Japanese brands rejecting Shinki

[Marc mndt]

Thanks, that Shinki doesn't look appealing to me either, and it's clearly different to the ones I have and have handled. There's surely something going on with the tannery at the moment.

Whatever the truth, I'm more than happy to have a decade old FW Brakeman in decent rude black Shinki.

My favorite Shinki

 

[Aloysius]

Couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to handle this one. The color was flat and it looked and felt extremely plasticky. I've handled a dozen or so Shinki hh jackets, this example was the least desirable.

View attachment 396634

To put things in perspective, this schott's hh is 10x nicer. Better construction quality too.

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My favorite Shinki

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Praising a Schott’s construction and hide in comparison to a Japanese made Shinki jacket, then praising a Shinki jacket by a western maker (the usual suspects claim the Shinki used by non Japanese companies is the worst). Marc is going to ruffle some feathers, and I am going to get some popcorn.

 

[Marc mndt]

Praising a Schott’s construction and hide in comparison to a Japanese made Shinki jacket, then praising a Shinki jacket by a western maker (the usual suspects claim the Shinki used by non Japanese companies is the worst). Marc is going to ruffle some feathers, and I am going to get some popcorn.

Two misconceptions:

-Made in Japan equals high(est) level construction quality

-Shinki equals top-grade leather

 

[Monitor]

-Shinki equals top-grade leather

I'm right this second sitting in pants made of nicer leather than whatever the J-24 RMC that I've tried on was made from. Slightly nicer but nicer.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

As much as I love Freewheelers, I think Greg has the best stitching on a leather jacket right now.

My favorite examples of Shinki have mostly been from David Himel. I don't love the Shinki Greg uses. I would have preferred badalassi from him, but he doesn't carry it anymore because he got some terrible hides. A lot of tanneries have issues with consistency.

 

[Blackadder]

Couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to handle this one. The color was flat and it looked and felt extremely plasticky. I've handled a dozen or so Shinki hh jackets, this example was the least desirable.

View attachment 396634

To put things in perspective, this schott's hh is 10x nicer. Better construction quality too.

View attachment 396630

The plasticky feel is a coating that you often see on leather. It may not have anything to do with the quality of the leather. Sometimes it is needed or asked for, say on light coloured jacket to prevent it getting water spots. For example, I believe all B-3, B-6 and D-1 jackets have plasticky coating. It may be dispensed with in darker coloured jacket not to mention black ones especially if the leather is chrome tanned. Other times the coating is used to hide the quality of the leather.

I have a Schott 1928HH that has plasticky coating and it does look like they are used to hide imperfections because it does not seem to show any grain but I cannot be sure unless I take it apart (I have seen other batches of Schott's 1928 having more grain and non-plasticky leather).

Another example is the bookbinder leather. All bookbinder leather has smooth surface. The coating is applied for weatherproofing, the quality of bookbinder depends on whether the leather under the coating is full grain or not. Church's used to offer bookbinder on all its models and those shoes last a long time showing that they use good quality full grain/top grain leather. I have not bought any Church's for a long time not since Prada bought the company, so I do not know what their current lineup and quality are like anymore. Florsheim currently has a few bookbinder models but those do not last and the leather would crack after a while meaning they use split hide so coated to hide the cheap leather.

 

[sweetfights]

As much as I love Freewheelers, I think Greg has the best stitching on a leather jacket right now.

My favorite examples of Shinki have mostly been from David Himel. I don't love the Shinki Greg uses. I would have preferred badalassi from him, but he doesn't carry it anymore because he got some terrible hides. A lot of tanneries have issues with consistency.

Agreed. Dave Himel Shinki is the finest I have ever seen.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

Agreed. Dave Himel Shinki is the finest I have ever seen.

Not even just on my own jackets from him. Most jackets I see from him just have ridiculously beautiful leather with great grain and saturated, rich color.

 

[sweetfights]

As much as I love Freewheelers, I think Greg has the best stitching on a leather jacket right now.

My favorite examples of Shinki have mostly been from David Himel. I don't love the Shinki Greg uses. I would have preferred badalassi from him, but he doesn't carry it anymore because he got some terrible hides. A lot of tanneries have issues with consistency.

Agreed. Dave Himel Shinki is the finest I have ever seen.

Not even just on my own jackets from him. Most jackets I see from him just have ridiculously beautiful leather with great grain and saturated, rich color.

I wonder if Dave's Shinki is the same as John Chapman's.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

Agreed. Dave Himel Shinki is the finest I have ever seen.

I wonder if Dave's Shinki is the same as John Chapman's.

Yeah I was under the impression that he had to go through John's, but his looks quite different than John's.

 

[BlueSteel]

My Himel Heron in Shinki...gorgeous leather...

Himel Heron Open 2 (3)

• BlueSteel
• Oct 31, 2021

 

[Marc mndt]

As much as I love Freewheelers, I think Greg has the best stitching on a leather jacket right now.

My favorite examples of Shinki have mostly been from David Himel. I don't love the Shinki Greg uses. I would have preferred badalassi from him, but he doesn't carry it anymore because he got some terrible hides. A lot of tanneries have issues with consistency.

I know the 'naked' (non top-coat) Shinki is considered to be of lesser quality (it's cheaper) than the hides FW uses, but I love the way it ages. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Marc mndt]

One more to show off Greg's exceptional skill

 

[dudewuttheheck]

I know the 'naked' (non top-coat) Shinki is considered to be of lesser quality (it's cheaper) than the hides FW uses, but I love the way it ages. Nothing wrong with that.

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Oh yeah its definitely still gorgeous. Part of the reason I wish I could get Badalassi from Greg is because it's different for me and I have never gotten a Badalassi jacket that fit me. Freewheelers also does their own finishing on their Shinki leather and I tend to really like most of their finishes, though I do think a couple are rather dull.

 

[Aloysius]

I generally prefer topcoats on most leathers (except for fast-ageing finishes); it provides a good level of protection while often adding to a nice broken in look, but some leathers just look fantastic without it.

I think the sweet spot with Shinki would probably be their naked chrome-tanned hide, but I think the veg tan fetish is still going to be around for a little while.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

Veg tan all the way.

 

[Finn Vigorous]

Another example is the bookbinder leather. All bookbinder leather has smooth surface. The coating is applied for weatherproofing, the quality of bookbinder depends on whether the leather under the coating is full grain or not. Church's used to offer bookbinder on all its models and those shoes last a long time showing that they use good quality full grain/top grain leather. I have not bought any Church's for a long time not since Prada bought the company, so I do not know what their current lineup and quality are like anymore. Florsheim currently has a few bookbinder models but those do not last and the leather would crack after a while meaning they use split hide so coated to hide the cheap leather.

Bookbinder treatment is indeed a great example of questionable leather-coating: it has bad reputation, and a well-deserved one, in shoe-making as it has been mostly used in fast fashion to hide poor, split leather, to add artificial gloss and to keep costs down. Even though the treatment might add some weatherproof to high-quality full grain leather, most makers avoid it because of its reputation in the industry.

That's also why seeing heavily coated leather jackets puts me on my guard. It makes me wonder, whether there are smaller imperfections or even more comprehensive quality issues which are tried to mask with the coating. And it's also a bit paradoxical to aim for good weather resistance but stick to veg tanning and then add coating as you could go the chrome way right from the start.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

In my experience, veg tan jackets don't even need the protection of these coatings. Just wear them in the rain. They get better from it.

 

[Aloysius]

In my experience, veg tan jackets don't even need the protection of these coatings. Just wear them in the rain. They get better from it.

I think it's worth noting that in SoCal (and California generally) you get far less rain and other wet weather than in other parts of the world. A leather jacket is not a raincoat, but in other places you have a chance of being caught in the rain and have to be braced for it.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

I think it's worth noting that in SoCal (and California generally) you get far less rain and other wet weather than in other parts of the world. A leather jacket is not a raincoat, but in other places you have a chance of being caught in the rain and have to be braced for it.

Yeah, but if I needed a raincoat, I wouldn't use any leather jacket. That would have nothing to do with veg tanned vs. Chrome tanned.