It's not just us. The Paris shop owner told me right away the tabs were non-functional.
About the leather... I absolutely loved it. No top coat. It's a bit heavier than what they use on their other elmc jackets but not too heavy. No break in required. I also liked that it feels oily to the touch. @Carlos840 is this what shinki leather looks/feels like? (I dont have a shinki jacket, yet. So I can't tell)
All the Shinki i have has a pigment finish and doesn't feel oily.
Honestly there is nothing in common between my 5 Shinki jackets, they all have different thicknesses and different grain characteristics, if i didn't know they came from the same tannery i would be unable to say so.
They look completely different from one another, which means i can't really tell you "yes this is what shinki looks/feels like" because there is no common look/feel between all my shinki...
It's not like CXL, where even thought you have variation between batches one can still recognise CXL as being CXL and having a certain sets of characteristics.
From what i could tell, Shinki is on average slightly thicker than what ELC uses, but thats as much as i feel confident saying.