Rugged West - custom Rugged Rider 3.0 (Buco J-24 inspired) - Initial impressions / review

[Zoro]

@Zoro

Until admins close this one without explanation or warning (or delete it completely like they did with the Rugged West AI scandal one) it does seem like my review thread is the official RW thread haha.

I saw that one as well. Was not a fan until I saw that it's a ladies jacket and how nice it looks on her (although the sleeves are too short like you mentioned, pretty big oopsie on 2k+ jacket imo).
Making ladies jackets is where I give the most kudos to RW, otherwise very meh IMO.
2k+ for this is bonkers.

"It was definitely an impulse buy on my part. After talking with her, I decided to go straight for the Olympia A-2 style in Shinki horsehide." Wish I had the funds to buy a 2k+ jacket on impulse.

"I'll admit, communication could have been a little better, especially when it came to responsiveness. But I figured she was probably just trying to keep her head above water with everything involved in running a business by herself."
How the hell are people still justifying **** communication like this? She's been running this business for a few years now, how long does she need to keep her head above the water? And she has quite a few assistants by now.

Agreed on everything. Before seeing it was a woman's jacket I was also thinking "blegh, just another A-2".

I could kinda excuse the short sleeves if the buyer simply measured herself poorly, which given that it was an impulse buy I do not think she gave it much thought, nor did she have too many other options (Johnsons Leathers? I would assume they would have female patterns too). I don't think she would have many other leather jackets (or any at all) considering she asked for it to be comfortable enough to fight or box in it (WTF?).

The poor communication is something that seems to plague most makers, but in her case I just do not know what does she do exactly. Like Theodoros, Greg or Chapman actually make the jackets themselves (even if they have assistants), but what about her? Plus having a premium line on top of the regular one, I would expect priority communication for it, specially when I do not think there's a huge volume of orders for it.

I am curious how the "creating process" was as well. How did she end up going for an A-2? What was on her mind to begin with? How did she find out about RW? Why did she ultimately go for them? I could always comment in her post and ask, but I feel I could kinda sh.it on her day doing so and give her second thoughts when she's clearly very happy with what she got, which at the end of the day is what matters.

 

[TartuWolf]

Agreed on everything. Before seeing it was a woman's jacket I was also thinking "blegh, just another A-2".

I could kinda excuse the short sleeves if the buyer simply measured herself poorly, which given that it was an impulse buy I do not think she gave it much thought, nor did she have too many other options (Johnsons Leathers? I would assume they would have female patterns too). I don't think she would have many other leather jackets (or any at all) considering she asked for it to be comfortable enough to fight or box in it (WTF?).

The poor communication is something that seems to plague most makers, but in her case I just do not know what does she do exactly. Like Theodoros, Greg or Chapman actually make the jackets themselves (even if they have assistants), but what about her? Plus having a premium line on top of the regular one, I would expect priority communication for it, specially when I do not think there's a huge volume of orders for it.

I am curious how the "creating process" was as well. How did she end up going for an A-2? What was on her mind to begin with? How did she find out about RW? Why did she ultimately go for them? I could always comment in her post and ask, but I feel I could kinda sh.it on her day doing so and give her second thoughts when she's clearly very happy with what she got, which at the end of the day is what matters.

It does seem like a "first proper leather jacket" purchase for her, but it's only an assumption.
In that case not too much thought or scrutiny went into measurements.
But it could also be the case that she simply likes/wants shorter sleeves, wouldn't be too unusual.
I would 100% go to Johnson before RW, much better reputation. But I have no idea how accomodating Johnson is for females.

Yeah Thedi, Greg, Goodyear they all make the jackets themselves with communication being their side hussle. I guess Leilah is really busy with the business administration side and partner communication. We have heard about poor communication from her countless times, but as always that's a vocal minority. I would guess that 90% of customers are completely satisfied with the customer service and communication that they receive and feel no desire to mention it. Negativity is always louder than positivity.

As far as creating process I guess she wanted something classic and simple, maybe a fan of military/aviation movies.
She found out about RW from Reddit recommendations, which is very valid - RW is a fantastic choice for females.
I already commented on her post and I'm ready for the white-knighting bashing as reddit is a chearleading kindergarten most of the time, especially if the OP is a young lady. But I'm fine with that. I'm really happy for OP if she likes the jacket, oblivious or not she might be as far as value/price of the piece and sleeve length goes.

Overall thank you for posting this, nice to keep an eye out for new RW arrivals and posts. Especially the ultra-premium "Olympia" line.

 

[Zoro]

We have heard about poor communication from her countless times, but as always that's a vocal minority. I would guess that 90% of customers are completely satisfied with the customer service and communication that they receive and feel no desire to mention it. Negativity is always louder than positivity.

I don't think this is a vocal minority. Even Leilah admitted long ago when she was still posting here that she had to improve her communication (at the time she included a Whatsapp number in her website, which she has removed) and I don't recall anyone actually commenting on how they had good back and forth contact (or at least not without then saying it got muddy shortly after).

I would say most customers just do not need any communication at all instead, just clicking on buy on the website and that's it.

 

[jacketjunkie]

As we seem to agree this has become the RW thread, just saw this review on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/leatherjacket/comments/1x7133t
TLDR: Shinki A-2 jacket for a lady, Olympia line. Around 1900 USD, over 2000 with tariffs. 4 months turn around. Another mention of communication being an area of improvement.

I think it does look and fits quite well. I would go as far as saying it's the best fitting RW I've seen. Or best RW overall. I guess purists would say this is not how an A-2 should fit, but I couldn't care less. I do think the sleeves look a tad short tho.

It looks uncomfortably snug and is too short in both body and sleeve. I pity the poor woman once she comes to realize that stiffness is not the issue here and she dumped 2000 buck on a jacket that will sell for 200 on the aftermarket.

 

[Zoro]

It looks uncomfortably snug and is too short in both body and sleeve. I pity the poor woman once she comes to realize that stiffness is not the issue here and she dumped 2000 buck on a jacket that will sell for 200 on the aftermarket.

I still think it fits well besides the sleeves. Pictures are not the best though, but it being short on the body looks like a good fit for her (even if it may not be the correct A-2 fit) and it fits the current fashion trends of shorter body jackets for women.

I do agree this likely won't have a high resell value. It sounds mean to say it but I think the Rugged West stigma is stronger than the Shinki hype.

There's one in the Classifieds that I dunno if it ever sold, but it was put up for 750 GBP, down from 1350 original price.

 

[TartuWolf]

There's one in the Classifieds that I dunno if it ever sold, but it was put up for 750 GBP, down from 1350 original price.

That's a beautiful jacket, hadn't seen that one.