(Trigger warning) Are we giving too much credit for wabi-sabi/Japanese craftmanship reputation for uneven graining (especially in high visible area)?

[long218]

I have never found this to be true.

They're both making fake grain, and making stealth grain that waits for 5 wears?

Seems a lot more likely they're just selecting grainy contrast panels to look like vintage jackets and because the Japanese market likes it.

In the original post, I linked both a smooth and an uneven-grain RMC J100, a $2000+ jacket. Real McCoy's is neither selecting for nor against grainy contrast panels. They are just low-effort putting together a FQHH as cheaply as possible while continue to project a premium message.

 

[long218]

Related and might warrant its own thread but

WHICH BRANDS PUT IN THE MOST EFFORT TO SELECT THE BEST (FQHH) PANELS FOR THEIR JACKETS?

 

[cbez]

The second j100 is barely uneven. They are doing batches year after year with different leathers and trying different looks. There's no grand conspiracy.

You're assuming smooth panels or perfectly matched panels are somehow objectively a superior piece. They're not. But if that's your preference, there are plenty of options out there for you.

 

[barnabus]

Related and might warrant its own thread but

WHICH BRANDS PUT IN THE MOST EFFORT TO SELECT THE BEST (FQHH) PANELS FOR THEIR JACKETS?

No need to shout.

 

[Edward]

I personally lean to the view that there's an awful lot of stuff that has the price artificially inflated in the West because "Made in Japan" now has the cachet that "Made in the USA" once did. I've played electric guitar for over thirty years now, and seen it all in that world. All sorts of mythologies come into play: you'd have a guy insisting (with zero knowledge of the Far East) that American guitars were inherently superior because of 'better' wood, or other things- it got as absurd (and, frankly, borderline racist) at one point as people insisting that a Us made Fender was a superior instrument to a Japanese or an American one because the guy operating the CRT machine in the factory "understands the culture of rock music and is probably a musician". Nuts. Superstition aside, to a certain degree a lot of it is little different to the perceived value in a 'designer brand'. I tend to the view that, all other things being equal, country of origin of goods is irrelevant in terms of their quality. The fashion ability of Japanese brands has raised their market price here beyond what I could justify (or, often, afford) - though how much of the UK prices is that alone, and how much this is amplified by the pound's value remaining at a historical low for closing in on a decade now, I couldn't claim to know.

As to grain v smooth, matched v unmatched.... it's all cosmetic choice. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[MickeyPunch]

I didn’t want to agree with OP but I kind of do…

I’ve been saying the same about “artisanal brands”: Guidi, a1923, CCP, MA+, etc. probably only Monitor will recognise those over here lol.

But yeah they sell stuff at a *very high* price and often with very questionable finishing, but because it’s “artisanal” it gets a pass for some.

I know this and still like it, though… that stuff is so unique. With Fine Creek I doubt that’s the case. I never really understood the appeal. I think they nail their marketing though.