WalterDyer

[AbbaDatDeHat]

When I was a kid Walter had a little shop in my town - couldn’t afford leather jackets, but we all wore his moccasins.
Of course you had to get the double soled ones. Wonder if there are still any out there.
LOL - found these online $400 used to be about $40.

Glad you posted this. I’ve long wondered who made the pair of moccasins i wore as a teen. Hadn’t seen another pair until following the Dyer link and your post. Boy, that thick waxy leather wore so sweet. Had to be about 1973 or so.
If you find a source please let me know. Pop pop wants to return to those foot old days.
The hunt is on.
B

 

[JohnS33931]

Tried to copy the link to where I found them (walterdyer.com) - don’t know anything about this site though https://www.walterdyer.com/mens-quoddy-classic-double-sole-chromepak-ring-moccasin/


Yep - I had mine back then in high school.

 

[Canuck Panda]

Not one, not two, but THREE LEATHER LINED POCKETS!

Came home today and it was waiting for me. Great way to start off the weekend. This is a Walter Dyer jacket 2021. Bruce Dyer retired a while ago but is still working through his old stock. Great guy.

The Walter Dyer jacket was made with a lot of leather. It’s about the same thickness as the Vanson Comp Weight, but deerskin soft. Both has the same smell. My tin foil hat tells me it could be from the same tannery on the East Coast, but the WD leather gets another round of tumbling to soften it further.

The smallest old stock size he had was a 44. I wished for 42. Sizing is similar to Vanson, size 44 has 22” bottom hem, 24.5” P2P. This is a riding jacket. The torso is short, 21” in front, 24” back, and sleeves are long, 26”. The kidney panel has some thick padding in it. The whole jacket just feels heavy and solid, but buttery soft.

I wished I had known the Walter Dyer brand before Bruce retired. For the price of a custom 5star jacket, WD jackets are made in the US with a lot more leather.

 

[roadking04]

The whole jacket just feels heavy and solid, but buttery soft.

I always thought WD and Natal used "naked" leather like Fox Creek. Heavy 4oz leather. I have experience with FC, but never handled the other 2 brands.

 

[Canuck Panda]

I always thought WD and Natal used "naked" leather like Fox Creek. Heavy 4oz leather. I have experience with FC, but never handled the other 2 brands.

It could be naked with some oil added. I’m not exactly sure. It’s quality stuff though.
It feels like the leather has spent hours and hours in the tumbler. So it’s deerskin soft but still substantial.
I hope I can find out the actual East Coast shop that makes these jackets. I hope they are still in business. What they do now no one else is really doing. The design is a bit ho hum but they do make solid stuff. Excellent value too.

 

[Canuck Panda]

Cross post some fit image from WYWT thread

 

[handymike]

Great pick-up. Glad to see the jackets maintain some of the cool detail work of the vintage ones (leather lined pockets), but these modern ones don’t have the pizazz of the vintage designs. The collar on my 1976 build is still my favorite.

 

[TheGuitarFairy]

I've posted these somewhere before but just to keep the WD love train going here's a nice, strange one: Jacket started it's life out as a 38 but original owner eventually realized it was tight and brought it back to WD for some surgery .. if you look carefully at second pic you can see where panels were added between original front and back of jacket. Of course there was an exactly zeero chance WD was gonna' be able to match new leather to the delicious old. It's a curmudgeonly beast and really fun to wear.

 

[Nalazo]

Hi all. Does anyone have any experience with their brown distressed leather by chance?

https://www.walterdyer.com/walter-dyer-250-casual-jacket-brown-distressed/

Bruce is still selling inventory by the way...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284098387148

 

[TheGuitarFairy]

I especially dig the older Walter Dyer jackets but they're pretty far and few between and I've only seen one trucker before. As those of you who are interested know, Walter D. was apparently a real character and did things his way. Jacket structurally is perfectly tight, fits well and has a real small operation, craft feel about it. Leather is naked .. it's darker along front I think because where leather folds, it's held together with some kind of adhesive that bled and which makes these two sections stiffer than rest of jacket. It cracks me up that the left lapel button was installed backwards thereby rendering hold down button useless. "Oh well we'll get it next time!"

 

[PeterRocco]

I especially dig the older Walter Dyer jackets but they're pretty far and few between and I've only seen one trucker before. As those of you who are interested know, Walter D. was apparently a real character and did things his way. Jacket structurally is perfectly tight, fits well and has a real, small operation, craft feel about it. Leather is naked .. it's darker along front I think because where leather folds, it's held together with some kind of adhesive that bled and which makes these two sections stiffer than rest of jacket. It cracks me up that the left lapel button was installed backwards thereby rendering hold down button useless. "Oh well we'll get it next time!"
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Congratulations what a Great Jacket. Thanks the little history on Walther.

 

[handymike]

I especially dig the older Walter Dyer jackets but they're pretty far and few between and I've only seen one trucker before. As those of you who are interested know, Walter D. was apparently a real character and did things his way. Jacket structurally is perfectly tight, fits well and has a real, small operation, craft feel about it. Leather is naked .. it's darker along front I think because where leather folds, it's held together with some kind of adhesive that bled and which makes these two sections stiffer than rest of jacket. It cracks me up that the left lapel button was installed backwards thereby rendering hold down button useless. "Oh well we'll get it next time!"
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Sweet Jacket!!!!
You could probably even it out by going with 2 coats of Obenaufs and putting it out in the sun- but it would darken it.

 

[TheGuitarFairy]

Thanks, fellas.

I've screwed up enough jackets to know to leave this one alone and live with it ; )

Lest we forget:

 

[Gamma68]

I especially dig the older Walter Dyer jackets but they're pretty far and few between and I've only seen one trucker before. As those of you who are interested know, Walter D. was apparently a real character and did things his way. Jacket structurally is perfectly tight, fits well and has a real, small operation, craft feel about it. Leather is naked .. it's darker along front I think because where leather folds, it's held together with some kind of adhesive that bled and which makes these two sections stiffer than rest of jacket. It cracks me up that the left lapel button was installed backwards thereby rendering hold down button useless. "Oh well we'll get it next time!"
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This jacket oozes character, just like the man who made it. Wear the living hell out of it and let it tell its own story with the uneven shading. Over time, I bet it will even out somewhat.

 

[JMax]

Mr. Dyer has a John Goodman vibe going on. Cool.

 

[Edward]

Not one, not two, but THREE LEATHER LINED POCKETS!

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Came home today and it was waiting for me. Great way to start off the weekend. This is a Walter Dyer jacket 2021. Bruce Dyer retired a while ago but is still working through his old stock. Great guy.

The Walter Dyer jacket was made with a lot of leather. It’s about the same thickness as the Vanson Comp Weight, but deerskin soft. Both has the same smell. My tin foil hat tells me it could be from the same tannery on the East Coast, but the WD leather gets another round of tumbling to soften it further.

The smallest old stock size he had was a 44. I wished for 42. Sizing is similar to Vanson, size 44 has 22” bottom hem, 24.5” P2P. This is a riding jacket. The torso is short, 21” in front, 24” back, and sleeves are long, 26”. The kidney panel has some thick padding in it. The whole jacket just feels heavy and solid, but buttery soft.

I wished I had known the Walter Dyer brand before Bruce retired. For the price of a custom 5star jacket, WD jackets are made in the US with a lot more leather.

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Very nice. For year I shied away from cafe racer types as I didn't think I could make them work for me with a collared shirt. Now I wear a few more t-shirts again, the minimalist look of this really appeals. Just a really nice, classic design. I love all the bells and whistles of the likes of a studded D pocket and such, but sometimes it's nice to just have something Cayce Pollard might have worn too.

 

[Bad Guitarist]

Just throwing this out there to try and keep info about these jackets available.
Recently I found a nice reddish brown Walter Dyer Cafe, made out of the same thick, buttery soft naked leather as my Natals and earlier Kerrs. Great coat.
A while back I picked up a Brando style WD for $60 some piper was selling on Facebook Marketplace. Too big for me but for the money I grabbed it anyway. Older and very broken in with a 70s or early 80s HD patch on the back. Much stiffer leather, hard. Not the same as the brown one I have at all. Good thick hide, but different. Later it occurred to me that it felt familiar.
I went and dug out my vintage Vanson Competition weight Manx and I'll be damned if it's not the same leather.
So anyone buying online should probably be aware that these makers were changing suppliers and not all are going to be the same
At one point there were over 50 tanneries in the state of Massachusetts. As these closed down between the 80s and 2000s makers had to find new suppliers, and their products will reflect that.

 

[Monitor]

Yep. I've had a few and each was made in a completely different leather.

My current one, which used to be black, by the way...

 

[Canuck Panda]

I’ve got the naked version WD jacket. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they also used the Comp Weight type leathers on other models. Which I believe is called motochap leather on the retail leather market, chrome tanned, drum dyed, pigment / water resistant finished full grain cowhide, range from 3.5 to 4 oz. All very good stuff, last forever.

 

[Viking752]

I am tagging in…..my recently acquired Walter Dyer complete with a proper amount of scrotum effect.