Brand/Jacket review: Naked Sun thunder road in redblack buffalo

[floater]

Hi guys,

I’m still kind of a noob here, and this is my first review, so please bear with me.

I had already typed a long thorough review but on one of the many breaks I was taking while writing it up the browser crashed or something and I lost most of it, so instead of writing it all up again I’m gonna break it up in parts.

First off a warning to those interested in purchasing a new jacket in this particular hide from this brand (thunder road, glory days or promised land in vintage brown or redblack buffalo) do yourself a favor and don’t buy a new one without first approving it after viewing pictures of the actual jacket you’re going to buy and receive.

I’ve seen jackets with almost no grain, others with a heavy grained shoulder sewn to an entirely smooth sleeve or a smooth pocket flap or panel on a otherwise heavy grained pocket, and some have heavy scars, particularly on the back, like surface cuts or large blemishes, so better to know exactly what you’ll get beforehand.

I also saw one particular jacket, which had heavily grained panels all through the front, full heavy grained sleeves and had really nice back panels as well, no scars, and this jacket was used for stock, fit and promo pics/vids in most of the 5? stores that carry the brand, but none of the stock jackets looked like that one, it was likely an early sample since it’s the only one I’ve seen with a different color lining.

And as far as I saw, and I saw about 10 different jackets from different stores, they’re all different when it comes to grain levels and panel arrangements.

So yeah, you could be ordering from a stock pic that looks like this

And get something like this

Or based on this stock pic

And get something like these

 

[floater]

So I stumbled upon this jacket while browsing for another jacket and I really really liked it, so I read up what I could find out about it, which wasnt much, and I emailed the stores that still had stock in my sz for pics with measuring tape.

While viewing their replies I quickly realized what I pointed out in the initial warning, so I searched and enquired until I found this one which I particularly liked more than others I’d seen, I’m not particularly fond of the entirely grainy sleeves so I was looking for a gradual transition from heavy grained shoulders to smooth sleeves, balanced grain overall and minimal to no scars.

It took like 3 months overall, mostly waiting for the store to work with a proxy, and I had to use world shopping which wouldn’t have been my first or second choice, but it was the only way I could be 100% sure I would get this specific jacket.

 

[Canuck Panda]

Love this leather. I wish they use this leather on some of their other jackets and not only for the Eastwest styles.

 

[floater]

About the leather:

So it’s described by the brand as buffalo hide that has been heavily infused with fats and oils to around 5mm then split down to 2mm.

It feels thick, heavy, dense yet very pliable, to me it feels similar to thick deerskin except way heavier and more chewy rather than spongy, so like wearing thick heavy neoprene instead or thick fleece.

It’s a bit noisy but smells really good, not too strong a smell though and it’s more squishy than squeaky, it’s really heavy too, by far the heaviest jacket I’ve owned, likely in the 7-8 lbs range and wouldn’t be surprised if heavier.

This color is very hard to describe and pictures never really show how it looks irl, initially I thought this was a 2 stage dying process, black core and plum re-dye, but it appears to be a 3 stage dying process, cocoa brown core then black re-dye then some kind of plum clear coat type over-dye, it’s not shiny though so it basically looks somewhere between matte black and really dark chocolate brown in the shade, with a dark plum sheen in direct light which makes it look somewhere between licorice and raven.

 

[floater]

About the brand:

Not much info out there as far as I could find, publicly they state it was started by a former fcl employee, but the company that makes these is called “ego brain” which I believe is not the same as the one that makes fcl which iirc is called “creative works”.

Other folks have mentioned perhaps els makes these jackets for the brand.

But it’s a small label doing mostly ewmic repros in small batches once or twice? a year.

 

[floater]

About the craftsmanship:

Pretty good imho, nice dense stitching throughout, no obvious **** ups in stitching that I could find, all brass hw feels beefy and works great, lining is all cupro.

It’s not perfect as no jacket is, it doesn’t have those sleek almost flat cross sections of stitched panels like rc/fw but for 2mm thickness it’s really good and no where near something like the cross sections on a vanson cw for example which I believe is thinner, although I’m sure this is mainly due to how flexible this leather is.

The sleeves are made with a single piece of leather each, and the zippered cuffs are sewn on the inside along the sleeve seam so there’s no visible stitches running along the zipper tape and they sit on the inner side of your arms.

It also drapes surprisingly well, I’m guessing mainly because of its weight and how pliable it is, no real break in necessary for this one although I’m sure it’ll still loosen up a bit more and mold into shape with some wear, for now though only the stitching around the armholes and back feel a bit stiff but otherwise the leather feels very flexible.

Nitpicks:

The main zipper only comes with 1 zipper stopper at the top, I’ve seen several of these jackets and they all have only 1 top zipper stopper, thankfully it’s on the zipper head side so no big deal as it works fine and no risk of it detaching but still I’ve never seen that before and don’t know why they would do it like that, so more of a head scratcher than nitpick I guess.

The back cinch straps don’t have a punched hole to tighten up, weirdly enough they have one to loosen up (which isn’t possible btw) but not one to tighten, again no big deal and I’ll just punch them in equally spaced because I prefer a big taper from pits to waist.

The jacket has 4 straps with an arrow point tip, 2 of the tips weren’t cut as clean as the rest of the jacket, but I can live with that.

 

[floater]

About the fit:

Fits slim overall with a cropped back and front drop, I’m a slim 36 with an athletic build and I like a slim fit but not sausage casing tight either, I usually wear 36 in tfh or fw, but for example I size down to a 34 in rc or vanson, for this one I went with a 38 and it fits me pretty good although the sleeves are still a bit tight particularly in the upper forearm and elbow.

This sz 38 has roughly a 47-47.5 p2p, even though the sz chart says 49, around 41 s2s, 52-53 back length from boc, and about 10 cms drop in the front, sleeves around 62.

The good news is that there’s no restriction even with the tight fitting one piece sleeves, the leather is just that flexible, not particularly stretchy but very flexible, I normally wear a s2s in the 42-44 range and 41 is usually a tight fit for me but this feels pretty good.

The body has a small taper down to around 45 at the waist and 46 at the hem, but after adding another equally spaced hole in the back cinch straps it goes down to around 41 at the waist which I much prefer.

 

[Marc mndt]

Very cool! It looks like to be an exact copy of the original except for the missing topstitch on the sleeve zippers.

How is the collar attached to the body? Original EW jackets have this super weird construction with the rough unfolded edge showing.

 

[floater]

Very cool! It looks like to be an exact copy of the original except for the missing topstitch on the sleeve zippers.

How is the collar attached to the body? Original EW jackets have this super weird construction with the rough unfolded edge showing.

View attachment 661390 View attachment 661391 View attachment 661392 View attachment 661393

It’s exactly the same and I thought that was weird too when I first popped the collar and saw it, it doesn’t have the stash pocket on the back of the collar though, but their little wing (promised land) does.

 

[Marc mndt]

t’s exactly the same and I thought that was weird too when I first popped the collar and saw it,

That's so cool, they really made a faithful repro of the original, construction quirks included.

it doesn’t have the stash pocket on the back of the collar though, but their little wing (promised land) does.

The Barnstormer doesn't have the stash pocket. I think the Winchester and the Smoke jacket originally had it.

I wonder why they call the Winchester repro 'the little wing'. Freewheelers also called their Winchester repro 'the little wing'. Seems to be a tribute to Jimmi Hendrix?

 

[floater]

That's so cool, they really made a faithful repro of the original, construction quirks included.

The Barnstormer doesn't have the stash pocket. I think the Winchester and the Smoke jacket originally had it.

I wonder why they call the Winchester repro 'the little wing'. Freewheelers also called their Winchester repro 'the little wing'. Seems to be a tribute to Jimmi Hendrix?

View attachment 661400

This brand calls the winchester “promised land” and the smoke “glory days”, so apparently all songs by the boss.

I just referenced it as little wing since that’s what I’ve seen most people here reference that model.

In the same vein I don’t get why ew called its barnstormer by that name, since most people think of the western style barnstormer coat when they hear barnstormer, not that 3rd stone makes more sense.

And speaking of 3rd stone, doesn’t that one have a collar stash pocket? I believe that’s the main reason I thought the original one also had it.

 

[Marc mndt]

And speaking of 3rd stone, doesn’t that one have a collar stash pocket? I believe that’s the main reason I thought the original one also had it.

Mine doesn't have it, I handled another unlined one who also didn't have it. But maybe the later version with lining and the butterfly collar does have it.

 

[Bennarion]

Hi guys,

I’m still kind of a noob here, and this is my first review, so please bear with me.

I had already typed a long thorough review but on one of the many breaks I was taking while writing it up the browser crashed or something and I lost most of it, so instead of writing it all up again I’m gonna break it up in parts.

First off a warning to those interested in purchasing a new jacket in this particular hide from this brand (thunder road, glory days or promised land in vintage brown or redblack buffalo) do yourself a favor and don’t buy a new one without first approving it after viewing pictures of the exact jacket you’re buying.

I’ve seen jackets with almost no grain, others with a heavy grained shoulder sewn to an entirely smooth sleeve or a smooth pocket flat on a heavy grained pocket, and some have heavy scars, particularly on the back, like surface cuts and large blemishes., so better to know exactly what you’ll get beforehand.

I also saw one particular jacket, which had heavily grained panels all through the front and full sleeves and had really nice back panels as well, no scars, and this jacket was used for fit pics and stock pics with 3 of the 5 stores in jp that carry the brand, but none of the stock jackets looked as good as that one, it was likely an early sample since it’s the only one I’ve seen with a different color lining.

And as far as I saw, and I saw around 10 different jackets from 4 out of the 5 stores, they’re all different as far as grain levels and panel arrangements.

So yeah, you could be ordering from a stock pic that looks like this

View attachment 661344

And get something like this

View attachment 661345

Or based on this stock pic
View attachment 661350

And get something like these

View attachment 661347

View attachment 661351

The jacket looks cool

 

[Will Zach]

Very cool jacket. A vintage repro in dinosaur hide! I don't suposse I could tempt you to post some fit pics?

 

[MickeyPunch]

Fit pics sorely missing!

 

[tuanhng614]

I have seen this brand ads for so long. Finally someone on TFL got their hand on one of this brand’s jacket.

I would love to see fit pics

 

[Canuck Panda]

these jacks fits very slim

 

[floater]

View attachment 661514

these jacks fits very slim

That thunder road jacket in vintage brown with the red? lining is the all heavily grained sample they use for marketing (stock & fit pics) on several stores, it’s the only one I’ve seen that doesn’t have black lining like all the rest.

 

[floater]

That's so cool, they really made a faithful repro of the original, construction quirks included.

Very cool jacket. A vintage repro in dinosaur hide! I don't suposse I could tempt you to post some fit pics?

Fit pics sorely missing!
I have seen this brand ads for so long. Finally someone on TFL got their hand on one of this brand’s jacket.

I would love to see fit pics

these jacks fits very slim

@ton312

Fit pics coming on the following posts, sorry for the delay.

Also, after a couple days with it I’ve reassessed my initial impressions and edited my original description to reflect that, but mainly the sleeves are starting to loosen up a bit, I’m not expecting much since it’s pretty thick leather but they’re starting to feel just a bit less tight and they appear to be getting rolls quickly and a lot of them.

The pic of the back cinch strap isn’t one of the not so clean tips I mentioned, it was only meant to show the missing hole to tighten the strap.

Added measurements, and the body only has a slight taper to around 45 but I punched another equally spaced hole in the cinch straps and that takes it down to around 41 which I much prefer.

And the color is more between matte black and dark chocolate brown in the shade and more between licorice and dark plum in direct light.

 

[ton312]

That is so fling cool my brain is bleeding!!!!! Jesus H man. PERFECT!!!!! Couldn’t be better. Absolutely nailed to the ground, spot on, balls to the wall PERFECT.