dudewuttheheck
I'll Lock Up
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I am quite pleased to say that I was recently able to obtain a leather jacket that will actually match my burgundy shell cordovan White Kloud boots. First of all, why does this even matter?
For those that haven't seen, I received a new pair of White Kloud boots in Ogawa shell cordovan a few months ago. These are made by the best bootmaker (not dress shoe maker) in the world and in an incredibly special leather. They are the crown jewel of my clothing collection and needless to say, they are my favorite boots.
You may still be quite fairly asking what this has to do with a leather jacket. I'm pretty obsessive about matching the leather of my jackets to the leather color of my boots. I generally strongly dislike when my boots don't match well with my leather jackets. I bought the boots in this burgundy color because I love burgundy and I thought it would look great and they look even better than I thought they would. However, they didn't match any of my leather jackets.
At first, I tried to just wear them with some of my other jackets and while they look OK with some of my jackets, I soon realized that I really needed to have a jacket that matched better. The difficult part was actually finding one. There aren't exactly a lot of good red/burgundy leather jackets available. Thedi's red is too bright, Aero has burgundy, but it's chrome tanned and Aero's patterns just don't seem to work for me. My favorite maker, Freewheelers, doesn't even seem to make anything close.
After a few months of searching and pondering options, I resigned myself to just wait for something to pop up on the used market. Fortunately, that's exactly what happened. I came across this Rainbow Country A2 collaboration with Mushmans in a unique red/burgundy color horsehide exclusive to Mushmans.
This seemed perfect for me for several reasons.
1. I really missed having an A2 jacket in my collection.
2. Rainbow Country jackets are made in the same shop that Freewheelers jackets are made and therefore are the highest quality available in terms of stitching and finishing.
3. The color met my needs and as an added bonus, is a limited edition version of horsehide. I believe it is Shinki as well given its characteristics. If it isn't, I still quite like it, but I'm fairly sure it is.
The jacket is a size 36 which fits me quite well in terms of sleeve and body length as well as waist width. It's not super form fitting there, but it's an A2 so it shouldn't be too tight there. The chest is a bit tight as expected, but I can zip up the jacket and still move around. The sleeves are quite slim and I think this is actually what restricts my movement the most in this jacket. Still, as of now I am satisfied with the fit and am thrilled with how it looks in terms of fit. It also looks fantastic with my White Kloud boots and allows me to consider ordering some other burgundy boots that I have had my eye on.
The construction is unsurprisingly fantastic. Stitching is tight and neat and a joy to stare at for a stitch-peeper like myself. The seems are well done too and despite the fact that the jacket has been well used, it is still in great condition. The leather seems to be some type of tea core and the lining appears to be a standard A2 repro cotton liner. Knits are wool, but incredibly comfortable even for someone like me who is fairly sensitive to wool. I also like how they are also burgundy. On that note, while the color is described as burgundy, it's a rather light burgundy. This works though because the Ogawa shell on my White Klouds is brighter than most burgundy leathers as well.
This brings me to a related topic which is that of modified A2 jackets. Many people that like A2 jackets seem to be pretty adamant about them being as accurate as possible. There have been quite a few arguments that I have seen around the internet around the subject of which maker/makers makes the most accurate A2 repro jackets. I am surprisingly not all that into exacting A2 reproductions. I love exacting reproductions of vintage WII-era Levis jeans, but with A2s, I don't mind some modifications.
My new Rainbow Country A2 is red first of all, but it's also probably slimmer than an actual Rough Wear contract A2 which is what this is a repro of. In all likelihood it is longer too. I despise when Type I and Type II denim jackets are made significantly longer and have handwarmer pockets added. However, for some odd reason I don't mind when A2 jackets are changed all that much.
With that said, I don't like when they look completely different and are significantly modified. What is interesting though is that while accurate details matter to many people, it seems that most people still are OK with custom sizing which is inherently not period correct. I actually don't understand how people can want exacting details on Good Wear jackets and then go with custom measurements, thus making the jacket not period correct. If I were ever to get a Good Wear, I would ask him to recreate the pattern as accurately as possible and just figure out what size I would be. That's how I do it for jeans and denim jackets. If you are someone who does this, I am sure there are reasons that it makes sense. It's just something that I am personally a little confused by.
This jacket isn't trying to be exactly accurate and so I don't mind if several aspects are changed. I'm actually shocked how good it looks in the fit pics. I've never had an A2 look this slim on me, but then again, I've never been this slim before. Anyway, here are the fit pics. You will notice that despite talking so much about matching leathers, I managed to grab the wrong belt in these fit pics... I don't have time to take new pics until the next weekend and I'm too excited to share this jacket so you all can just make fun of me for my ironic gaffe. At least the jacket matches my Well Dressed Head cap fairly well.
Here are the boots that I was trying to match:
I think I did a pretty good job.
For those that haven't seen, I received a new pair of White Kloud boots in Ogawa shell cordovan a few months ago. These are made by the best bootmaker (not dress shoe maker) in the world and in an incredibly special leather. They are the crown jewel of my clothing collection and needless to say, they are my favorite boots.
You may still be quite fairly asking what this has to do with a leather jacket. I'm pretty obsessive about matching the leather of my jackets to the leather color of my boots. I generally strongly dislike when my boots don't match well with my leather jackets. I bought the boots in this burgundy color because I love burgundy and I thought it would look great and they look even better than I thought they would. However, they didn't match any of my leather jackets.
At first, I tried to just wear them with some of my other jackets and while they look OK with some of my jackets, I soon realized that I really needed to have a jacket that matched better. The difficult part was actually finding one. There aren't exactly a lot of good red/burgundy leather jackets available. Thedi's red is too bright, Aero has burgundy, but it's chrome tanned and Aero's patterns just don't seem to work for me. My favorite maker, Freewheelers, doesn't even seem to make anything close.
After a few months of searching and pondering options, I resigned myself to just wait for something to pop up on the used market. Fortunately, that's exactly what happened. I came across this Rainbow Country A2 collaboration with Mushmans in a unique red/burgundy color horsehide exclusive to Mushmans.
This seemed perfect for me for several reasons.
1. I really missed having an A2 jacket in my collection.
2. Rainbow Country jackets are made in the same shop that Freewheelers jackets are made and therefore are the highest quality available in terms of stitching and finishing.
3. The color met my needs and as an added bonus, is a limited edition version of horsehide. I believe it is Shinki as well given its characteristics. If it isn't, I still quite like it, but I'm fairly sure it is.
The jacket is a size 36 which fits me quite well in terms of sleeve and body length as well as waist width. It's not super form fitting there, but it's an A2 so it shouldn't be too tight there. The chest is a bit tight as expected, but I can zip up the jacket and still move around. The sleeves are quite slim and I think this is actually what restricts my movement the most in this jacket. Still, as of now I am satisfied with the fit and am thrilled with how it looks in terms of fit. It also looks fantastic with my White Kloud boots and allows me to consider ordering some other burgundy boots that I have had my eye on.
The construction is unsurprisingly fantastic. Stitching is tight and neat and a joy to stare at for a stitch-peeper like myself. The seems are well done too and despite the fact that the jacket has been well used, it is still in great condition. The leather seems to be some type of tea core and the lining appears to be a standard A2 repro cotton liner. Knits are wool, but incredibly comfortable even for someone like me who is fairly sensitive to wool. I also like how they are also burgundy. On that note, while the color is described as burgundy, it's a rather light burgundy. This works though because the Ogawa shell on my White Klouds is brighter than most burgundy leathers as well.
This brings me to a related topic which is that of modified A2 jackets. Many people that like A2 jackets seem to be pretty adamant about them being as accurate as possible. There have been quite a few arguments that I have seen around the internet around the subject of which maker/makers makes the most accurate A2 repro jackets. I am surprisingly not all that into exacting A2 reproductions. I love exacting reproductions of vintage WII-era Levis jeans, but with A2s, I don't mind some modifications.
My new Rainbow Country A2 is red first of all, but it's also probably slimmer than an actual Rough Wear contract A2 which is what this is a repro of. In all likelihood it is longer too. I despise when Type I and Type II denim jackets are made significantly longer and have handwarmer pockets added. However, for some odd reason I don't mind when A2 jackets are changed all that much.
With that said, I don't like when they look completely different and are significantly modified. What is interesting though is that while accurate details matter to many people, it seems that most people still are OK with custom sizing which is inherently not period correct. I actually don't understand how people can want exacting details on Good Wear jackets and then go with custom measurements, thus making the jacket not period correct. If I were ever to get a Good Wear, I would ask him to recreate the pattern as accurately as possible and just figure out what size I would be. That's how I do it for jeans and denim jackets. If you are someone who does this, I am sure there are reasons that it makes sense. It's just something that I am personally a little confused by.
This jacket isn't trying to be exactly accurate and so I don't mind if several aspects are changed. I'm actually shocked how good it looks in the fit pics. I've never had an A2 look this slim on me, but then again, I've never been this slim before. Anyway, here are the fit pics. You will notice that despite talking so much about matching leathers, I managed to grab the wrong belt in these fit pics... I don't have time to take new pics until the next weekend and I'm too excited to share this jacket so you all can just make fun of me for my ironic gaffe. At least the jacket matches my Well Dressed Head cap fairly well.
Here are the boots that I was trying to match:
I think I did a pretty good job.
