Legendary USA Black Stallion is Back

[CaughtBetweenWorlds]

particularly when we were briefly thinking it was Hillside USA, who are in Florida

And they still have what appears to be the Hillside D-pocket on their homepage and their socials.

There is an earlier reply ITT where someone posted side-by-side pics and it appears to literally be the Hillside jacket, but they tweaked the brightness. The creases are identical on both.

 

[Aloysius]

And they still have what appears to be the Hillside D-pocket on their homepage and their socials.

There is an earlier reply ITT where someone posted side-by-side pics and it appears to literally be the Hillside jacket, but they tweaked the brightness. The creases are identical on both.

The photos are definitely the Hillside jacket. In an Instagram video Legendary posted recently with a walkthrough of the store, you can see the Hillside D-pocket right past the front door.

They did tell someone explicitly that it's "not Hillside", but IIRC Hillside despite having their retail store in Florida is technically headquartered in (and often ships out of) Brooklyn. They did tell someone the jackets were coming from Brooklyn…

 

[Guppy]

Yes, Schott uses both but their version of this jacket was always single-H.

Easy way to tell the difference then. Good.

 

[Madhouse27]

I check in on the Legendary site everyday to see if they’ve changed the Hillside and Schott pictures yet. They haven’t. I simply can’t wait to see this jacket. Good or bad, we’ll never forget the return of the Black Stallion.

 

[Observe]

It's been a trip for sure.

 

[Bfd70]

I think when they are releasing a special product with a known history the weird fedora people ARE the target audience and you should expect scrutiny. For the average “i want a black biker jacket” crowd you don’t need a Black Stallion to satisfy their wants

 

[blobsterroll]

They did tell someone explicitly that it's "not Hillside", but IIRC Hillside despite having their retail store in Florida is technically headquartered in (and often ships out of) Brooklyn. They did tell someone the jackets were coming from Brooklyn…

They told me its not Hillside.

I thought its the other way around though? HQ in Kissimee, and maybe retails in NY. If you're right, then its just not good business. NY state has crazy high taxes for businesses compared to FL.

Allegedly they sold like 80 jackets of the 100 already.

Edit: Their comments about if Schott made the jacket then it would cost double did bother me though. I guess Schott is riding on Durable's coat tails, (MaRlOn bRaNdo wOrE oUr jAckEt) and is getting every penny it can.

 

[Madhouse27]

They told me its not Hillside.

I thought its the other way around though? HQ in Kissimee, and maybe retails in NY. If you're right, then its just not good business. NY state has crazy high taxes for businesses compared to FL.

Allegedly they sold like 80 jackets of the 100 already.

Edit: Their comments about if Schott made the jacket then it would cost double did bother me though. I guess Schott is riding on Durable's coat tails, (MaRlOn bRaNdo wOrE oUr jAckEt) and is getting every penny it can.

I think the “double” might be their profit margin. Schott can put out a horsehide jacket for around $900 or could re-release their own d-pocket and sell if for (at least) $1200. Unless you really needed the work, why make one for somebody else and wholesale it to them in the $450-500 range?

 

[cajunfries]

They told me its not Hillside.

I thought its the other way around though? HQ in Kissimee, and maybe retails in NY. If you're right, then its just not good business. NY state has crazy high taxes for businesses compared to FL.

Allegedly they sold like 80 jackets of the 100 already.

Edit: Their comments about if Schott made the jacket then it would cost double did bother me though. I guess Schott is riding on Durable's coat tails, (MaRlOn bRaNdo wOrE oUr jAckEt) and is getting every penny it can.

So if im getting my history correct, the jacket Marlon brando wore was made by "Durable."
Schott later bought out Durable, which they advertise with now. Is this correct?

 

[Aloysius]

They told me its not Hillside.

I thought its the other way around though? HQ in Kissimee, and maybe retails in NY. If you're right, then its just not good business. NY state has crazy high taxes for businesses compared to FL.

Allegedly they sold like 80 jackets of the 100 already.

No, HQ is in Brooklyn and jackets ship from there (which has led a number of people to wonder if it’s a Bill Kelso type situation except regarding ‘Made in USA’.)

Edit: Their comments about if Schott made the jacket then it would cost double did bother me though. I guess Schott is riding on Durable's coat tails, (MaRlOn bRaNdo wOrE oUr jAckEt) and is getting every penny it can.

Eh, I don’t think you can blame Schott for that–their own horsehide jackets sell for about $900 including on Legendary’s site. I can’t imagine the bill of materials for a Black Stallion is any different than for a 618HH or 613SH, and the pattern has already been developed. Legendary obviously wants a bigger margin here than when they sell Schott-branded stuff.

As for the Brando thing, every single leather jacket company uses that movie to market, even Vanson (which started 20 years later) and Lewis, which is in England. Yes, the movie’s jacket wasn’t made by them, but it led to a spike in Schott Perfecto sales. Let me use a contemporary example.

Ever since Quantum of Solace, Bond films have been mostly outfitted with Tom Ford product placement. In many cases, the Tom Ford garments in the films are their own copies of items from other brands, such as a Baracuta Harrington jacket or Oliver Peoples sunglasses. While some people, in response to the films, have gone and bought the Tom Ford items specifically, many have recreated the looks by buying the real thing.

My point here isn’t that Schott copied Durable or that Durable copied Schott, but that people who wanted to buy a jacket like they saw in the movie would probably go into their local department store, leather shop, or motorcycle shop and buy one of that type–home video didn’t exist to make screen accuracy the thing it is today. Like how British ton-up boys bought the (really quite different, to us) Lewis jackets and others, in response to the film.

So if im getting my history correct, the jacket Marlon brando wore was made by "Durable."
Schott later bought out Durable, which they advertise with now. Is this correct?

It’s a widespread TFL belief (based on nothing) that Durable, because it was used in the movie The Wild One, invented the idea of adding a ticket pocket on a cross-zip motorcycle jacket and therefore Schott bought them to get the rights to doing so. Durables are really cool jackets (see the vintage one @jeo got recently in the Durable thread for a great example), but there isn’t much to the theory… not least because you would not need to buy a company in order to get permission to put a ticket pocket on a three-pocket cross zip–something that no shortage of 1950s leather brands did. Plus, according to more recent forum research, Durable seems to be Canadian.

I think the most obvious situation is that a whole number of companies in the early 50s were selling jackets like that and they had mostly regional markets (Fidelity and Indian in New England, Schott in the tri-state area, Sears and J.C. Penney across the country, etc).

 

[cajunfries]

I would think if schott had rights to advertise on medias and even even on printed tags using brando, it would seem probable that they were involved with the company that made the actual jackets for brando; especially since schott seems to lean heavily on the brando names to sell. It would seem beneficial to a party for the 'mystery' to be buried, but cant help but wonder.

I wasn't aware Durable was canadian, but i'm somehow not surprised to hear. Like how Levi Strauss is Bavarian.

 

[daryl11]

I'm a silent reader of this "weird forum" thread and I closely look for updates about Black Stallion. Someone posted on Facebook and there's a new display of Black Stallion https://www.facebook.com/gayle.redepenning

 

[blobsterroll]

I'm a silent reader of this "weird forum" thread and I closely look for updates about Black Stallion. Someone posted on Facebook and there's a new display of Black Stallion https://www.facebook.com/gayle.redepenning

OH!

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/legendary-usa-black-stallion-is-back.111062/post-3011488

OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!

 

[mumpy]

I'm a silent reader of this "weird forum" thread and I closely look for updates about Black Stallion. Someone posted on Facebook and there's a new display of Black Stallion https://www.facebook.com/gayle.redepenning

This doesn't seem to have all the details of the Black Stallion (missing bits on the epaulettes?). It also seems to drape strangely for a non-broken in relatively substantial jacket.

 

[Aloysius]

I would think if schott had rights to advertise on medias and even even on printed tags using brando, it would seem probable that they were involved with the company that made the actual jackets for brando; especially since schott seems to lean heavily on the brando names to sell. It would seem beneficial to a party for the 'mystery' to be buried, but cant help but wonder.

I wasn't aware Durable was canadian, but i'm somehow not surprised to hear. Like how Levi Strauss is Bavarian.

Like I said, everyone uses Brando to market that jacket type. In fact outside of our circles where we’d call it a ‘cross zip’ or ‘Perfecto’, the more broadly used term in the general public is ‘Brando jacket’. I don't think they needed

No I meant Durable the company seems to be Canadian, not that it was founded by a Canadian immigrant.

This doesn't seem to have all the details of the Black Stallion (missing bits on the epaulettes?). It also seems to drape strangely for a non-broken in relatively substantial jacket.

The hardware looks a touch nicer than the off-the-shelf Hillside. Mouton collar looks substantial.

 

[TREEMAN]

I don't like the front...wonder what the back looks like.

 

[Aloysius]

I don't like the front...wonder what the back looks like.

Not sure why someone would get this over an Aero J-106/KotR/Elvis or (best choice) Indian Ranger at the same price (actually slightly lower).

 

[jeo]

Plus, according to more recent forum research, Durable seems to be Canadian.

I wasn't aware Durable was canadian, but i'm somehow not surprised to hear. Like how Levi Strauss is Bavarian.

No I meant Durable the company seems to be Canadian, not that it was founded by a Canadian immigrant.

Durable being Canadian is conjecture. Has ties to a Canadian brand of the same name at best.

 

[Aloysius]

Durable being Canadian is conjecture. Has ties to a Canadian brand of the same name at best.

Noted! This actually made me think we should make an outerwear wiki so we can keep updating things, post whatever we can discover about brands, list historic labels, etc.

I’m going to look into our options. There’s a ton of information to pull from the forum alone.

 

[CaughtBetweenWorlds]

This doesn't seem to have all the details of the Black Stallion (missing bits on the epaulettes?). It also seems to drape strangely for a non-broken in relatively substantial jacket.

Hopefully it will have collar snaps (collar to chest).

If they are using the same pattern, presumably it will.