Mister Freedom Campus jacket review: A nice jacket with both design flaws and construction defects

[jchance]

I take that back, it appears that Sugar Cane is the exclusive importer of MF leather jackets for the JP market. The JP tag claims that MF “manufactures” the jacket itself and Toyo Enterprises (i.e. Sugar Cane) “imports” the jacket.

 

[Marc mndt]

I take that back, it appears that Sugar Cane is the exclusive importer of MF leather jackets for the JP market. The JP tag claims that MF “manufactures” the jacket itself and Toyo Enterprises (i.e. Sugar Cane) “imports” the jacket.

The website you referred to also mentions the jackets are made in USA.

 

[Blackadder]

Toyo Enterprise has quite a few US suppliers. Some of their Sugar Cane jeans and shirts etc are made in the USA. I have no idea if MF makes theirs in-house though.
As to the cheap Sugar Cane leather jacket, well Toyo Enterprise also has suppliers in China. For example, this Indian Motorcycle label jacket is either made in China or Korea.
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e1076916109

 

[MadCat]

Luckily there’s Urad

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Weak button attachment.

As shown below the buttons are backed with a button on the reverse side which is the best way to attach a button imo. So far so good.

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Unfortunately the execution is poor. More than half of the buttons on the jacket have loose threads. One could argue that this is a used / second hand jacket and that with time and wear threads will eventually come undone. But this jacket hasn’t been worn all that much and maybe it’s not uncommon for one or two buttons to come undone but not more than half of them.

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Tiny button holes

As you can see below the buttons are too big for the undersized button holes. I can hardly fasten some of the buttons at all and unfastening them is a daunting task that takes more than a minute. For reference I’ve measured the button hole size on the DH and the ELMC. Both are larger (DH 1” , ELMC 0.875”) yet their buttons are smaller and thinner. This is clearly a construction defect.

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Huge opening / bottom hem

The Campus has a boxy fit which, judging by the pics of original ‘30s Cossacks, is true to original. But this one is wide like a tent. It has a ptp of 23” which is pretty normal for a size 42 but it has a 22” bottom hem which is HUGE. Luckily the side gussets are functional and I’m able to take in one inch from each side. Cinching the sides by that much doesn’t look good though, it makes the jacket look blousy.

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There seems to be some variance in ptp size amongst these jackets, maybe a size 42 with a 22”ptp would have fit me better.

Tiny handwarmer pockets

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The handwarmer pockets on this jacker are so small I can barely get my hands in them. Maybe people had smaller hands back in the ‘30s or maybe I have big hands like Donald Trump, I don’t know lol. But imo this is poor design.

The left pocket measures 4 6/8 inch, the right pocket just short of 5 inches. For reference, the ELMC measures 6 1/8 inch and the pockets on my vintage Californian halfbelt measure 5 6/8 inch.

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The verdict
Overall I think it’s a nice looking jacket. The materials used are of high quality and I do like the short body length. Unfortunately the execution is flawed: it has some weird design choices and buttoning up the jacket is total pain in the arse. Unacceptable for a $1k jacket.

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I’d like to make a black leather jacket I have more shiny. Do you suggest Urad black or neutral? If black, does it stain anything?

 

[Marc mndt]

I’d like to make a black leather jacket I have more shiny. Do you suggest Urad black or neutral? If black, does it stain anything?

If it looks more grey than black I'd use black Urad. If it just looks dull then I'd use colorless Urad.

Eventually it wears off so I guess it does go somewhere but I've never seen any black color transferring onto my clothing.

 

[One Drop]

I'm not sure this jaclt design would look better with a narrower hem, to my eye it looks great in every fit picture I've seen, I think due to the apparent narrowing above the hem flare. It makes for a nice line that still looks good when buttoned or unbuttoned, whatever waist height your trousers have. It doesn't look boxy at all to me.

I think people have just gotten so used to seeing tapered jackets that are very narrow at the waist, but those are often too tight at the waist for a lot of people to look ideal.