Hammer Down
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 189
- Location
- Chicago
THE "ENFIELD FOLDS"
Here is an Enfield. Do you see the folding/bunching due to straps being cinched a little? This look is quite common with the Enfields. It's amazing how many owners don't seem to notice how their nice leather jackets are being warped due to illogical inward placement of the straps.
Straps with buckles that cinch farther out along the sides of the waist do NOT tend to bunch the leather higher up on the back. I'm no frickin fashion designer or nuthin, but I just might know a design flaw when I see one. It doesn't take a fashion maven to see that Enfields tend to create "folds" or bunches.
So why not just let out the straps? Good point question. Slack straps do not feel quite right, either. A little tension is necessary, so the bunch effect is almost always there in the Enfields. In all fairness, I should give my girlfriend credit for this observation. She is the one who noticed it first.
Most Enfield owners never seem to notice this problem when they are wearing their jackets due to the fact that it is out of their view, and then when they have someone take their picture, the problem still seems to go unnoticed. I rarely pay attention to such things unless I plan to drop over half a grand on an article of clothing. THEN I notice.
Even a looser fitting Enfield displays the classic "folds"
Actually, last week, I was all set to buy an Enfield. I showed my gal a few pictures online. She was not very interested, to say the least, but she sat there and stuck with it, partly due to the fact that I had just bought her a pair of goatskin gloves at Langlitz's Leather, which is just down the street from our house. Anyhow, she gazed half-heartedly at a few pics, and then she squinted her eyes.
"What?" I asked. She smiled, in her usual droll way, with one corner of her mouth tugged down, and said, "The same thing's wrong in all these photos. Can't you see it? Look at the backs of the jackets. They're puckered and folded in the wrong places, like a turkey neck."
That pretty much killed my buzz. It was back to Ye Olde Drawing Board, (which, in my case, is a glowing Imac screen).
By the way, this observation is not meant as a shameless plug for Langlitz Leather. I do admire the work over there tremendously, and I stop in occasionally to drool on the jackets. But sadly, I can't bring myself to spend a little over a Cool Grand on a jacket that is mostly suited for riding, rather than also suited for wearing out on the town, or down the block on two feet. Maybe in another few years.
This said, I will probably end up buying a Vanson Mercury this winter. It's just about my speed. And, no, my observations about Enfields are definitely not meant as a dig at Vanson, which is a terrific company that makes terrific riding jackets that serve double-duty quite nicely when one is out on the town. I already own a Vent Max summer riding jacket that I love, especially in the hotter months, when I burn rubber out into the country on my Bonneville, over to the coast, or up into the Cascade mountains.
Rock n Roll Folds
Here's a thought. Just imagine if the singer, Ben Folds, owned this jacket, and cinched it up nice and tight. Then his garment could be called, "The Ben Folds Enfielder." He could even play an accordion while wearing it on stage, folding and unfolding his instrument, while the back of his jacket folded in time with the tune.
Okay . . . now I've gone too far. . . . I suppose I am overlooking the fact that a well-fitted Enfield would be relatively free from the Folds. But I was not willing to take that risk. I will cross my fingers until my Mercury arrives by mail. Please tell me if I'm totally off base in terms of my logic regarding the Enfield's design. I am more than willing to concede the whole argument that I have just made, if someone shows me the error of my ways. It's just that, well, photographs don't lie. When you see enough Enfield Folds, it's hard to shake the image from your mind, especially when it comes to forking over a half-grand of hard-earned dough.
I'm no expert, that's for sure. I'm just a guy who has been known to listen to his girlfriend too much, and to defer to her judgement about most things fashion-related. She might have been trying to get me to spend $100 less anyway so that I would have more caysheesh to spend on her this month. Come to think of it, that's not entirely inconceivable. She's kind of ingenious in her own subtle and slightly manipulative way, but I love her all the same.
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