Field Leathers

[Aloysius]

I will also address that that I have a 47” chest with maybe 18.5”-19” shoulder width. These Japanese makers get crazy with the shoulders and somehow think if someone has a 44”-46” chest then their shoulders must be 21”. Even some of the tallest most broad shouldered guys on this board are probably closer to 19” in shoulder width.

Hm? If anything, Japanese designs go the opposite direction with shoulders, making them unusually narrow compared to the other measurements, not wide.

Grading patterns with 18 or so as the shoulder size for 40 as a baseline is pretty universal. It will scale up but this doesn’t mean the jacket will be boxy.

I have jackets with shoulders that are dead on, a half inch wider than mine, 1.5” wider than mine, and all of them fit. Certain materials or construction techniques will also increase the shoulder measurement.

 

[Canuck Panda]

Nothing is wrong with Greg’s pattern in his size. Sleeves looks fine everything else looked fine. It was made of thicker hide and still looked good.

The graded 42 didn’t work for me unfortunately. I am no expert and will not try to tell the dress maker how to make my dress.

I also don’t believe his current sizing system works.

What I will do is buy the next size up and have some faith. He has a 44 on sale page.

Gregs finishing skills kept me here…

 

[Damon141]

Hm? If anything, Japanese designs go the opposite direction with shoulders, making them unusually narrow compared to the other measurements, not wide.

Grading patterns with 18 or so as the shoulder size for 40 as a baseline is pretty universal. It will scale up but this doesn’t mean the jacket will be boxy.

I have jackets with shoulders that are dead on, a half inch wider than mine, 1.5” wider than mine, and all of them fit. Certain materials or construction techniques will also increase the shoulder measurement.

Obviously it depends on what you are looking at but let’s just say the RMC J100
On standard and strange, their model is 6’1” 180lbs which wears a size 40 and it still looks large in the shoulder area. Imagine a 44 with 20.5” shoulders. I think the 46 has 21.25” shoulders.

I was looking at the Toys McCoys jackets and the Durable code 33 has 52cm shoulders with a 58cm chest. Their Beck 666 and Johnson motors racer jackets have 51cm shoulders and a 59cm p2p

The San Mateo Freewheelers that was brought up recently In size 44 has 51cm shoulders in comparison to a 56cm chest.

Like I said it depends on what you are looking at but the jackets I’ve been interested in have 20” plus shoulders by the time you get a decent chest size.

 

[MrProper]

He has a 44 on sale page.

Are you talking about the black x-zip halfbelt from Instagram (The sales page seems to be empty in the meantime)? I think that already has the new pattern?
I had also briefly considered, but hem and abdomen are 4 cm too wide and I'm afraid the sleeves 2 cm too short.

 

[Marc mndt]

Nothing is wrong with Greg’s pattern in his size. Sleeves looks fine everything else looked fine. It was made of thicker hide and still looked good.

View attachment 421726 View attachment 421727 View attachment 421728 View attachment 421729

The graded 42 didn’t work for me unfortunately. I am no expert and will not try to tell the dress maker how to make my dress.

I also don’t believe his current sizing system works.

What I will do is buy the next size up and have some faith. He has a 44 on sale page.

Gregs finishing skills kept me here…

The patterns used to be too tight in the chest, that's fixed now with their tweaked pattern. The problem imo is the combination of sleeve curve with narrow sleeves. If your posture is like the second guy from the right (eg Greg), the jacket will fit just fine.

If you have good posture, the sleeve curve on their jackets will work against you. Because the jacket doesn't sit right on the wearer material will bunch up on the lower back plus the shoulder will look squarish. (The pic on the right is with the sleeve rotated by 1 inch)

 

[Aloysius]

Obviously it depends on what you are looking at but let’s just say the RMC J100
On standard and strange, their model is 6’1” 180lbs which wears a size 40 and it still looks large in the shoulder area. Imagine a 44 with 20.5” shoulders. I think the 46 has 21.25” shoulders.

… that would be totally normal. And honestly if you're a *true* 44 and above, there's not much point looking at Japanese market jackets.

If you have good posture, the sleeve curve on their jackets will work against you. Because the jacket doesn't sit right on the wearer material will bunch up on the lower back plus the shoulder will look squarish. (The pic on the right is with the sleeve rotated by 1 inch)

Unfortunately, I have good posture, so maybe I'll have to say "give me the Marc arms" when my order comes up!

 

[Damon141]

… that would be totally normal. And honestly if you're a *true* 44 and above, there's not much point looking at Japanese market jackets.



Unfortunately, I have good posture, so maybe I'll have to say "give me the Marc arms" when my order comes up!

20 years of weightlifting on and off you can see a forward position in my arm attachment in combination with the front deltoid and pectoral muscles I believe made this Five star fit strange. I have confidence that Greg can work it out with communication.

Sadly yes no Japanese jackets for me. They are really on the forefront of design and build quality. All of the little details it makes me sad at times I can’t just grab a Freewheelers or Real McCoys. I can’t feel too bad though because atleast we have a few options when it comes to custom jackets. Plus for every well fitting Japanese jacket, I see 10 more that look terrible on people trying to convince themselves they look good because they love the product.

 

[Marc mndt]

Unfortunately, I have good posture, so maybe I'll have to say "give me the Marc arms" when my order comes up!

Of course we still need to see the final result in leather but Im confident it'll look and feel good. We'll know in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, here's a quick fit pic of my first FL, the Idaho. I think it looks badass.

 

[Aloysius]

Sadly yes no Japanese jackets for me. They are really on the forefront of design and build quality. All of the little details it makes me sad at times I can’t just grab a Freewheelers or Real McCoys.

Don't be too misled by the online fandom. There are definitely very good Made in Japan repros, but I think the bolded bit overstates things quite a bit.

The whole Japanese leather jacket repro business followed Aero starting that niche. (Nothing wrong with that, but they weren't 'at the forefront'.) There are companies all over the world doing pretty expertly made reproductions of vintage jacket designs, which the Japanese jackets you're getting at are an example of.

When it comes to innovative designs, I'd say they're far behind the best in Europe and America.

Construction quality isn't objectively better in Japan, either.

Really the only category where I think Japanese repros are objectively the best made is nylon USAF flight jackets. They nail the vintage nylon reproduction. (And those, in their Buzz Rickson's versions, which stick to the original measurements, are available as real 44 sized jackets, if you ever were interested.)

 

[Damon141]

I do like the nylon flight jackets better than the Leather versions and just looked at the buzz ricksons. The type L series look good. Or maybe the MA Slender.

 

[MrProper]

you can see a forward position in my arm attachment

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the forward position is not nearly enough to use the sleeve rotation. Your upper arm goes down relatively vertically and would thus work against the sleeve.
However, I think this is a problem of the past and will not be relevant for future jackets.

 

[Damon141]

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the forward position is not nearly enough to use the sleeve rotation. Your upper arm goes down relatively vertically and would thus work against the sleeve.
However, I think this is a problem of the past and will not be relevant for future jackets.

Good I hope it’s been overcome. You see earlier in the thread I had saved the pre assembly photos which showed the front panels which had large inward cuts, you had highlighted a potential pattern change.

I don’t want to end up with amazing jackets like this member below that pulls when zipped.

Something Dave Himel said in his YouTube Kensington video store could with me, something like him comparing the Kensington to a mid evil tunic. All I could think of was old body armor with broadened chests and I think there is something to having more leather material in the chest area for my body type.

You see the Kensington below looks like it expands in the chest area

 

[Aloysius]

I do like the nylon flight jackets better than the Leather versions and just looked at the buzz ricksons. The type L series look good. Or maybe the MA Slender.

Given your musculature, you'd be better suited to the repro cut than the 'slender' cut. Don't be alarmed by the seemingly very large P2P on the MA-1s, B-15s, and L-2s– they don't wear in the way leather jackets do. They make these according to the vintage American sizes.

The sizing tips on History Preservation, which is the best place to buy Buzz Rickson's outside Japan (he charges Japanese prices; in fact my winter parka and field jacket cost less than they did in Japan)–are extremely helpful.

At that point your decision comes down to where you live. If you live in a warmer part of the country, there's no point getting the MA-1 or B-15, because those have a full winter jacket lining, and the L-2 otherwise does the same job. I live in a colder area so I have both to switch out by season.

 

[red devil]

20 years of weightlifting on and off you can see a forward position in my arm attachment in combination with the front deltoid and pectoral muscles I believe made this Five star fit strange. I have confidence that Greg can work it out with communication.

Sadly yes no Japanese jackets for me. They are really on the forefront of design and build quality. All of the little details it makes me sad at times I can’t just grab a Freewheelers or Real McCoys. I can’t feel too bad though because atleast we have a few options when it comes to custom jackets. Plus for every well fitting Japanese jacket, I see 10 more that look terrible on people trying to convince themselves they look good because they love the product.

If you want a Japanese maker that will fit you, try Tenjin Works. It was the one that worked when others didn't back then.

Otherwise, you should really consider Thedi, he will get you a killer fit with top end construction and unique designs

 

[Damon141]

If you want a Japanese maker that will fit you, try Tenjin Works. It was the one that worked when others didn't back then.

Otherwise, you should really consider Thedi, he will get you a killer fit with top end construction and unique designs

Thedi makes a great fitting jacket and I haven’t seen one fit bad except when bought 2nd hand.

You know I’ve heard of Tenjin Works but really never looked into them because I thought of them as button up natural leather jackets.

But I just looked at their page and your right, the measurements seem to be well suited for the average height man. They have a great double breast jacket and an interesting single rider with stand collar

Google translator is not cooperating but below are screenshots of the stand collar rider and the measurements.

Maybe someone can find better measurements

 

[willyto]

Of course we still need to see the final result in leather but Im confident it'll look and feel good. We'll know in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, here's a quick fit pic of my first FL, the Idaho. I think it looks badass.

View attachment 421779

I can't believe you're wearing anything else other than this. I wouldn't want to wear any other jacket! Looks amazing

 

[red devil]

Thedi makes a great fitting jacket and I haven’t seen one fit bad except when bought 2nd hand.

You know I’ve heard of Tenjin Works but really never looked into them because I thought of them as button up natural leather jackets.

But I just looked at their page and your right, the measurements seem to be well suited for the average height man. They have a great double breast jacket and an interesting single rider with stand collar

Google translator is not cooperating but below are screenshots of the stand collar rider and the measurements.

Maybe someone can find better measurements

I ordered mine directly at the shop, I tried on a sample and they took notes of any adjustement needed. They are - or at least were - an MTO company, so you can change the measurements.

This is mine

 

[El Marro]

The mock up jacket in cotton canvas is still a mystery to me. It is not the same thickness/stiffness/drape as leather. So how is it suppose to tell how the leather one would actual work?

You have a valid point but I know in my case a mock up jacket in cloth could have avoided the jacket remakes I have asked for over the last few years from Thedi, Langlitz (twice), and Good Wear. In all four cases the jackets were too tight and this would have been obvious to me had they made any kind of fit jacket to try first.
I do see the limitations though, insofar as a cloth fit jacket will not tell you whether or not the same thing in leather is going to be comfortable to wear and something that you will want to throw on day after day.

 

[marker2037]

Any reason why we aren't using the original thread here? https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/field-leathers.100211/

Mods, maybe you can merge the two.

 

[Canuck Panda]

The patterns used to be too tight in the chest, that's fixed now with their tweaked pattern. The problem imo is the combination of sleeve curve with narrow sleeves. If your posture is like the second guy from the right (eg Greg), the jacket will fit just fine.

View attachment 421772

If you have good posture, the sleeve curve on their jackets will work against you. Because the jacket doesn't sit right on the wearer material will bunch up on the lower back plus the shoulder will look squarish. (The pic on the right is with the sleeve rotated by 1 inch)

View attachment 421773 View attachment 421774

Seriously? Postures? My postures changes so many times through out the day I just can't keep tracking them.

What's next?

I will wait to get my sale page jacket and post something that is actually useful.

SORRY!