Morning all,
Last week, i did something most of us dream of... I visited the Aero factory.
My girlfriend and i decided to take a trip to Edinburgh, driving from London, taking a break in Galashiels just made sens.
Let me tell you this straight away, if you get the opportunity to go there, do it!
The drive up took a bit longer than planned, but we arrived there a bit before 3pm, upon entering, we were just told to go wait a couple minutes in their showroom and just have a look, try on whatever we wanted. Denny knew we were coming and soon we were putting together the jacket i had had in my mind for a few months. Having all these different designs around you really helps visualizing exactly what your options are. And spending the time to figure out which pockets to keep, which back, cuffs and buttons to chose to best compliment the design was a lot of fun.
We spent a good hour going over the details of the jacket, and then i decided i might as well go all out and go for a pair. Once both were sorted Denny offered to give us a tour, which of course we accepted.
It was AWESOME!
From the showroom we went down into the storage rooms, full of rolls of all kind of leathers, trimmings, full hides, brown, black, FQHH, Vincenza, it was all there. We then went on to see the cutting/stitching room, with its rows of sewing machines. As it was late on a thursday it was pretty quiet, but you could just imagine that had it been a busier day this room would have been filled with the noise of banging and stitching, as jackets slowly get put together.
Denny was a great host, he showed us everything, the differences between all their leathers, the hangers full of "storse" jackets, the jacket from the "shrinking jacket incident", the comically huge leather pants that had been wrongly ordered ( i could seriously fit entirely in a single leg!), the odd things like the kangaroo and midnight blue jackets, a vintage WWII A2 being restored, we saw it all!
You could see he was really happy to share his knowledge and proud to show what his team could do, it felt like we had a private guide to a leather Comic Con.
One thing i learnt that i think is worth sharing, is that a single jackets can take as much as 5 skins (FQHH) to make, meaning a lot of care is taken to match the skins as well as possible.
As you can imagine, by that time my girlfriend really wanted her own Aero too, so we discussed the possibilities for ladies jackets, and i am pretty sure she will get herself one soon.
It looks like Aero are really trying to increase the number of designs they have for the ladies, and the fact that they now have a dress maker in house, who can make mock fabric jackets really is a good thing.
All in all we spent a good two hours there, and time just flew by, i could have stayed there all day, nerding on back designs, stitch patterns and zipper options, but it was 5 o'clock and as much as you can see that Denny loves a good leather chat and could probably have gone on forever, it was time to go.
So, what did i order?
The first jacket is inspired by Mysterio's dual tone D pocket, i don't want to spoil the surprise and get into details yet, but here is a little clue of what is to come:
The second jacket is just a stock Original Hercules, as i really wanted a colder weather jacket with a warmer lining:
Now, the part we all dread is starting, the waiting... It should take around 8 weeks, which will probably mean i won't be able to wear them much until next year, but hey, good things are worth waiting for.
Like i said in the beginning, if any of you can do this, i really recommend you do, it really is a little bit like a leather pilgrimage for nerds like us, and i am really happy i was able to go there. Denny is a great guy, very knowledgeable, and he really made us feel welcome, i would go back in a heart beat, and probably will do at some point.
60 more sleeps... Can't wait!
Last week, i did something most of us dream of... I visited the Aero factory.
My girlfriend and i decided to take a trip to Edinburgh, driving from London, taking a break in Galashiels just made sens.
Let me tell you this straight away, if you get the opportunity to go there, do it!
The drive up took a bit longer than planned, but we arrived there a bit before 3pm, upon entering, we were just told to go wait a couple minutes in their showroom and just have a look, try on whatever we wanted. Denny knew we were coming and soon we were putting together the jacket i had had in my mind for a few months. Having all these different designs around you really helps visualizing exactly what your options are. And spending the time to figure out which pockets to keep, which back, cuffs and buttons to chose to best compliment the design was a lot of fun.
We spent a good hour going over the details of the jacket, and then i decided i might as well go all out and go for a pair. Once both were sorted Denny offered to give us a tour, which of course we accepted.
It was AWESOME!
From the showroom we went down into the storage rooms, full of rolls of all kind of leathers, trimmings, full hides, brown, black, FQHH, Vincenza, it was all there. We then went on to see the cutting/stitching room, with its rows of sewing machines. As it was late on a thursday it was pretty quiet, but you could just imagine that had it been a busier day this room would have been filled with the noise of banging and stitching, as jackets slowly get put together.
Denny was a great host, he showed us everything, the differences between all their leathers, the hangers full of "storse" jackets, the jacket from the "shrinking jacket incident", the comically huge leather pants that had been wrongly ordered ( i could seriously fit entirely in a single leg!), the odd things like the kangaroo and midnight blue jackets, a vintage WWII A2 being restored, we saw it all!
You could see he was really happy to share his knowledge and proud to show what his team could do, it felt like we had a private guide to a leather Comic Con.
One thing i learnt that i think is worth sharing, is that a single jackets can take as much as 5 skins (FQHH) to make, meaning a lot of care is taken to match the skins as well as possible.
As you can imagine, by that time my girlfriend really wanted her own Aero too, so we discussed the possibilities for ladies jackets, and i am pretty sure she will get herself one soon.
It looks like Aero are really trying to increase the number of designs they have for the ladies, and the fact that they now have a dress maker in house, who can make mock fabric jackets really is a good thing.
All in all we spent a good two hours there, and time just flew by, i could have stayed there all day, nerding on back designs, stitch patterns and zipper options, but it was 5 o'clock and as much as you can see that Denny loves a good leather chat and could probably have gone on forever, it was time to go.
So, what did i order?
The first jacket is inspired by Mysterio's dual tone D pocket, i don't want to spoil the surprise and get into details yet, but here is a little clue of what is to come:
The second jacket is just a stock Original Hercules, as i really wanted a colder weather jacket with a warmer lining:
Now, the part we all dread is starting, the waiting... It should take around 8 weeks, which will probably mean i won't be able to wear them much until next year, but hey, good things are worth waiting for.
Like i said in the beginning, if any of you can do this, i really recommend you do, it really is a little bit like a leather pilgrimage for nerds like us, and i am really happy i was able to go there. Denny is a great guy, very knowledgeable, and he really made us feel welcome, i would go back in a heart beat, and probably will do at some point.
60 more sleeps... Can't wait!
Last edited:
What a great afternoon
