Jacket Collecting - Ever ask why?

[AeroFan_07]

So I purchased a jacket today. Shocking...right? To probably nobody on this forum who has been around any length of time.
What did I buy? Well just another black cross-zip, made of leather, that likely will fit pretty well. Was a decent deal.

No big deal right - well that's what I thought, until I drove home from the gym this evening, and just very frankly asked myself "Dude, why did you do it...?" "What deficiency within yourself are you seeking to fill, by adding yet another cross-zip to your 7-8 jacket cross-zip collection?" "Is there some deeper underlying reason you are seeking to own this?" "Or are you just having flashbacks to some other time in life and feeling the need to keep searching out the perfect jacket...and something else?" Like I said this was quite a conversation I was having in my own mind.

After all this, I realized, yes, I may need to be a little more balanced. There may be a few more jackets showing up in the classifieds soon. However I do not think the purchase had anything to do with insecurity, or an inflated sense of self, or image management. In fact, I just wanted to check it out here. If it does not work out, I will sell it along. Not an issue.

Still that gnawing little voice keeps coming along. Maybe I have more to think about here!

Anyone else ever deal with this...?

 

[El Marro]

Anyone else every deal with this...?

Yes as a matter of fact, I have!
Recently I have been sorely tempted by a RMC L2B. Now this in itself is not surprising, I am always tempted by some jacket or another. What was surprising to me was the fact that I actually sat down and thought about how I already have several jackets nylon flight jackets along with six or seven leather flight jackets and I really don’t need to order another one. That was odd, a rare bit of self-control.

 

[TelemarkTumalo]

So I purchased a jacket today. Shocking...right? To probably nobody on this forum who has been around any length of time.
What did I buy? Well just another black cross-zip, made of leather, that likely will fit pretty well. Was a decent deal.

No big deal right - well that's what I thought, until I drove home from the gym this evening, and just very frankly asked myself "Dude, why did you do it...?" "What deficiency within yourself are you seeking to fill, but adding yet another cross-zip to your 7-8 jacket cross-zip collection?" "Is there some deeper underlying reason you are seeking to own this?" "Or are you just having flashbacks to some other time in life and feeling the need to keep searching out the perfect jacket...and something else?" Like I said this was quite a conversation I was having in my own mind.

After all this, I realized, yes, I may need to be a little more balanced. There may be a few more jackets showing up in the classifieds soon. However I do not think the purchase had anything to do with insecurity, or an inflated sense of self, or image management. In fact, I just wanted to check it out here. If it does not work out, I will sell it along. Not an issue.

Still that gnawing little voice keeps coming along. Maybe I have more to think about here!

Anyone else every deal with this...?

"Best not play it too careful. Cause for reflection" Buster Scruggs

 

[Biff42]

So I purchased a jacket today. Shocking...right? To probably nobody on this forum who has been around any length of time.
What did I buy? Well just another black cross-zip, made of leather, that likely will fit pretty well. Was a decent deal.

No big deal right - well that's what I thought, until I drove home from the gym this evening, and just very frankly asked myself "Dude, why did you do it...?" "What deficiency within yourself are you seeking to fill, but adding yet another cross-zip to your 7-8 jacket cross-zip collection?" "Is there some deeper underlying reason you are seeking to own this?" "Or are you just having flashbacks to some other time in life and feeling the need to keep searching out the perfect jacket...and something else?" Like I said this was quite a conversation I was having in my own mind.

After all this, I realized, yes, I may need to be a little more balanced. There may be a few more jackets showing up in the classifieds soon. However I do not think the purchase had anything to do with insecurity, or an inflated sense of self, or image management. In fact, I just wanted to check it out here. If it does not work out, I will sell it along. Not an issue.

Still that gnawing little voice keeps coming along. Maybe I have more to think about here!

Anyone else every deal with this...?

I like the thrill of the hunt and trying new stuff. I want to decrease my collection and have been more willing to trade or sell here to cut out the fees from eBay. is there something wrong with my dopamine reward system, yes, probably. I gave up drinking years ago, so this and other pursuits are likely filling some void. I don't care though, I like the FL and the people on here.

A man should take some pleasure where he can find it.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Well….we all are hunter gatherers.
Try as we may to rationalize that we will never get away from that.
Jackets, hats, etc help fill that need but never the urge.
B

 

[AeroFan_07]

I like the thrill of the hunt and trying new stuff. I want to decrease my collection and have been more willing to trade or sell here to cut out the fees from eBay. is there something wrong with my dopamine reward system, yes, probably. I gave up drinking years ago, so this and other pursuits are likely filling some void. I don't care though, I like the FL and the people on here.

A man should take some pleasure where he can find it.

Congratulations on cutting the drinking part out!! I understand that can be exceptionally difficult to do.
I have not ever been drawn to alcoholic drinks, for which I am thankful. Jackets and the collection/wearing/discussing of such is a much more intriguing topic for me.

 

[Monitor]

I love clothes. I also love changing my style. Luckily, I realized that piling up on clothes that make up one certain style doesn't work for me as tomorrow, I'll wake up as someone else. Right now I'm at the end of the road and the fog is thick.

 

[Aloysius]

Getting back into classic menswear was a wakeup call for me. When I was more into that side of things, despite my limited budget at that time, I made sure everything filled a specific purpose and I had a buying strategy that meant I still have things I wear and use regularly from when I was 16. Wool is also an incredibly flexible material and unlike leather, you can keep extra material as inlay inside a jacket, allowing you to take it out or let it in, whether because your own body has changed over the years or because you are altering it to fit.

When I got into workwear/leather, I don't think it was the same way. Looking back, I have spent more on this stuff than it would have cost me to go to some of the finest cutters on Savile Row. And of them, really, the most satisfying are one Schott Perfecto, one Johnson CHP, and probably the vintage Schott cowboy jacket I got off of Tony. The rest feel redundant.

I'm going to start phasing things out, many of which I've rarely worn, and perhaps they'll be of some benefit to some of you (especially if there's still interest in wool!)

 

[Will Zach]

I loved jackets since I was about 15. Started with an M-65 and a Navy olive drab duffel bag. Trying to shove it in the Communist's faces in Iron Curtain Poland. It was a statement, rebellion at that time. Am 66 now. Not trying to shove it into anybody's face anymore, and no M-65, but still kind of a statement, I guess. That I am different from the North Face wearing crowd. So I have a few jackets now, but I really stopped collecting. Unless I see a Star Glove or a Seattle Woolen for a good price, lol.

 

[MrProper]

It's interesting that this thread came up just as I was cancelling a jacket because I don't wear my current one enough. I think I have enough jackets at the moment, so it was a good decision. I am a minimalist after all

 

[nick123]

Never asked why, because I’m afraid of what I’d find.

 

[AeroFan_07]

^^ Nick, I think you just summed it up there sir!

 

[Nick M]

So I purchased a jacket today. Shocking...right? To probably nobody on this forum who has been around any length of time.
What did I buy? Well just another black cross-zip, made of leather, that likely will fit pretty well. Was a decent deal.

No big deal right - well that's what I thought, until I drove home from the gym this evening, and just very frankly asked myself "Dude, why did you do it...?" "What deficiency within yourself are you seeking to fill, by adding yet another cross-zip to your 7-8 jacket cross-zip collection?" "Is there some deeper underlying reason you are seeking to own this?" "Or are you just having flashbacks to some other time in life and feeling the need to keep searching out the perfect jacket...and something else?" Like I said this was quite a conversation I was having in my own mind.

After all this, I realized, yes, I may need to be a little more balanced. There may be a few more jackets showing up in the classifieds soon. However I do not think the purchase had anything to do with insecurity, or an inflated sense of self, or image management. In fact, I just wanted to check it out here. If it does not work out, I will sell it along. Not an issue.

Still that gnawing little voice keeps coming along. Maybe I have more to think about here!

Anyone else ever deal with this...?

According to my wife, I have a problem!
Jackets and boots, it’s just my thing as I’m sure it’s yours?!
Worse things to spend money on mate, life is too short to deprive yourself.

 

[Edward]

I have a long list in a Word document somewhere of leather jackets I want, mostly Aero as it happens. I have a (seemingly genetic, look along my mother's line) predisposition to hoarding, so I have to be careful. I have always been very clear with myself that I won't buy jackets that I don't wear. So anything that doesn't fit right has to go (including some dearly beloved jackets of over a decade's ownership, which will probably be replaced by a more or less straight remake of the same one). Anything that I think looks cool but I would never wear because it doesn't fit my look, looks too modern, or whatever, is out. Something like an original A2 is out, because I'd be too afraid to wear it properly for fear of ruining a piece of history - I'll stick to the repros. It's not easy an inevitably I end up with more leather jackets than I strictly *need*, but as long as they all get worn at some point... I'm all about making sure they're different from each other. So I have a 618, which means (a stupidly good deal aside) I could never justify a 118 or a 613 as well. I might get another D pocket in time, but I'll have that in black with brass hardware instead of another jacket with chrome. I have a russet goat Everyman, so when I go for a Seabiscuit it'll be in seal goat. That sort of thing. No two jackets in the same hide & colour, unless the models are radically different.

I've definitely gotten better over time.... Last week I saw a couple of really nice chore jackets in the UnionWorks range (they sell in Sainsburys in the UK, and are a significant step up from the bog standard supermarket brand stuff). They have currently an unlined one in a nice olive, and a quilt-lined navy one. The olive, well.. I already have one of those jackets in a tan colour and a navy blue, so no point. The lined one was a slightly harder thing to turn down, but I have a borg lined lumberjack-type jacket of the same length that would be good for the same conditions, so that was a no too. (Had it come in a tan.... maybe next year.) That's the sort of thing. It's not easy because Want All The Things, but it's getting better with practice. I think, quite frankly, the fact I'm also in a better place within myself than I was twenty years ago is a huge help, even if I am still working on fully clearing out the hoard amassed then.

 

[MickeyPunch]

You’ll get many different explanations here but it all boils down to addiction. Just like any other, really.

 

[Canuck Panda]

Anyone else ever deal with this...?

Yes, sometimes, and not just jackets but everything in life more or less.

Fortunately for jackets, there is always the Classifieds here. I get the same urge to buy as to sell. Impulse both ways. Sometimes it gets tired out by itself and sits still before repeating. Again, like many other things in life. Once in a while I do get lucky and really enjoy one or the other. Treasure those moments.

 

[Eagledog]

Collecting anything can be either a whole bunch of fun, or a massive waste of time. At one time I collected cast iron implement seats from the 1800's. Had over 350 of them. They are very interesting and ornate. Used as seats on early horse drawn implements. They covered my garage walls. The kitchen also had 8 of the round corn planter seats. They hung on the wall instead of dishes. Much more expensive, about $10,000 worth. Now I have about 5 seats total. Having a big collection was a lot of fun at the time. Having less of everything is much better. If I'm not using it often, or enjoying it on display, I don't have it anymore. Less stuff is a wonderful thing!
Now, I just need to get my hat collection under control.....