Hello everyone,
I've been a lurker for some time but have finally decided to go all in on TFL. I was introduced to this forum by @dudewuttheheck via his Instagram Almostvintagestyle. This place has been a wealth of knowledge and great community of enthusiast. I work as a cobbler so my first preference has always been shoes and boots. The trade has brought out my love of leather not only in footwear but now in jackets and other leather goods.
The incoming jackets!
I have two Himel brothers on the way, they were ordered towards the end of September and measurements were sent in about a month later. I am expecting the first one in the next month or so, then the second one will be made and sent out shortly after the measurements are confirmed. I will be getting a Canuck as well as the Heron A-1.
The Canuck is in Shinki medium brown oil tanned
The Heron is in Shinki medium brown pigment finish
I was always drawn to what Himel has been making and his knowledge of the industry to unlike many others. These will be my first two leather jackets and definitely not the typical route one takes into this hobby. My experience with footwear has taught that I'm not interested in working my way up from the "beginner" brands to the higher end ones. This is often seen with people buying Red wings then Viberg, and culminating somewhere around Clinch just for example. I found that I had wasted a lot of time and money starting at the lower tier brands and would have been better off saving up for the higher end/MTM brands. I preferred to have something MTM for the jacket, so that I know that fit would be more or less spot on. Now I know that it is pretty ridiculous to get two Himels at once in two similar leathers but they were two best jackets I've seen and absolutely love the medium brown from Shinki. Both jackets are button front as I despise zippers on anything, I've fixed enough zippers to know that I don't want to deal with them. I will definitely post pictures of the jackets once they are here in either this post or its own dedicated post. I don't regret my decision and can't wait to get them in. Glad to be a part of this forum!
Going all in indeed!
If you started like this, you are likely going to have more than just two jackets
No better way to start than to go for the best. Welcome.
Not to start with a debate, but as you know, the top tier makers all have their pros and cons, no single best maker and Himel is certainly not in the same league as Freewheelers in terms of construction... or other brands for that matter