Measure body size

[johpe]

Hi there

First post, yay!

And of course since I’m posting here I’m currently “researching” to get a great fitting leather jacket made for me (or at least order something that already fits great). (Just for info, I’m currently looking for a café racer / J-100 style from Aero, Thedi, Schott, Vanson, Lewis, Matchless (even Belstaff though they’re more fashion oriented than I might like) or something similar.)

So this leads me to my first question here; what is the correct way to measure your different body parts?

I’ve already searched and read these posts on how to measure an already well fitting jacket:
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/leather-jacket-question.74921/#post-1714584
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/possible-sticky-how-to-measure-a-jacket.80381/
http://vintageleatherjackets.org/threads/how-to-measure-a-jacket-correctly-tutorial.15187/

But since I currently don’t own a well-fitting leather jacket (and the manufacturers often ask for your measurements), I have to try to get the correct size based on my actual body shape.

The chest (inhaled and exhaled), waist and hip measures I think is pretty straight forward and clear on how and where to measure. But my real concern comes to measuring arms/sleeve length, back length and front length.

For the arms I gather that I should start at the shoulder bone (t-shirt sleeve seam) and go down to about 1/2 an inch above my knuckles or to my thumb knuckle, BUT should I measure with my arm held completely straight and in a straight line? Or should the arm be relaxed and thus slightly bent and then measured in a straight line or following the slight curve of the arm? I’ve also seen this video that recommends putting your hand in your side so the arm is basically bent 90 degrees and then measure all along the curve?

Here is an example of “90 degrees bent”:

And here is an example of “relaxed arm and straight measure”:

Then for the back, where is the correct start point on the neck and where should it end? (I guess where it should end is highly subjective and up to the taste of each person.) And should I slouch or stand-up straight and be as tall as possible?

The same for the front length, where is the correct start point? And where should the tape measure end up? Should it go straight down or slightly tilted from the shoulder to the core of the body?

(Long first post, if you had the patience to get here, great!

Thanks, any feedback is highly welcome.
--Johpe

 

[ton312]

The correct way to measure, in my opinion, is to buy a fit jacket from Thurston Bros., if it's an option for you, as they carry many of the brands you've listed above. It takes almost all the guess work out of what you're after and gives you something to measure off of as opposed to having someone else measure you. Dramatically simplifies and makes bullet proof any human errors.

 

[johpe]

The correct way to measure, in my opinion, is to buy a fit jacket from Thurston Bros., if it's an option for you, as they carry many of the brands you've listed above. It takes almost all the guess work out of what you're after and gives you something to measure off of as opposed to having someone else measure you. Dramatically simplifies and makes bullet proof any human errors.

Thanks for the suggestion, I've considered this, BUT since I'm not from the US I can't really motivate to buy a jacket produced/available in Europe from the US and take a 30% price penalty in import tax.

 

[johpe]

And, even if I were to buy the jacket from Thurston and get a fit jacket, I should provide somewhat correct measurements to them to begin with to get in the right ballpark.

 

[Carlos840]

I can't help but think that ordering from body measurements is a bad idea!
We all like different fit, two people with the exact same body measurements could each like a very different fit.
I am 6'2 and like 26" backs, but i have read on here about people a lot smaller than me who also go for 26" backs, same for sleeves...

If i were you i would measure a few jackets that fit you decently, it doesn't have to be leather, and go from there. If you find your jacket to short, add a bit, if you find the sleeves to long, remove a bit.
It's not rocket science, basically all you need to figure out is how long body and sleeves need to be, and depending on your body shape see if you need tapering at the waist.
Shoulders vary depending on models, some a wider than others, that once again is a pretty personal thing.

 

[Carlos840]

One thing to remember is that leather will mould to your body and that a half inch too much or too little here and there will disappear after a few days of wear.

 

[johpe]

One thing to remember is that leather will mould to your body and that a half inch too much or too little here and there will disappear after a few days of wear.

For the girth of the jacket I'm not that worried, as you say a half inch doesn't really matter. But for the sleeves I get a difference of 2 inch based on if I measure with "90 degrees bent" arm or "relaxed arm and straight measure" (the two videos I linked to above). I have a pretty good idea of where I want the sleeve to end but how do I take the correct measurement to communicate this to a manufacturer?

 

[Harris HTM]

For the girth of the jacket I'm not that worried, as you say a half inch doesn't really matter. But for the sleeves I get a difference of 2 inch based on if I measure with "90 degrees bent" arm or "relaxed arm and straight measure" (the two videos I linked to above). I have a pretty good idea of where I want the sleeve to end but how do I take the correct measurement to communicate this to a manufacturer?

I don't know if this is an option: is there any shop near you that you can try on a Schott? You can check their website for stockists in Sweden. If you try a popular jacket as a 618 then you can easily find all the measurements (sleeve, p-t-p, back, etc) on legendary usa website.

 

[ButteMT61]

I would go somewhere - anywhere - that sells jackets. New, used, doesn't matter.
I agree with @ton312 & @Carlos840 - finding a well-fitting jacket and measuring it is the way to go.
Try some one, find the one you like, and then measure it. I do it all the time when I'm in swap meets, shops, etc.
Style is also important in this. Same numbers, different style, different fit.
Measurements are OK, but I've found that things can have all the "right" numbers, then fail to impress later.

 

[handymike]

I agree, if you don't have a great fitting jacket, take a. cloth tape with you to a shop. Ffind a good fitting. denim or leather jacket and mmeasure it up. The clerks don't seem to mind, and some actually help. Good luck and WELCOME!

 

[ton312]

Thanks for the suggestion, I've considered this, BUT since I'm not from the US I can't really motivate to buy a jacket produced/available in Europe from the US and take a 30% price penalty in import tax.

That's a shame and it does take the sense out of it for you...but I'd certainly entertain the template idea over bare bones measurements...It's primarily the reason I'm shying away from Langlitz. I'm not sure I trust the person holding the measureing tape not to make a $1200.00 error. Now if I could go to Langlitz and have them measure me I'd be more than fine with that...but my local tailor without any connection to the end product...some serious doubt starts creeping in

 

[johpe]

I don't know if this is an option: is there any shop near you that you can try on a Schott? You can check their website for stockists in Sweden. If you try a popular jacket as a 618 then you can easily find all the measurements (sleeve, p-t-p, back, etc) on legendary usa website.

I mailed the distributor for Sweden about which retail stores that carries Schott, but haven't heard back yet...

 

[johpe]

I agree, if you don't have a great fitting jacket, take a. cloth tape with you to a shop. Ffind a good fitting. denim or leather jacket and mmeasure it up. The clerks don't seem to mind, and some actually help. Good luck and WELCOME!

I should try that... And thanks!

 

[johpe]

That's a shame and it does take the sense out of it for you...but I'd certainly entertain the template idea over bare bones measurements...It's primarily the reason I'm shying away from Langlitz. I'm not sure I trust the person holding the measureing tape not to make a $1200.00 error. Now if I could go to Langlitz and have them measure me I'd be more than fine with that...but my local tailor without any connection to the end product...some serious doubt starts creeping in

Yeah, taxes - that's Sweden for you! Maybe I need to consider a vacation to Scotland and visit Aero to be able to get into the game of high quality leather jackets.

 

[ton312]

Yeah, taxes - that's Sweden for you! Maybe I need to consider a vacation to Scotland and visit Aero to be able to get into the game of high quality leather jackets.

Well there's certainly plenty of incentive to do that this summer! Given the Grand Theft Aero sale, you might grand slam your first time at bat!

 

[bn1966]

Welcome to the FL johpe...welcome to our obsession

 

[Harris HTM]

Which jacket are you after johpe? just out of curiosity...

 

[johpe]

Welcome to the FL johpe...welcome to our obsession

Thanks!

 

[johpe]

Which jacket are you after johpe? just out of curiosity...

I'm looking for a cafe racer style mostly for normal/casual wear but also for the occasional use on my bike when I don't feel like getting into the full motorcycle gear.
So some that I'm considering is: Aero Cafe Racer/Board Racer, Thedi-x-Thurston Phenix, Schott 141/641hh, Lewis 442/443, Matchless Osborne/Kensington, Langlitz Crescent/Cascade, Belstaff Stannard, Vanson Model B/Comet (or some Buco J-100 like DD or RMC).

As I wrote in my original post I currently don’t own a well-fitting leather jacket, my motorcycle jacket is a Fox Creek Leather Grayson, which is really nice but it's about 2 sizes too big right now (1 size in layering for early spring and late autumn and 1 size in weight loss since I bought it and probably another half size in protective armor). It's a size 42 but it's really hard for me to base a tighter fitting casual jacket on its measurements.

I'm pretty standard build; 5ft 10,5", about 155 lbs, 40" chest, 32,5" waist and I'd say roughly 24-25" arms... so it shouldn't be a problem to find a CR that fits nicely. The problem is that if I shell out around 1000 USD I'd like to fit to be close to perfect, that's why I'm trying to figure out the correct way of measuring all parts of the upper body. Ideally I'd be able to try on a few jackets but the selection is really limited in this country.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I agree with he others. Find a similar jacket and measure it. Any blouson style will do in cotton or nylon, whatever. You will find your ideal back length and sleeve and pit to pit this way. The j100 is generally meant to be worn longer: at your height a 26 inch back would probably work. I am 187cm and chose a 28 inch back. Your build is thin so not that common in anyone over 30. It takes several jackets before,you get fit right in my experience. It took me about 15. But this was in the pre Internet era where advice was thin.