Brooks Gold Label Cafe

[newtojackets]

Was a nice one!
Sold a while ago Sorry.

They come up every now and then > keep hunting.

What colour was it? Not a regular brown right?

 

[Al 916]

What colour was it? Not a regular brown right?

Dark

 

[gmaki]

Just want to heap a bit more praise on the Gold Label Cafe from Brooks.

My first Jacket was a used Schott 141, then a Used Highwayman. Both too large for me but it took me a long time to figure that out while going through the process of acquiring a custom Highwayman from Thurston Bros. I love that jacket but it took me two years to break it in.

On a whim I bought a brown Brooks Cafe Racer off ebay for around $150. I have bought several other jackets since then but this is still the one I wear the most. It is the super comfortable light weather jacket that is just always perfect.

I loved it so much I bought the next black Brooks CR that I could get my hands on, but it isn't a gold label and it just isn't quite the same as this brown one. So the search goes on. But the search is half the fun.

I'm gonna eventually find the perfect black version of this thing.... one day.

 

[gmaki]

Ok because I have the means at hand, I am going to attempt to answer a question asked in this thread., which is:

"Is there a significant difference between Gold Label Brooks CR, and Newer black and red label?"

So I took measurements. I have a brown gold label, and a black red label. I may not necessarily have taken the measurements properly, but I did take them exactly the same way on each jacket. For the non measurable differences I would say that the newer jacket feels just a bit thicker (maybe I will take some calipers to them later and see if that can be measured. Also the newer jacket has (had) the zip out lining. I very much prefer the brown jacket with no zip out lining, thus no useless zipper on the inside. Also the Gold Label as that weird wind flap that appears really cheap while the newer one has a leather wind flap that matches the rest of the jacket.

Anyway let's look at measurements with pics:

Both Jackets laid flat side by side:

LABELS:, both Jackets are size 40 and wear like a 40. I can't date them from these, but if anyone can feel free to share. All I know is Gold label is older.

PIT TO PIT: Red Label-21.5" Gold Label-21.25" (I would say within the margin of error). Also Just noticed Gold label has vent holes, Red label does not.

LENGTH: Red Label-24.75" Gold Label-25.75" Kind of an interesting result as I do not perceive this difference when wearing. Although it is not really that much

SLEEVES: Red Label-26.5" Gold Label-24.5" I would say this is the biggest difference between the two and my biggest issue with thr red label. Although I was still surprised to see such a huge difference. I am going to have to check this out with the jacket on and see if it really is that dramatic.

So there you go. Hopefully this helps someone one day. For my part I plan on selling the black jacket and replacing it with a Gold Label when I find the right one.

 

[andbowd]

Recently received a fresh jacket from Ricky Sinaga here on the forum. Not that I was in the market for another cafe jacket but... I have no will power and cave easily to new leather purchases.

I was not to be disappointed. The leather is butter soft, almost too much so for riding gear. Great grain and wear patterns to the hide. The liner is showing a bit of age but still solid and strong, all zips in good smooth working order. Needs a bit of an air out, little mothbally but nothing a bit of air and sunshine can get rid of. It has a bi-swing back, which is something I am not quite used to. I dont typically go for it in a jacket, but it does add mobility and forward reach.

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Nice jacket, is Brooks still in business?

 

[gmaki]

Nice jacket, is Brooks still in business?

In some form they are: https://www.brooksleather.com/mens-leather.html

But I have no idea how close any of their current products are to the classics.