Johnson Leathers Black Cherry Bison jacket

[red devil]

This jacket deserves its own thread, I still have to gather my thoughts and take detailed pictures, but we might as well start with the fit pics. Today was one of these days where the weather kept changing, you will notice the lighting being quite different from one end to the other

 

[ton312]

Dude!!! Wow!!! I’m speechless. This is just….WoW!!!!!
This post improves the overall quality of content in the fedora lounge. Just beyond beautiful!

 

[ton312]

A perfect riff on the E/W smoke. Looking forward to seeing more of it!

 

[photo2u]

Por favor... That is just sweet!

 

[Psant25]

Really looking forward to the seeing the specs, customization options chosen, inspiration for this jacket. So cool and great boots too.

 

[rogueclimber]

OK, that is an awesome jacket, but either I need new contacts or you need a new camera/photographer

I hope to see some non-blurry px soon

 

[MickeyPunch]

Amazing! I recognize you from the Electric Leather Studio thread, you seem to like out of the ordinary jackets! I’d love to see your collection.

 

[Marc mndt]

Spectacular the way the panels are cut with the different shades accentuating the design elements. The shades even follow the asymmetric back design. This is a true work of art.

 

[red devil]

View attachment 616945
Dude!!! Wow!!! I’m speechless. This is just….WoW!!!!!
This post improves the overall quality of content in the fedora lounge. Just beyond beautiful!

A perfect riff on the E/W smoke. Looking forward to seeing more of it!

I will take detailed pics of the jacket later

Por favor... That is just sweet!

Thanks

Really looking forward to the seeing the specs, customization options chosen, inspiration for this jacket. So cool and great boots too.

I got these boots years ago when I was in Phoenix, I visited a well known western boots maker, and he had that really cool red ostrich. Couldn't resist ordereing it lol

OK, that is an awesome jacket, but either I need new contacts or you need a new camera/photographer

I hope to see some non-blurry px soon

That might be more than I am capable of lol
The detaield pics will be less blurry at least

Amazing! I recognize you from the Electric Leather Studio thread, you seem to like out of the ordinary jackets! I’d love to see your collection.

I posted quite a few of my jackets here
I am enjoying exploring beyond hte classics for sure

Spectacular the way the panels are cut with the different shades accentuating the design elements. The shades even follow the asymmetric back design. This is a true work of art.

View attachment 617021 View attachment 617022

Yrs, they did an amazing job at matching the hides and creating this contrast! This is all them

 

[TartuWolf]

Incredible looking jacket! Pretty bunched up in the middle back in terms of fit?

 

[red devil]

Incredible looking jacket! Pretty bunched up in the middle back in terms of fit?

Yes, noticed that, I'd either need a few centimetres less in the waist - which is taking more time than expected - or to open the back zips by a bit. That being said it is very comfortable for such a fit, I have no issues whatsoever raising my arms.

 

[Marc mndt]

Pretty bunched up in the middle back in terms of fit?

That's because of Red's posture. Not something that's easy to cater for by tweaking the pattern (if possible at all).

 

[newtojackets]

Is the back intentionally asymmetrical? The left panel is a lot lighter than the right one

 

[AeroFan_07]

^^ I see that too. Looks like the upper area is a sunburst going from from the RH side to the LH side.
However the two smaller panels next the zippers are quite different color-wise.

Reminds me of an East-West Musical instruments jacket.

 

[Marc mndt]

Reminds me of an East-West Musical instruments jacket.

East West 'Smoke' jacket

 

[red devil]

That's because of Red's posture. Not something that's easy to cater for by tweaking the pattern (if possible at all).

View attachment 617113

Yes, forgot about that. I have been working on changing my posture for quite some time, it is not easy as it entails changing a lot of your habits.

Is the back intentionally asymmetrical? The left panel is a lot lighter than the right one

^^ I see that too. Looks like the upper area is a sunburst going from from the RH side to the LH side.
However the two smaller panels next the zippers are quite different color-wise.
View attachment 617234

Reminds me of an East-West Musical instruments jacket.

Yes indeed, the hides came with a lot of variations and I am very happy with how they matched the panels. This is not the first time they impress me and very likely not the last.

And yes it is based on the East West smoke as @Marc mndt mentioned

 

[AeroFan_07]

^^ Wow, what a great jacket and such a cool vintage one to be inspired by!

 

[red devil]

Where do we start? There's no point in doing a conventional review. Johnson Leathers is already well-known for their work, at least in this forum. They focus on delivering the best product possible without any fluff, exaggerated marketing, or false claims. The pictures will do a much better job of showcasing the jacket than any description I can come up with.

So instead, I might as well share how we got to this point. It all started, funnily enough, with a visit to the Freewheelers shop in Tokyo. On my first visit, I tried a few jackets and then saw this one:

I thought it looked really interesting and different, with a serious rocker presence. Alas, it wasn't meant to be—or so I thought—because I could not zip it up. I was way too heavy. I left thinking about how cool that jacket was.

As fate would have it, I lost a lot of weight, and on my next trip, I was back at the shop. This time it fit, and I bought it. I later found out that it was a reproduction from a company called East West Musical Instruments, opening a new avenue for exploration—how much fun is that?!

Further research made me realise that I needed a repro of the Smoke in my life. The Jelado repro looked good:

But I could not find it for sale anymore.

Then, a new company called Five Star Leather debuted on the forum, taking on any custom project. With the help of other members, I specced it using the measurements of the Little Wing and sent the order. The details are still somewhere in the original thread. It was a fun experiment, but this was the result:

The problem was that it was designed as if from a 2D drawing, as @Carlos840 pointed out. Yes, it made me look like a sack of potatoes. I gave it to @ton312 , knowing he would make something out of it. And he went beyond all expectations and turned it into this:

He can make any jacket look good.

With all of this happening, I wondered how to proceed… and I ended up in the workshop of Electric Leather Studio. I ordered the Leaf in three shades of grey:

I obviously asked if he would make a Smoke, but he replied that he would rather develop his own ideas. This is really commendable. Not only is he creative, but he also came up with quite a few amazing designs. Being truly creative is not easy—it's not just reproducing a jacket you have in hand with a few tweaks, pretending you discovered the moon, and accusing other makers of copying you.

So how to proceed next? Johnson Leathers, obviously. By then, we had completed quite a few unique projects. Why Bison? Because I really liked how it turned out on this jacket:

So I went with black cherry.

Little did I know it would come with such colour variation. When it was in production, I decided to add a mouton collar, thinking it would give it even more of a rocker presence. And this is the final result.

 

[red devil]

I did mention detailed pictures:

Sorry about the lighting variations

As you may have noticed, the leather used for the collar is different. By the time I thought of adding a collar, JL had already received the red bison and there was not enough for this addition. So Alan thought of using the shrunken horse used for @Aloysius . It does fit well I think!

 

[Observe]

I did mention detailed pictures:

Sorry about the lighting variations

As you may have noticed, the leather used for the collar is different. By the time I thought of adding a collar, JL had already received the red bison and there was not enough for this addition. So Alan thought of using the shrunken horse used for @Aloysius . It does fit well I think!

The style is not something I would normally go for (yet), but this jacket is an absolute masterpiece. I cannot wait to one day submit a custom order with JL.