Ask a Question, Get An Answer About Outerwear

[tmitchell59]

Exactly, Vanson is the maker which turned on its head what I thought a good leather jacket was, originally I thought it was basically all about the stitching, skived seams, etc. but it's a whole lot more than that I now know.

That also reminds me of this Windward jacket @tmitchell59 posted a little while back. Since the lining is torn through it's interesting to me to see the layers of leather that make up the collar, unskived seams right? I wonder if other parts of the jacket are skived. This example stuck out to me because I thought it was quite neat to look at the construction detail that is usually hidden behind the liner.

As you mentioned skiving is an American vintage technique, I'm wondering which makers employed it? I assume ones who also used fancier construction like french seams?

View attachment 506165

Interesting discussion. Inside of a Seattle Woolen aviator

 

[Canuck Panda]

Interesting discussion. Inside of a Seattle Woolen aviator

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Interesting. The inside is grainy and not suede fleshy on some of the panels. Most of the fancier repros I have are made similar to this. fold over seams and then topstitched in place. Very luxury look.

What's the back of the collar look like? Does it look like this:

Or this:

Or this:

 

[tmitchell59]

Interesting. The inside is grainy and not suede fleshy on some of the panels. Most of the fancier repros I have are made similar to this. fold over seams and then topstitched in place. Very luxury look.

What's the back of the collar look like? Does it look like this:
View attachment 506301

Or this:
View attachment 506302

Or this:
View attachment 506303

 

[Aloysius]

There are so many different ways of seam bulk reduction, skiving the edges is just one of the method. You can also fold the seam allowance leather differently to reduce bulk, butterfly, overlap, glue down...etc and more. Delete topstitch will also reduce bulk but doesn't look as permium imo. Or a combination of all the different methods. All roads leads to Rome. Don't sweat over it too much. I have 3 different Model B type jackets in three different leathers from three different production time and they have different seam constructions. Doesn't make one better or worse than the other. If you like the jacket, enjoy it. Usually within the first second handling the jacket in hand will let you know this.

I think there’s a bit of a misunderstanding here. I’m not concerned about the quality of my unskived seam Vanson.

I’m just curious about which contemporary makers don’t skive seams, as a trivia/information thing.

So far it’s:

Aero
SB (sometimes)
Vanson

 

[Marc mndt]

I think there’s a bit of a misunderstanding here. I’m not concerned about the quality of my unskived seam Vanson.

I’m just curious about which contemporary makers don’t skive seams, as a trivia/information thing.

So far it’s:

Aero
SB (sometimes)
Vanson

My 80s Schott 618 looks to be non-skived. I don't know about modern scotts though, I don't own one currently.

 

[red devil]

LW does not skive to my knowledge

 

[Aloysius]

LW does not skive to my knowledge

Brings the tally so far to:

Aero
SB (sometimes)
Vanson
LW
Schott (I just checked a 2021 production Perfecto, 2022 production Perfecto, 2022 production trucker)

Edit: typo

 

[Canuck Panda]

View attachment 506304

Very nice. I will remember this name. Seatlle Woolen. They must be the higher end stuff back then, but this is the first time I've seen these. Lots of extra work went into making this jacket.

 

[Marc mndt]

Very nice. I will remember this name. Seatlle Woolen. They must be the higher end stuff back then, but this is the first time I've seen these. Lots of extra work went into making this jacket.

Here's mine. It as a 'the bon Marche' label but I'm pretty sure it was made by Seattle Woolen.

Here's the Seattle Woolen labeled version (not mine)

 

[Canuck Panda]

I think there’s a bit of a misunderstanding here. I’m not concerned about the quality of my unskived seam Vanson.

I’m just curious about which contemporary makers don’t skive seams, as a trivia/information thing.

So far it’s:

Aero
SB (sometimes)
Vanson

The only way to know for sure is to buy all the jackets from every single brand and open them up, and put the measuring caliper to the leather. I would do it if there is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

There is a good video on youtube showing most of the different garment seams. She didn't go into skiving because most garment leather are thinner so there is no need. She also only used her trimmers on the fashion raw seam, but the same trimming can be done on all the previous seams. There isn't a "best" method. Only the one to achieve the look the designer is going for. Of course heavier weights of leather can use a little trimming here or there but not necessary skiving or not skiving.

I took some screen shots because the video is rather long:

basic blind stitch, butterflied and glued. Most modern cost cutting method, not very fancy, but not a lot of seam bulk either.

Same as above but frenched instead of glued

Similar to above but smaller frenched, would be the least bulk imo because the extra can be further trimmed down

The basic fold over and top stitched, probably the most common seam we see in this realm of leather jackets.

Same as above but smaller bead, so could get trimmed back more on the reverse side if needed.

Trucker style triple stitch. My favorite. Strongest imo. The seam is held by three stitching, even two fail one will still hold. Although the Aliexpress ones fake this and is really just two top stitched to look like the triple stitched stuff, so stay away from budget, the seams will open up faster than legs.

raw edge double stitch. Very fashion, not seen much in this realm of heritage jackets:

raw french no blind stitch but with a back strip, also curved. Again not much in this realm of heritage jackets:

extra leather doesn't always need to be skived, it can simply be cut away by hand:

I don't get these open edge seams...

 

[Canuck Panda]

Here's mine. It as a 'the bon Marche' label but I'm pretty sure it was made by Seattle Woolen.

View attachment 506341 View attachment 506342

Here's the Seattle Woolen labeled version (not mine)

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Real nice. These do indeed look like the more preimum ones. And you're right Bon Marche was from Seattle. Unfortunately it's all just Nordstrom now. The days of the departments stores are limited...

 

[Moe_Dante]

Hey all,

Was wondering if someone could help me with something.

Regarding the Real Mccoy‘s, I am considering an A-2 jacket but on the label stands B-Mccoy and the other jackets there is „real mccoy“
Is that B-Mcccoy the „Real Mccoy“ please?

Thanks in advance

 

[Jasonissm]

Hey all,

Was wondering if someone could help me with something.

Regarding the Real Mccoy‘s, I am considering an A-2 jacket but on the label stands B-Mccoy and the other jackets there is „real mccoy“
Is that B-Mcccoy the „Real Mccoy“ please?

Thanks in advance

Not related to The Real McCoy's much lower quality and price, you can see this from stitch quality and their patterns are quite poor.

As for legit brands: there is The Real McCoy's (who has many sublabels like Joe McCoy, but all in the same RMC brand), Toys McCoy's (entirely separate brand but started by original director of RMC), The Few NZ (original producers of RMC jackets before they moved it to Japan)

 

[Moe_Dante]

Thanks man, really appreciate it. It explains a lot.

 

[Observe]

Can anyone tell me if this is an Al's, Cal or otherwise, and how to tell? Thanks.

 

[Canuck Panda]

Does it have mouton in the cuff area? Every Cals I've seen has those comfort strips of mouton.

The all blacked out zips that's repair job right?

 

[hieu]

Can anyone tell me if this is an Al's, Cal or otherwise, and how to tell? Thanks.

I found this post claiming 80s Cals had black plastic YKK zippers. https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...ging-my-outlook-on-things.103829/post-2979265

On the flip side, @photo2u says the jacket is an Al's. Maybe he can provide some more insight?

 

[Observe]

Does it have mouton in the cuff area? Every Cals I've seen has those comfort strips of mouton.

The all blacked out zips that's repair job right?

Looks like original zips. There are strips of something fuzzy inside the cuff.

 

[Observe]

I found this post claiming 80s Cals had black plastic YKK zippers. https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...ging-my-outlook-on-things.103829/post-2979265

On the flip side, @photo2u says the jacket is an Al's. Maybe he can provide some more insight?

Yes, his stated certainty of it being an Al's with no further explanation is what prompted my question.

 

[hieu]

Yes, his stated certainty of it being an Al's with no further explanation is what prompted my question.

Hopefully he sees this and gives us some info. It looks amazing on you by the way. Perfect fit!