Is that a fake Belstaff Trialmaster?

[Leyomi]

 

[Marc mndt]

It's English made and designed, yet made in Italy?

 

[Leyomi]

It's English made and designed, yet made in Italy?

The quote "english made and designed" is on all belstaff jacket but they are all made in italy

 

[Marc mndt]

They used to be made in England right?.(Back in the days)

 

[Leyomi]

Yep, but not anymore.

 

[Seb Lucas]

It's English made and designed, yet made in Italy?

Far as I know Belstaff was bought by an Italian company in the 1990's and is basically a fashion brand these days along with a quality drop.

 

[Leyomi]

So the tag is not suspicious?

 

[Seb Lucas]

So the tag is not suspicious?

I don't know anything about Belstaff labels, L, but a quick google of this one looks just like others. They are or were made in Italy, why would that be suspicious? It's a zombie brand. Pretty sure someone bought Belstaff off the Italians later on. Maybe they now say,, "Made in Romania."

 

[Leyomi]

I mean, suspicious because of the tag "english made" bet this seem okay

 

[Marc mndt]

@Monitor you know how to spot a fake belstaff, right?

 

[Tom71]

Looks legit to me. Design is called the „Panther“ AFAIK. That was a Belstaff staple from pretty early on.

Have one in „vintage black” from ca. 2005. They were already Italian owned but by no means the fast-fashion shop they are nowadays. Still love all about that jacket although the leather is much less substantial than what I am used to these days.

Anyway, the details you posted exactly resemble those on my jacket. And this I bought in the Belstaff store off Regents St. back in the day.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I mean, suspicious because of the tag "english made" bet this seem okay

As I said, google the label - many of them say this even when they are made in Italy.

 

[Leyomi]

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Monitor]

Belstaff was (still is?) made in Italy so that part checks out. Ring pull checks out too. Generic Italian zipper pull not so much but that doesn't necessarily need to indicate a fake. Belstaff jackets usually have proprietary hardware. Snaps are correctly stamped. Leather appears okay, too.

But I am not 100% certain. Can't really add anything worthwhile. I'd contact someone more knowledgeable. Leyomi, ask on http://www.filmjackets.com/forum/
Those guys are pro when it comes to Belstaff.

@Monitor you know how to spot a fake belstaff, right?

To an extent but some fakes are so good I personally wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

 

[Tom71]

Some minor issues, you may want to check :

There should be a “secret” Belstaff sticker stitched on the inside of one of the upper pockets.

Also, there should be an inside Pocket with a stud closing. Older models have a little metal plate attached to it with the model “Panther” and a serial number.
Don’t worry if that’s missing. They abandoned it somewhere along the line. The colour of your jacket was not available in the earlier days, only “blackbrown” (a dark brown) and “vintage black” (a very dark brown). Lining was blue-grey tartan.

 

[Leyomi]

Some minor issues, you may want to check :

There should be a “secret” Belstaff sticker stitched on the inside of one of the upper pockets.

Also, there should be an inside Pocket with a stud closing. Older models have a little metal plate attached to it with the model “Panther” and a serial number.
Don’t worry if that’s missing. They abandoned it somewhere along the line. The colour of your jacket was not available in the earlier days, only “blackbrown” (a dark brown) and “vintage black” (a very dark brown). Lining was blue-grey tartan.

The jacket is from 2010

 

[Leyomi]

Still need some advice

 

[Tom71]

I can pull out my jacket from the storage over the weekend and do a side-by-side comparison on the visuals. Do you think that would help?

 

[Leyomi]

That would be really helpful!

 

[Edward]

Far as I know Belstaff was bought by an Italian company in the 1990's and is basically a fashion brand these days along with a quality drop.

They've changed hands a few times over the years. Started in 1924, then sold in 1948. Remained in British ownership even after the factory in England was closed down in the early 90s (I'm guessing that's when foreign production first started). Thereafter, the strategy was to sell both motorcycle gear and fashion wear. The company was sold to an Italian firm in 2004, then in 2015 it was sold to some one else, and again in 2017 to its now owners, Ineos - a British multinational chemicals company. The fashion side of the business was taking off and being pushed hard when the company was sold to the Italians. They have maintained the motorcycle line alongside the fashion stuff and I'm assured it's as good as it always was, though you'd only see it in motorcycling specialist places, not fashion stores, and while less crazily priced than some of the fashion stuff, it's still not cheap. (There are cheaper options, some even still made in England; afaik, the Belstaff stuff is still being made in Italy.)

As memory serves, the Italian owner later bought or otherwise acquired the Matchless brand. Matchless were once the biggest British motorcycle company; several BRMC members are riding Matchless bikes in The Wild One. They started with bicycles before making motorcycles from 1899 to 1966 when production cased. There was a short-lived run of Matchless bikes in the 90s but the retro bike fad hadn't yet taken off and they died out. The current Matchless company seems far more focussed on the clothing side of the business (one of their more recent lines was a Star Was inspired range...), though they do make a couple of fairly cool looking electric bikes that visually echo what they were selling in the early years of the 20th century.

So the tag is not suspicious?

IT's inaccurate, but not uncommon. A lot of big companies like to wave the flag - Dyson calls itself a British company and makes much of that, but all of its manufacturing is done in the Far East. They sell [notch up the volume] "BRITISH DESIGN!" [turn volume well down] "made, er, somewhere else..."

A while back Nigel Cabourn had some jackets made by Alexander Leathers / Simmons Bilt. The main label read "Nigel Cabourn, Made in London", with a smaller label lower down reading "Made in Scotland". In the guitar world, Mosrite of California are wholly owned and manufactured by a company based in Japan; for years, "Burns of London" was a company owned and based in Wales - selling guitars made in South Korea. In this part of the world there's no labelling law requiring companies to indicate to the consumer exactly where the garment was made (though in the EU they're moving in that direction). It only really matters for tax purposes, and there's a complicated arrangement under the new FTA between the UK and the EU as to what constitutes UK goods and therefore how duty should be calculated when selling in to the common market from outside. With a fashion brand. the brand itself seems to be what pulls in the money - most consumers, I think, don't really care where something is made.

Short of it is, that alone doesn't indicate that there's anything fake about this (other than, arguably, the "heritage" Belstaff might claim to be selling. ).