literally only said that I didn't expect the pattern to be as good. Why would I expect anything different? It's not his original design, he's going off of pictures of a jacket rather than the real jacket itself, and he does a lot more than just make patterns. He also makes all the jackets himself and I don't think he actually was a pattern designer at Aero, so he's likely much newer to that. I think it would be a little silly of me to expect him to perfectly nail the pattern and would be unfair to expect him to do that.

I did also say that maybe he won't be as great at skiving yet because he only just got the machine and Aero doesn't skive their leather. Again, how is this an insult? I didn't say he would do a poor job and I am not insulting his skill. I'm saying that as far as I know, he has a miniscule amount of experience doing this. Nobody is perfect at anything when they first start out at it. Everything takes practice to improve.

I'm probably overly explaining, but yeah I think Greg is awesome and I am very excited for this jacket. I expect it to be amazing.

cool Dude, best of luck with your project, hope he doesn't disappoint.

 

[navetsea]

Worn closed as well
View attachment 307415

yeah looks great
I always envy how clean the armpit section is, the cleanest I've seen, but perhaps that's the reason you feel tightness across the chest?

 

[Marc mndt]

yeah looks great
I always envy how clean the armpit section is, the cleanest I've seen, but perhaps that's the reason you feel tightness across the chest?

The jacket is definitively too tight in the chest area to be able to wear it over a thick sweater. But that's ok. The jacket is too short to wear it over anything that is untucked (a sweater) anyway. That was part of my design
When worn over a shirt or t-shirt, it's perfectly comfortable.

My next Idaho will be a little bit wider but also longer, to allow for layering.

 

[Superfluous]

I actually think it is their biggest weakness. . . . I have found their patterns to be all over the place, some worked and some didn't at all, no matter what the size. If anything getting a good fit from them is akin a lottery and that is not the hailmark of good patterns. . . . You seem to have reached the sweet spot in getting good fits out of their designs, but many have been disappointed and had to give up owning a Freewheeler. I personally am unhappy I can't fit in many of their models lol

I have the exact same issue with FW leather jackets (their non-leather jackets are a different story). There is no uniformity to the dimensions, patterns, and fits. Some jackets have spectacularly wide shoulders . . . others have bizarrely narrow chests . . . and others have far too short arms. I have yet to find a FW leather jacket that fits me.

In reality, the quality of the pattern is directly related to the quality of the fit on a particular person. If the jacket fits well, it has a great pattern -- if not, not. Sure there is an objective component to the quality of patterns and certain patterns are objectively good or bad. That said, much of it is also subjective and fit dependent. I have yet to read the following post: "The jacket fits me great, but has a terrible pattern." Likewise, I have never seen anyone post: "The jacket fits me terribly, but has a great pattern." To the contrary, one's opinion of the pattern is always impacted by the quality of the fit. @dudewuttheheck , you exalt the FW patterns because they happen to work well on you and your particular body dimensions (I admittedly am jealous). However, the fact that the patterns work well on you does not make the patterns objectively superior. Rather, it simply means that the patterns work well for your particular body and shape. I, on the other hand, am not so fortunate. To be clear, I am not denigrating FW's wildly non-uniform patterns. Rather, I am merely commenting on the inherent subjectivity of the analysis.

 

[hondurasdave47]

Worn closed as well
View attachment 307415

Your jacket has me re-thinking my choice of teacore Shinki for my FL jacket!

 

[Marc mndt]

Your jacket has me re-thinking my choice of teacore Shinki for my FL jacket!

They're both nice in their own way, but totally different beast.

 

[Blackadder]

I have the exact same issue with FW leather jackets (their non-leather jackets are a different story). There is no uniformity to the dimensions, patterns, and fits. Some jackets have spectacularly wide shoulders . . . others have bizarrely narrow chests . . . and others have far too short arms. I have yet to find a FW leather jacket that fits me.

In reality, the quality of the pattern is directly related to the quality of the fit on a particular person. If the jacket fits well, it has a great pattern -- if not, not. Sure there is an objective component to the quality of patterns and certain patterns are objectively good or bad. That said, much of it is also subjective and fit dependent. I have yet to read the following post: "The jacket fits me great, but has a terrible pattern." Likewise, I have never seen anyone post: "The jacket fits me terribly, but has a great pattern." To the contrary, one's opinion of the pattern is always impacted by the quality of the fit. @dudewuttheheck , you exalt the FW patterns because they happen to work well on you and your particular body dimensions (I admittedly am jealous). However, the fact that the patterns work well on you does not make the patterns objectively superior. Rather, it simply means that the patterns work well for your particular body and shape. I, on the other hand, am not so fortunate. To be clear, I am not denigrating FW's wildly non-uniform patterns. Rather, I am merely commenting on the inherent subjectivity of the analysis.

Agree to all except, I would say it is possible though very rarely to say that "The jacket fits me terribly, but has a great pattern." For example, a lot of us love the Levi's trucker here but as far as the original 60s trucker goes, most of us won't fit into it (huge drop and crazily long sleeves) but we would still probably be more attracted to it than the more forgiving type 2 denim jacket or 90s trucker. So in a sense we do praise the type 3's pattern even though it does not fit most of us.

 

[Monitor]

Agree to all except, I would say it is possible though very rarely to say that "The jacket fits me terribly, but has a great pattern." For example, a lot of us love the Levi's trucker here but as far as the original 60s trucker goes, most of us won't fit into it (huge drop and crazily long sleeves) but we would still probably be more attracted to it than the more forgiving type 2 denim jacket or 90s trucker. So in a sense we do praise the type 3's pattern even though it does not fit most of us.

it's all relative and subjective. Jacket that doesn't fit well at all can look very cool on someone, same as a good fitting jacket won't really stand out in any particular way on another person. Even the most ill fitting Levi's trucker works if you wear it right but this isn't something that can be defined... I think it comes mostly from attitude. It's easy to wear well fitting clothes but it can just as easily make you, well, disappear. And that's okay too but... I don't quite understand why would anyone spend such an considerable amount of money on clothes for the precise reason not to stand out.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

I have the exact same issue with FW leather jackets (their non-leather jackets are a different story). There is no uniformity to the dimensions, patterns, and fits. Some jackets have spectacularly wide shoulders . . . others have bizarrely narrow chests . . . and others have far too short arms. I have yet to find a FW leather jacket that fits me.

In reality, the quality of the pattern is directly related to the quality of the fit on a particular person. If the jacket fits well, it has a great pattern -- if not, not. Sure there is an objective component to the quality of patterns and certain patterns are objectively good or bad. That said, much of it is also subjective and fit dependent. I have yet to read the following post: "The jacket fits me great, but has a terrible pattern." Likewise, I have never seen anyone post: "The jacket fits me terribly, but has a great pattern." To the contrary, one's opinion of the pattern is always impacted by the quality of the fit. @dudewuttheheck , you exalt the FW patterns because they happen to work well on you and your particular body dimensions (I admittedly am jealous). However, the fact that the patterns work well on you does not make the patterns objectively superior. Rather, it simply means that the patterns work well for your particular body and shape. I, on the other hand, am not so fortunate. To be clear, I am not denigrating FW's wildly non-uniform patterns. Rather, I am merely commenting on the inherent subjectivity of the analysis.

I know there is a lot of subjectivity involved. I could discuss how I think it does actually go beyond that a bit in this case and that in fact it is not entirely subjective, but there's no point and nobody will agree with me anyway so I won't.

 

[Monitor]

I know there is a lot of subjectivity involved. I could discuss how I think it does actually go beyond that a bit in this case and that in fact it is not entirely subjective, but there's no point and nobody will agree with me anyway so I won't.

Having never handled either Freewheelers or Fine Creek, I genuinely would like to hear your thoughts on the matter! This is the only way for me to collect a bit more knowledge on the brands, you know your stuff and that's why we're here after all.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

Having never handled either Freewheelers or Fine Creek, I genuinely would like to hear your thoughts on the matter! This is the only way for me to collect a bit more knowledge on the brands, you know your stuff and that's why we're here after all.

I'll dm you my thoughts.

 

[Mich486]

Mmm... the Mulholland seems to be a pattern that works for most as it does the Brakeman and a few other of their longer styles. The other jackets I don’t know, I think they can be a though fit. Dude you had to go up a size or two and then have the sleeves altered of several of yours... I’m not saying the patterns are bad, I’m not that knowledgeable but many people give up getting one as the measurements are just way off.

No experience with any of their non leather styles. Except for a few I find freewheelers non leather designs a bit too quirky for my taste.