Fashion brands leather jackets: Is it worth the price tag?

[David Reza]

Hello everyone! I'm kinda new not only in this forum, but also in the leather jacket world so I could use some of your wisdom and knowledge on a topic that I'm really curious. The matter is this, what is all about the fashion brands leather jackets? The price tag it's so high that in many cases are out of discussion. But the thing is, does really worth the price? What do you think about this?

In my small knowledge and searching I found some great brands like himel bros., Real McCoys, Freewheelers, etc., they are also very expensive but when I do the research, I find like a very handcrafted even artisanal products and that is amazing. And then, we have the fashion brands, many of them actually look pretty good too but it make me think, does it worth it? I mean, the quality it's at least equal compare to those artisanal brands? Do they have any feature that I loosing?

And just for context, this idea came to me when I saw this jacket (photos attached) . It's from Amiri. Amiri is a brand very trendy right now wear by many celebrities and also a brand that I really like and admire. In fact I said that amiri is one of my favorite brands but to be honest, leather goods it's not an easy task, I mean you need a whole devoted life just to start to understand what the hell is happening there. And the thing is that when I saw it, I really love it, it just looks too cool and have some non common features like those mark on the arms or zippers in the back.

The price tag of this amiri jacket is $3000 and it's suposse to be calfskin leather.

I really sorry for this long post but I want to give some context and I love to know what do you think since you are the experts here. So the issue is this, Fashion brands, do they worth the price tag or not?

 

[Guppy]

Very generally speaking, there's a diminishing return on value for dollar after a certain point. Where exactly that point is reached is a matter of opinion.

When it comes to fashion brands unless the brand is known to be primarily or exclusively doing leather, I don't generally pay enough attention to what leather they do to have an informed opinion of them. But again very generally speaking I would recommend sticking with the specialists who know leather rather than the fashion houses who know fashion. Often what they do in leather is built to look, not necessarily to last.

 

[David Reza]

Very generally speaking, there's a diminishing return on value for dollar after a certain point. Where exactly that point is reached is a matter of opinion.

When it comes to fashion brands unless the brand is known to be primarily or exclusively doing leather, I don't generally pay enough attention to what leather they do to have an informed opinion of them. But again very generally speaking I would recommend sticking with the specialists who know leather rather than the fashion houses who know fashion. Often what they do in leather is built to look, not necessarily to last.

That's very interesting! In the long term fashion can change but if something it's made to last it will be timeless

 

[Guppy]

This Amiri jacket, for example, looks almost exactly like a Schott Perfecto. Other than the extra zippered pocket next to the wearer's left handwarmer, that is. You can get a Schott for under $1000, and a good used Schott for between $200-400. The Amiri used calfskin, which is thinner and less durable, while the Schott will be made of steer hide, thicker and tougher. I'm sure that Amiri use something fancy for their lining, which is not worth a $2000+ markup, and probably also unique, fancy zipper pulls, which aren't as functional compared to normal standard zipper pulls, but look cool, if you are into that sort of thing. Maybe the fit will be a little different.

But have a look at the Schott 613, 618, or 118, and I think you are getting more for less.

 

[barnabus]

Welcome David!

I honestly think that a huge part of what's cool about a leather jacket is how it makes you feel, irrespective of the maker or its empirical quality.

If you've already looked at and considered artisanal jackets manufacturers, and you're still hankering after this Amiri make, and you love the style and you love that celebrities you admire are wearing it, then you should indulge yourself and enjoy it.

Don't listen to us or read any more on this forum, or you'll end up running down a rabbit hole of second guessing yourself and doubting your own opinions.

Buy the thing you like and wear it all the time!

 

[El Marro]

This is a question that does not necessarily have a right answer, and the answer you receive will depend on who you ask.
Here at The Fedora Lounge we celebrate vintage and vintage inspired jackets. Some here like military jackets, others prefer motorcycle jackets. One common theme though is that the jackets are sturdily constructed and built to stand up to years of hard wear, at least that is our hope.
Many fashion jackets are made to be worn for a short time and then replaced with another fashion jacket the following season. They are often made of lambskin or other soft leathers that drape beautifully but are not meant to be worn hard.
I know that there are exceptions to these generalizations though. Some members here have jackets from makers like Polo, Coach, and Burberry that are quite sturdy and well made.
I agree with @Guppy that beyond a certain dollar amount you are probably not receiving any additional value in terms of quality of construction and materials. That dollar amount is different for everyone and in my case it has certainly evolved during the time I have spent here on the Lounge.

 

[Fifty150]

Value is perception. Are you willing to pay whatever the asking price? The actual worth of any leather jacket? Leather. Craftsmanship.

Different leathers have a different price point. Some hides cost less. Surely, pigskin cost less than horsehide. Steer is readily available because so many are slaughtered for food. Goat is cheap from Pakistan, because they eat them in that part of the world. In The USA, we do not raise horses for meat. Consider the tanning process and how well that hide is preserved.

Now look at the total build of the garment. Are they using better grade fasteners? Single row stitching. Double row stitching. Rivets. Stitches per inch. Quality of the thread. Is wool used? Is the jacket constructed with a polyester lining? Who is doing the work? A group of Chinese women in a sweatshop in San Francisco, exploited for low wages and no benefits? A group of Chinese women in China, exploited for low wages and no benefits?

Now consider the function. Are you flying in an open cockpit fighter plane? Are you riding a motorcycle? Are you Street Pimping? Are you driving cattle? Or is the jacket a fashion item? It's okay to just wear leather because you like it. Nothing wrong with taking an Uber in a motorcycle jacket. But if you do need a leather garment for function, then you will be more picky. A pimp has to stay warm all night, while corralling his stable. The long pimp coat should have an insulated lining and arms need to vigorously swing a pimp cane. Where a cowboy with a leather duster may have other demands, like a split cape with tie down strings, and being able to swing a leg over the saddle.

My dad has an aviation style flight jacket from Eddie Bauer. Something they no longer produce. It was made with soft, supple lambskin, and insulated with goose down. Lambskin is not what you want for rugged conditions, as it will rip and tear easily. But that doesn't matter if you aren't parachuting from an airplane into an unpredictable landing zone. For him, the jacket fends off wind and rain, and the goose down keeps him warm. The old guy is not getting into a bar fight where the jacket will protect him from a broken beer bottle. So for whatever he paid way back when, the jacket is still in great condition today, and still does exactly what he bought it for. He can get out of his car, run across the parking lot to the building, and he is warm and dry. So in that regard, it was worth it.

 

[Monitor]

Fashion is too broad of a term.

Real McCoy's, Himel Bros, Freewheelers, etc. are 110% fashion brands. Most of these appear on Lyst. Vanson makes clothes for Supreme. And another thing; All leather jackets are handcrafted and the artisan angle is just PR.

There's of course mass market fashion which is a term that includes brands such as Zara, H&M, etc. These brands sell cheap clothes which are only worth the money if they saved you money you'd instead drop on pricey alternatives.
Nowadays, mass market fashion stuff looks okay, but regardless, they have zero return value and exist as a budget option for people who don't want to spend big money to look... Acceptable.

So you can see it is impossible to generalize about fashion because we could even argue that the term as we came to understand it, doesn't really exist. We could, however, discuss each brand individually so let's move on to Amiri. Since you asked.

Amiri is trash. Ethically and otherwise. Ali-express store at best that somehow wiggled their way into high fashion.
Though generally decently made, they use low quality material which is several levels below other competing brands, while retaining high-fashion prices.
But my biggest beef with Amiri is that they started off as a 100% Yves Saint Laurent rip-off and a cancerous one at that. Whatever SLP came up with, Amiri would slap a couple of chains & bandannas over and voilà, unroll the carpet.
In a hilarious twist of irony though, few years back, Amiri sued Zara for copying their clothes which was a nonsense case to begin with but the best part is that Zara was mostly copying generic SLP look & by cheapening and downgrading design elements to avoid high production costs, came up with stuff that looked more like Amiri than SLP.

Zara, of course, copies everything; That's the whole point and luxury brands don't mind that. It's the best possible advertising ever but fine nuances of the industry is something Amiri has yet to fully grasp. Or at all.

But in short, Amiri is not worth the money, no. Junk material, no return value, shit ethics.

And just for the sake of comparison, the value of this 2013 Saint Laurent jacket tripled by now so it turned out you're not only getting a cool leather jacket but an actual investment.

 

[Fifty150]

While on assignment on The East Coast, I rode. I bought a used bike, and figured I would ride it until I got sent home. Minimal mods, minimal maintenance, sell it back to the dealership in less than a year.

Once you start riding around on a bike, and parking your bike in bike parking spots, you eventually run into other bikers. I quickly met other riders. I was riding in a MA-1. Which was okay for keeping the wind off and insulating body heat. One of the other bikers said that his cousin worked at a factory where jackets were made. He offered to take me over there.

A sweatshop. Typical old-school NYC Garment District style. Immigrants on sewing machines were probably not union, got underpaid, got no benefits. Busy. People moving racks of clothes, forklifts moving pallets, trucks being loaded on the dock. We went into the office area, which was just as frenetic. Phones ringing, desks piled with disorganized paperwork, a fan in the corner circulating cigarette smoke. People all talking at the same time with raised voices.

An old guy with a tape measure around his neck measured my chest, back, neck, arms, belly. He went out into the warehouse, and returned with a black, cross-zip jacket. The cheap kind you see being sold at department stores like Kohls and Sears. A cheap looking Schott Perfecto knock-off, which looked cheap. I try it on. He pulls and tightens the laces on the side. Pulls the sleeve down, tells me to raise my arms, and makes a chalk mark right about where my wrist was. Tells me sit on a chair. Makes a few chalk marks around the hem, and the body. He tells me $150, cash. My new friend says no way. $75. As you can guess, I paid $100 cash. It's a BS haggle game. I'll bet he tells everyone $150, and then grudgingly accepts $100, with a look of disappointment on his face. The old guy tells us to go get some beers and come back later.

As typical in NYC, we go to some hole-in-the-wall place which supposedly had "da best" of whatever they were selling. Usually, it is the best. The best in that neighborhood. Then the next neighborhood had the best in that neighborhood. This place had huge sausages, grilled, with peppers and onions, stuffed into a roll. We go to a bodega, pick up a bottle of Johnny Walker and a case of cheap beer. One of the dock workers brought the bottle into the office for the old man. We drank the beer with the guys on the loading dock. They were drinking, and driving forklifts and box trucks. Finally, the old man sent someone to tell us to go back inside.

The bottle of Johnny Walker was now 3/4 empty. Everyone in that office had a couple of shots in their coffee cups. The blue, paper, Greek diner coffee cups that you see on TV. The jacket I tried, with all the chalk marks, was still there. He gives me another jacket to try on. He tells me that they just cut a couple of pieces down to size, based on the chalk mark fitting, and then pieced it together. No problem making 1 jacket. They ship hundreds of jackets every day. I could see pre-cut pieces of leather at different work stations. It was obvious that whichever company who placed an order with them, would order pre-cut pattern pieces from overseas. They simply performed the final assembly. Sew the front of the jacket to the back of the jacket, and sew on the sleeves.

Keep in mind, that this was just a contract factory. The spray paint stencil on the factory door said something like "ABC LLC" or something like that. Larger companies, fashion labels, would send them manufacturing orders. They make the jacket, shirt, pants, or whatever, sew on whichever label, then ship it out in their own trucks to whatever stores' distribution warehouses. So they would fill an order, send a truck full of clothes to Macy's warehouse, and that warehouse would send it to different Macy's stores.

My jacket had the label of Excelled. In all fairness, I didn't expect much from a jacket they pieced together from cut down scrap pieces. It's not the best. But here it is, 2 decades later, and it has survived. I still ride motorcycles with it to this day.

 

[Fifty150]

I paid $100, about 20 years ago.

Today, it's garbage and worth about $2 in a thrift store. Except to me. It fits and it works. It keeps the wind off when I ride. If I fall, the jacket would be the barrier between my bare skin shredding on the pavement. And replacing it with a really good motorcycle jacket is $$$$.

 

[ton312]

For the OP’s jacket in question the answer for me is an obvious “no, not worth it”. When you see a seam like this on a sleeve…run. It’s junk.

 

[navetsea]

the leather really looks thin... and sorry looks cheap. and that sleeve extension panel looks bad, I can understand on lamb or goat skin since their hide is small, but calf should be big enough to not having this and not on a $3000 jacket imo.

 

[Tom71]

Welcome David!

I honestly think that a huge part of what's cool about a leather jacket is how it makes you feel, irrespective of the maker or its empirical quality.

If you've already looked at and considered artisanal jackets manufacturers, and you're still hankering after this Amiri make, and you love the style and you love that celebrities you admire are wearing it, then you should indulge yourself and enjoy it.

Don't listen to us or read any more on this forum, or you'll end up running down a rabbit hole of second guessing yourself and doubting your own opinions.

Buy the thing you like and wear it all the time!

I believe, this is the best piece of advice you will get.

I bought some fashion stuff back in the day. Now I like different products. But generally speaking, I did not get less fun and smiles out of the old pieces than now.

 

[David Reza]

Welcome David!

I honestly think that a huge part of what's cool about a leather jacket is how it makes you feel, irrespective of the maker or its empirical quality.

If you've already looked at and considered artisanal jackets manufacturers, and you're still hankering after this Amiri make, and you love the style and you love that celebrities you admire are wearing it, then you should indulge yourself and enjoy it.

Don't listen to us or read any more on this forum, or you'll end up running down a rabbit hole of second guessing yourself and doubting your own opinions.

Buy the thing you like and wear it all the time!

Fashion is too broad of a term.

Real McCoy's, Himel Bros, Freewheelers, etc. are 110% fashion brands. Most of these appear on Lyst. Vanson makes clothes for Supreme. And another thing; All leather jackets are handcrafted and the artisan angle is just PR.

There's of course mass market fashion which is a term that includes brands such as Zara, H&M, etc. These brands sell cheap clothes which are only worth the money if they saved you money you'd instead drop on pricey alternatives.
Nowadays, mass market fashion stuff looks okay, but regardless, they have zero return value and exist as a budget option for people who don't want to spend big money to look... Acceptable.

So you can see it is impossible to generalize about fashion because we could even argue that the term as we came to understand it, doesn't really exist. We could, however, discuss each brand individually so let's move on to Amiri. Since you asked.

Amiri is trash. Ethically and otherwise. Ali-express store at best that somehow wiggled their way into high fashion.
Though generally decently made, they use low quality material which is several levels below other competing brands, while retaining high-fashion prices.
But my biggest beef with Amiri is that they started off as a 100% Yves Saint Laurent rip-off and a cancerous one at that. Whatever SLP came up with, Amiri would slap a couple of chains & bandannas over and voilà, unroll the carpet.
In a hilarious twist of irony though, few years back, Amiri sued Zara for copying their clothes which was a nonsense case to begin with but the best part is that Zara was mostly copying generic SLP look & by cheapening and downgrading design elements to avoid high production costs, came up with stuff that looked more like Amiri than SLP.

Zara, of course, copies everything; That's the whole point and luxury brands don't mind that. It's the best possible advertising ever but fine nuances of the industry is something Amiri has yet to fully grasp. Or at all.

But in short, Amiri is not worth the money, no. Junk material, no return value, shit ethics.

And just for the sake of comparison, the value of this 2013 Saint Laurent jacket tripled by now so it turned out you're not only getting a cool leather jacket but an actual investment.

That was very interesting , I am rookie in this extense and complex world and I really appreciate your effort and kind for give me all the information in a very easy way to understand

In fact I decide to go with a Real McCoys X Harley Davidson jacket that I found in a Supreme good deal in Japan , it's kinda old but I really love the old and vintage stuff, it just more interesting. But still I wanted to know your opinion about this high fashion brands and the traditional leather jacket brands.

And just for curious, why Amiri is ethically bad? I don't know nothing about it

 

[David Reza]

For the OP’s jacket in question the answer for me is an obvious “no, not worth it”. When you see a seam like this on a sleeve…run. It’s junk.
View attachment 387055 View attachment 387056

Could you explain me more? I'm new in all this

I would like to start to notice and understand this things

 

[Carlos840]

Could you explain me more? I'm new in all this

I would like to start to notice and understand this things

A quality leather jacket will be made using two or three long strips of leather that run the whole length of the sleeve from shoulder to wrist.
The jacket you posted uses twice as many pieces that are half as long, to allow for shorter pieces there is a stich line around the albow.

This is a cost cutting measure, it allows the maker to use smaller pieces of leather to make sleeves, making for less waste on the cutting table.

In the case of that jacket they also added some extra shape in the sleeves by adding folds in there, a bit like what Carhartt did to the new Detroit jacket, IMO it looks a bit cheap.

 

[David Reza]

A quality leather jacket will be made using two or three long strips of leather that run the whole length of the sleeve from shoulder to wrist.
The jacket you posted uses twice as many pieces that are half as long, to allow for shorter pieces there is a stich line around the albow.

This is a cost cutting measure, it allows the maker to use smaller pieces of leather to make sleeves, making for less waste on the cutting table.

In the case of that jacket they also added some extra shape in the sleeves by adding folds in there, a bit like what Carhartt did to the new Detroit jacket, IMO it looks a bit cheap.

Thank you for your explanation! Could you give me your opinion about this jacket?

 

[Carlos840]

Thank you for your explanation! Could you give me your opinion about this jacket?

That's a very nice jacket, if i saw one in my size for a good price i would buy it.
Only thing i would change would be moving the side straps to be in line with the belt, but that's just a personal preference.

 

[barnabus]

That is a superb jacket.

The sort of cross zip I'd buy, trying again to convince myself that this time a cross zip might work for me.

 

[Monitor]

Only issue is that it costs $2000.