As promised, here are some photos of my Himel Frobisher in Shinki Horsehide. Photos are straight out of an iPhone camera and resized--no filters, etc. No photography skillsA couple days of wear on it.
Specs:
- Medium Brown Shinki in “Oil Tan” wax pullup finish. Aniline.
- Leather facings
- 2 inside pockets
- Custom measurements provided (around 38/39)
- Grainy leather preferred, if possible
- Lighter weight leather preferred, if possible
- Brass Hardware, zips
- Brass buckles instead of D rings
- Standard khaki cotton twill lining
Quick observations:
- The color and wax finish really stands out. I love it.
- The best smelling leather I've ever encountered. If they sold this as a cologne, I would buy it. It is quite potent now--my shirts smell like leather even after wearing the jacket. The Shinki smell rumors are true
- The stitching has a "hand sewn" appearance, similar to the "european style" of stitching (for example in Hermes leather). It's machine sewn with cotton thread, but the Himel uses a needle that makes a 45 degree cut like this: /, giving an angled stitch. It's a nice little detail only the wearer would really notice. Looks about 9-10 stitches per inch, small stitches which work well with this weight of leather.
- Very comfortable out of the box. Pretty much no break in time, but will continue to crease and develop character if the first few days are any indication. Speaking of out of the box--it was folded quite compactly into a little cube, and had some heavy folds initially. But they relaxed very quickly--nothing permanent.
- The leather in this color & finish does water spot very easily. I've gotten a few drops of tap water on the cuff when washing my hands. The spots quickly created a wet spot (rather than stay on the surface or roll off). After drying, some spot remains. Just the nature of this type of aniline leather--it appears to have a minimal top coat. Only noticeable on really close inspection--by me. I know how to get water spots out, but I won't baby this coat.
- I imagine this leather will darken/patina over time in the sun and because of water. I get a lot of fog where I live, so there will be days where lots of micro droplets of water will darken the leather. I'm fine with that. I would not wear this in the rain though.
- Inside pockets are huge and functional. I can probably fit decent sized notebook pads in them.
- The brass zippers say "Universal" on the front. This was the original name of the Talon Zipper Company. The back of the zipper says YKK
- One odd thing I can't figure a good solution to: when I'm in a car, I just can't sit back comfortably without feeling the leather in the back seam area ball up and fold. If feels like I'm sitting against a hackey sack, and I can do nothing to smooth it out. It's because the bottom of the jacket pushes up when I sit, the yoke stays down on my shoulders, so that back seam pushes up and out. When I get out of the car, that back seam is pushed out like a little horn coming out of my back. It can smooth it away easily with my hand though. Just a bit annoying and can't quite get comfortable in a car.
Overall--I LOVE this jacket and think it's well worth the premium pricing. I will definitely be buying more Himel jackets in Shinki HH. (Perhaps another Frobisher, or a Canuck, or a Kensington Racer....)
View attachment 51332 View attachment 51333 View attachment 51334 View attachment 51335 View attachment 51336 View attachment 51337
Your'e wearing this almost at a car coat length. I thought this was a waist length jacket. But don't get me wrong - I like jackets worn longer. This is a nice pattern in a memorable hide.
