Himel Bros Shinki Leather

[sweetfights]

For those with hands on experience.
I am thinking of a Himel Cafe Racer- Kensington, Pinecrest or British style.
Of the Shinki options, Horsehide Black Pigment Finish - Shinki Horsehide Black Oil Tanned.
Which did you prefer and why???
Thanks
J

 

[dudewuttheheck]

It depends on what you want. The pigment finish is a tea core leather and will patina as such while the oil tanned leather will be black forever. Do you want tea core or not?

Personally, I like both. My current FW black jackt is tea core and I am excited for that to age over time, but if I wore a lot of black and owned many pairs of black boots, I'd probably have a jacket that stayed black.

 

[Superfluous]

Oil tan -- I preferred the sustained black color

 

[jeo]

Don't have experience with black, but I went with the medium brown pigment finish on my Frobisher and I'm very happy I did. At Inspiration I saw the medium brown oil tan in person and it's too shiny/flashy for my taste. My Himel Imperial is the dark brown oil tan and it's very shiny as well. I'm wearing it a lot in hopes the wear will dull the shine a bit. The shininess gives it that kind of luxurious look though IMO if you like that. To me that's the main difference between the two. Not sure about black though.

With regards to the tea core effect, it's actually the finish on my oil tan jacket that's been wearing off more than my pigment finish jacket. It's at the edge of the front panel where the zipper touches the leather when you zip up. I've zipped up my Frobisher way more than my Imperial and there is no finish wear on my Frobisher.

Just my two cents, hope that helps.