Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Five Star Leather Jackets

KBlake

One Too Many
Messages
1,866
I called your jacket garbage? Nope, sure didn't. I called someone else's jacket garbage? Nope...you made that up. I'm not insisting people shouldn't be pleased with 5 Star at all, I'm saying I ultimately was not. My authority? Jacket expert? WTF is that? No it's my experience. In my experience, these are my opinions. I don't care what your preferences are, have at it. This is a 5 Star thread, not a forum. I should know because I contributed before you were here. Your words: "People are constantly putting everyone in their place and suggesting they have no right to an opinion". Yet this is exactly what you are doing when you don't like mine.

Your words: "But insisting that people should not be pleased with their 5* jackets is not cool."- I never said that, you inferred it.


I have be honest, at this point you are coming off as a 5 Star shill.

For a guy who doesn't care about other peoples opinions you sure have a funny way of showing it, seems you need near constant reassurance , and the opinions I expressed were about my jackets. Do these criticisms apply to all 5 Star jackets. Yes, they probably do. And that's why you are butthurt.
All hail the great @ton312 who has "experience" and doesn't miss an opportunity to tell people he was here first.
I don't care to go back (like i did before when you were singing 5* praises about their "10/10" leather only to then call it "garbage") and show the receipts of you doing exactly what you here deny. Who cares! You can be the king of these streets! LOL
 
Messages
17,506
Location
Chicago
All hail the great @ton312 who has "experience" and doesn't miss an opportunity to tell people he was here first.
I don't care to go back (like i did before when you were singing 5* praises about their "10/10" leather only to then call it "garbage") and show the receipts of you doing exactly what you here deny. Who cares! You can be the king of these streets! LOL
10/10...never said that either. LOL. Can't wait to see your 5 Star "Raceway" jacket.
 

KBlake

One Too Many
Messages
1,866
10/10...never said that either. LOL. Can't wait to see your 5 Star "Raceway" jacket.
I literally reposted it above and you responded to it.

In any case, lots of people here provided constructive criticism of my 5* and I thanked them for it. I was grateful to @Marc mndt for his demonstration above because it was actually informative and constructive. Look at how you treated @Canuck Panda above. You're just not nice and you fight with people a lot on here because of that. Maybe more visitors would engage here if it weren't this toxic circle jerk.
 
Messages
17,506
Location
Chicago
I literally reposted it above and you responded to it.

In any case, lots of people here provided constructive criticism of my 5* and I thanked them for it. I was grateful to @Marc mndt for his demonstration above because it was actually informative and constructive. Look at how you treated @Canuck Panda above. You're just not nice and you fight with people a lot on here because of that. Maybe more visitors would engage here if it weren't this toxic circle jerk.
WTF are you talking about? I don't fight with anyone here. I am free to express my opinions as is everyone else. What part of that is "toxic circle jerk". You may not like what is being said, but that doesn't make it toxic or untrue. As far as @Canuck Panda goes, he posted bad information and I pointed that out. Simple, period and end of story. If he has a problem with me he (or anyone else) is welcome to send a DM. Since you are the official ambassador to 5 Star I understand that you have a vested interest in pushing back against claims the product is sub-par.

Nevertheless I have a right to post my honest appraisal of the products I received. In hindsight the entire process (as I said before) was a huge waste of time, money and effort. I also admitted my initial reviews were unjust and untrue. I would rather be a hypocrite than perpetuating a lie. I used multiple images to demonstrate the failings of 5 Star (which they have never corrected). If that makes you feel insecure about your jackets, that is your problem, not mine.

5 Star flat jackets:
IMG_5873.jpeg
IMG_5877.jpeg

Two random jackets with better everything for less money:
IMG_5874.jpeg
IMG_5876.jpeg

There’s only so many times I can repeat myself. I could posts hundreds more…but I’m done.

Folks will figure it out for themselves.
 
Last edited:

navetsea

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,868
Location
East Java
WTF are you talking about? I don't fight with anyone here. I am free to express my opinions as is everyone else. What part of that is "toxic circle jerk". You may not like what is being said, but that doesn't make it toxic or untrue. As far as @Canuck Panda goes, he posted bad information and I pointed that out. Simple, period and end of story. If he has a problem with me he (or anyone else) is welcome to send a DM. Since you are the official ambassador to 5 Star I understand that you have a vested interest in pushing back against claims the product is sub-par.

Nevertheless I have a right to post my honest appraisal of the products I received. In hindsight the entire process (as I said before) was a huge waste of time, money and effort. I also admitted my initial reviews were unjust and untrue. I would rather be a hypocrite than perpetuating a lie. I used multiple images to demonstrate the failings of 5 Star (which they have never corrected). If that makes you feel insecure about your jackets, that is your problem, not mine.

5 Star flat jackets:
View attachment 570406 View attachment 570407
Two random jackets with better everything for less money:
View attachment 570408 View attachment 570409
There’s only so many times I can repeat myself. I could posts hundreds more…but I’m done.

Folks will figure it out for themselves.
to my eyes 5* sleeve is like denim jacket sleeve, slightly rotating the sleeve forward 2cm or 2.5cm (I can't process imperial measurement sorry) will do wonder, greater mobility, and cleaner upper sleeve as it will have ever slight tension on the front of the sleeve with your arm down, however they need to have elbow room, perhaps you need to write to them please make a banana shaped sleeve to better send the message across, that is how I explained what I wanted with my sleeve to my tailor. honestly your last jacket with them were special looking and the sleeve is also cleaner, however leather jacket is an ongoing experience and surely yours is like a river's stream, some jackets might stuck on a rock awhile but eventually they are all end up in the ocean:p
 
Messages
17,506
Location
Chicago
to my eyes 5* sleeve is like denim jacket sleeve, slightly rotating the sleeve forward 2cm or 2.5cm (I can't process imperial measurement sorry) will do wonder, greater mobility, and cleaner upper sleeve as it will have ever slight tension on the front of the sleeve with your arm down, however they need to have elbow room, perhaps you need to write to them please make a banana shaped sleeve to better send the message across, that is how I explained what I wanted with my sleeve to my tailor. honestly your last jacket with them were special looking and the sleeve is also cleaner, however leather jacket is an ongoing experience and surely yours is like a river's stream, some jackets might stuck on a rock awhile but eventually they are all end up in the ocean:p
Oh believe me I have tried to convey this message to absolutely no avail. It’s really neither here nor there as that problem is one of many. The leather and material quality just isn’t good enough IMO.

want to be clear. I am not “hating on 5 Star”. I like Shawn, I admire his effort. They always treated me well. They can sew and craft a jacket very well. They just don’t understand anatomy or proportion and the materials are not keeping up with cost. . There is no inherited memory from past builds. Every new jacket is completely starting from scratch and that’s why you see chest pockets resting under people’s chins, completely exaggerated proportions, hand warmwr pockets at the wearers kidneys, etc.

I gave 5 Star a more than fair chance but after the crack pipe like hit of a new jacket wore off, what was left behind simply wasn’t enough to convince me. If others like their jackets that’s great. My experience was not one of lasting appreciation for the end result. This is why I sacrificed brain cells to acetone and alcohol based dyes. And even after all that…. $100 eBay sale.
 
Last edited:

navetsea

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,868
Location
East Java
I guess their primary business model is leather tannery and mass market OEM jacket manufacturer, they work based on sent in patterns for so many pieces and purge record probably even send back the pattern , but they venture out by offering this custom orders to individual people so perhaps they never build client database as their usual policy is to purge anything, just like local digital printing shop, no matter how many hundreds time you repeat order something similar they never keep your past records and have to explain from scratch
 

MrProper

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,340
Location
Europe
their primary business model is leather tannery and mass market OEM jacket manufacturer, they work based on sent in patterns
That is what I have often written here: Producers and not designers. If you're lucky, you'll get someone who has a 10% feel for the thing instead of the usual 0%
The people there work for an apple and an egg and it is probably hard for them to understand why it is important that the breast pocket should not hang under the chin. And many outside the TFL accept it as a given design.
And again: you can be lucky with a 5*. But with the increased prices and the high shipping costs, the risk is too great to rely on luck.
 

Aloysius

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,969
5* B6 relaxes at home after a brisk walk.
View attachment 571014

10mm shearling keeps you warm without feeling like a blast furnace. I think my RAF may gather even more dust now. Plus that grain. Crackly without the crackle.
View attachment 571015
View attachment 571017

Military sheepskins are Five Star's "sure thing", I think.

The military jackets based on originals are their best patterns by a wide margin (not least because the pattern was already made, essentially), but the cow and horse hides seem to have a lot of inconsistency to them. The goatskin too.

The shearling on the other hand seems to be excellent across the board (which is not surprising considering sheep and sheepskin are a major part of the culture of the Subcontinent). Basically it takes one of the big variables out of the equation.
 

58panheadfan

One Too Many
Messages
1,661
Location
Switzerland
I have nothing at all to complain about with this particular FiveStar Trojan. The leather is amazing, the workmanship is excellent and the jacket fits perfectly. Call it luck or the patient preparatory work in the ordering process... the forerunner I did, the Roadmaster from FiveStar was also a very successful project, although in retrospect I would change 2-3 small things about this jacket.

IMG_8129.jpeg
 

58panheadfan

One Too Many
Messages
1,661
Location
Switzerland
@ton312 Just to answer my own question: Would I order a leather jacket from FiveStar Leather again? The answer: Nope
This is for several reasons: Firstly, the ordering process for a custom-made jacket is extremely time-consuming and requires appropriate experience. Secondly, it takes a lot of nerves from the order to delivery to see if everything works (but that doesn't just apply to FiveStar Leather). Thirdly, I don't have seen yet a jacket that worked on the first try. Seen this way, and this has already been mentioned several times, a FiveStar Leather jacket is ultimately no longer a bargain. Despite my experience, it also took me several attempts.

In addition, as has already been mentioned, the guys from FiveStar are good at implementing measurements 1:1, but they lack the necessary intuition and idea of how a jacket should be designed*. An example is the sleeves. When I hang my Roadmaster and my Trojan next to each other on a hanger, the sleeves on the Roadmaster hang straight down at the sides, like a vest with sleeves. Fortunately, the Trojan has a slight twist and therefore follows the natural arm position (maybe it as to do with the 3-panel sleeves or the cut in general). This problem is not only the case with FiveStar, there are well-known, much more expensive manufacturers that also have this problem and their square shoulders are also an issue. The jackets look like vests with sleeves.

As I said, I probably had the necessary luck with the Trojan. I was also lucky with the leather, because the waxed dark seal steerhide is perfect for a jacket type like the Trojan. Here too, I can agree with @ton312 the leather used by FiveStar Leather cannot stand up to a comparison from more expensive manufacturers. That's why my recommendation: Stay away if you haven't done your homework meticulously and if you don't have the necessary experience, otherwise things will go wrong.

*I am talking about their Vintage & Classic Jackets.
 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
109,243
Messages
3,077,110
Members
54,183
Latest member
UrbanGraveDave
Top