Capncurly
New in Town
- Messages
- 10
- Location
- Austin, TX
My Vanson Enfield in Octagon competition weight cowhide arrived today! I have been wanting a high quality leather jacket for years and years and years. About a year and a half ago, I stumbled across the Fedora Lounge where I started eagerly reading about your leather jacket preferences and experiences. After thoroughly combing the forums here and obsessively reading about Aeros, Vanson, Fox Creek, Etc., I decided that the Vanson Enfield fit what I was looking for (both style and price range). I began saving up. At the end of February, I contacted Vanson for my first real leather jacket.
I've seen some complaints here about their customer service, and my customer service experience with Vanson was, unfortunately, less than stellar, too. It started off great; most of my interaction was done via e-mail, and my messages were always replied to the same day. I dealt with Kim and Bryan, but most of my contact was with Nora. Nora was very sweet and very prompt in responding to me (usually replied to my e-mails within an hour or two when she was in the office). She wasn't the most informative when I had sizing, hide, and color questions, though. I think she's either very young or new to the company. Maybe a family member? When I'd ask a question, her responses would be sort of related to what I asked without actually addressing my question. Her answer to my question of "given my measurements, do you think a 38 or a 40 Enfield would fit me better" was simply "We have a size 38 in stock in Black." When I asked if I was correct that "Octagon" was a sort of reddish saddle tan color, her response was "We don't have any Octagon Enfields in stock, but we could make one to order." While uninformative, Nora was otherwise an absolute sweetheart, and any technical questions that I couldn't get answered through her Kim and Brian took care of quickly and with a very friendly manner.
As there isn't a vanson dealer in my area (well, there's one, but they only carry the vanson sport bike jackets and had no experience with the enfield, either), I was very nervous about spending six hundred bucks on a garment I hadn't tried on. I am 5'11, wear a 15 1/2 - 32/33 dress shirt and 34x30 pants. I am usually a size 38 suit jacket, but I can do alright in a 40 if I need too. A 38 fits my shoulders better, though. As some members here suggested that Enfield sizing ran a little on the small side, I opted for the size 40. Just to be sure, I sent those same spec's to Bryan (as Nora couldn't give me a straight answer), who confirmed that he thought a 40 was the way to go.
I was told 6 to 8 weeks, as they didn't have any Octagon in stock. Some of the 6+ month experiences here scared me a little, but helped my expectations. To be on the safe side, I ordered it at the beginning of March hoping to have it by the fall if it really did take 6 months. They also charged me 15% more for a color that wasn't black, which is kinda bull crap, but I was prepared for (someone mentioned that fact here in a thread somewhere). I really wanted the Octagon color. They took a 50% deposit.
That is when the customer service experience started to deteriorate. After 8 weeks and no delivery, I called to check on the status of my order. When I called, they asked who took my order. When I said Nora, they said "well, you'll have to call back. She only works on M/W/F." I asked if they didn't have some sort of database or log they could look at, as I just wanted to know the status of my order, but was told again that I really needed to speak w/ Nora. I called back on Wed., but Nora was out of the office again. They gave me the same line. I told them that I needed an answer about my jacket, and was patched through to somebody else's voice mail. I left a message, and got a call back from a man before the end of the day. He told me my jacket would be in within three weeks.
After three weeks, I called again. This time, a man w/ a heavier Mass accent than the others I had spoken to answered the phone. Unlike before, he didn't just tell me that I needed to talk to Nora. He actually typed my name into something and looked up my order. He told me that my jacket was almost done and would arrive in "one week, two tops."
As those "two weeks, tops" passed, I called Vanson to check again on the status of my jacket. The same guy as my last call answerer and, after taking my info, said "You're jacket's almost ready. It'll be there in two weeks, tops." When I said "that's the third time Vanson's said that to me" he got his feathers ruffled and said "Well, I don't know what to tell you," in a VERY snappy tone. I patiently said that I was just trying to get a better idea of when my jacket would be in because it stinks getting my hopes up every two weeks just to be disappointed again. He softened a little and said that my jacket was completed and has been sitting in storage with a bunch of other jackets at JFK and that they were just waiting for someone from Vanson to go pick them up (in a week, maybe more). Once they got to the store, they'd be shipped immediately. So, I guess that means mine was made in their new site and that my jacket wasn't made in the US (tag says "Made in El Salvador"), which I'm OK with so long as the quality is still good. I don't know what the hold up was with actually collecting the jackets from JFK; he really made it sound like they'd been there a while. I hope there was not a problem w/ them clearing customs, but I'd almost rather that be the problem than simply "no one has gotten off their butt to go get them yet." I requested that they email with a tracking number when it shipped, and the guy took my email address again just in case.
Four days ago, they charged my bank account for what was still due on the jacket (I put down a 50% deposit). That same day, I emailed Bryan to ask if charging my account meant that the jacket was finally in and ready to be shipped (if not shipped already). He responded w/in 30 min to say that yes, the jacket was finished, and that it would be shipped within the next few days. At my request, he again confirmed that they would send me the tracking number after they shipped it.
Today, I was sitting at home after work catching up with my wife when the doorbell rang. It was the UPS guy w/ my jacket! It was a huge surprise because no one had told me that it had shipped (like they told me they would, twice) but I was so excited to finally have my jacket that it didn't matter any more.
Bryan did me right on the sizing. Off the shelf sizing fits me pretty well, and I think the jacket fits beautifully. It is very stiff (will take quite some time to break in), but the leather is smooth and soft. I'm sure that it will break in very well. It has a slightly oily feel to the leather, which I like; it simply feels like well conditioned leather. The leather is very substantial. I don't have anything to compare it to as far as thickness (again this is my first nice quality leather jacket), but I don't have any complaints about the thinkness. The jacket weighs in at almost exactly 6 lbs.
The finish is interesting. The color has much more marbling to it than I expected (i.e. some ares are slightly darker than others, and I think it corresponds to the grain of the leather). At first, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the marbled color, but the more I look at it, the more I really love it. I think that with the way that it looks, it will develop brilliant patina over time. I'm excited about how good its going to look after years of loving wear.
One curious thing is that there are a lot of blemishes in the leather. They are a mix of dark dots and lines and lighter spots that look like scuffs (I posted some pics highlighting some of them). Now, in my obsessive reading about leather before biting the bullet for the big purchase, I did read alot about full grain leather. There are a lot of sites who sell "full grain" leather goods who tout full grain for being both a better quality leather and having more character because marks remain on the hide from insect bites, barbed wire, etc. Now, I've read several different websites with "definitive" explanations on the difference between full grain and top grain, and they offer both conflicting descriptions and claims that the other guys have it wrong. That said, a popular description of one of the differences between full and top grains is that in non "full" grains, a very, very fine layer is sanded from the top of the leather to remove these blemishes. Also, it seems that many consider "full grain" to be superior. (Note, other websites I've read claim that this "full" and "top" distinction is incorrect). Vanson's website says that their jackets are "Top Grain Cowhide."
So, I can't figure out if my jacket is either A) made from full grain, which has greater potential for developing awesome character or B) is covered with an embarrassing and unacceptable number of manufacturing defects. I know that this slight shift in perspective might seem silly in that they give the same result, but one would make me cherish the jacket even more because it is even more uniquely mine, and the other would make me want to return it. I'm kind of leaning towards the "full grain" explanation, but I'm worried that this is naive wishful thinking. Also, if it really was "full grain" why would they only advertise "top grain?" Take a look at the pictures. What do you guys with more leather experience think?
So, in short, I'm very happy with the fit and the thickness and color of the leather. I'm disappointed at the times that Vanson dropped the ball, and I'm on the fence about the finish of the leather.
(rest of photos posted as a "reply" because of character limits in this post)
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