New forum member brand (Rugged West)

[Monitor]

Forum member is a stretch... They posted about 20 times altogether. Also, these are all women's jackets, right?

 

[Aloysius]

To be clear, I have no affiliation with this brand, and I agree that patterns are the big question. I am not saying forum member to suggest it’s a Regius or Maverickson situation, just that that could be promising.

There’s a men’s and women’s version of each jacket it seems.

I don’t think overseas production is an issue and I think they’re actually being pretty transparent by stating it’s from the Punjab.

I just think that if it works out, that would be a good alternative to those (for lack of a better term) ‘premium mall jacket brands’ like Thursday and Straight to Hell, because to be frank when friends ask if we can recommend something and we go for something pushing $1k I think we lose a lot of people right there.

 

[TartuWolf]

@Aloysius Where do they state that it's from the Punjab?
From the price perspective I still really envy US folks who have Vanson available for order and a large market for used Vansons in terms of "value/budget" jackets.

 

[Bfd70]

I think more often than pushing people towards $1000 jackets people are directed to the classifieds for a good used option. I’ve seen several Aero type 3 pass thru cl this year at that price point.

 

[Aloysius]

I think more often than pushing people towards $1000 jackets people are directed to the classifieds for a good used option. I’ve seen several Aero type 3 pass thru cl this year at that price point.

I mean people in real life. $600 Vansons (which have gone up since) are usually too much.

Some people will check out vintage but for others that’s not an option especially with size.

Not talking truckers or these guys in particular, just that mid ground of the market.

 

[Leilah Wilde]

Hi all,

Found this thread by chance after I dropped a line to Jon (@leatherjacketjawn) on IG last night. I didn't manage to get to the end of the comments as it was pretty late (but just knowing that a thread had been created for RW meant I stared at the ceiling for a good hour before I managed to finally chill out and get some sleep, ha!) Daunting times.

I left my job at the start of Jan this year as a newspaper editor here in London to pursue this full time. I knew it would be quite the leap of faith, but it's what I've always wanted to do. As some of you know, I've been an avid collector of vintage leather jackets for over a decade. It's what I'm most passionate about and I think if you're doing what you love, it's never really a "job". When I went into this, I knew I wanted to cover three bases: build quality, gender neutral designs and affordability. As a woman, we're limited in our choice of solid leather jacket brands. Even high street chains tend to use better quality leather for men's jackets while making women's jackets out of lambskin and cheap, sh*tty shiny hardware that looks like it should be attached to a bathroom sink. It bugged me that if I wanted a solid leather jacket that didn't break the bank, I either had to go vintage (I think my greatest find to date was a 1950s HD Cycle Queen that I'll likely never sell on) or source a men's 32/34 that fit okay'ish in the chest and made me look like a brick house everywhere else. I knew that the only way I could get my voice (and frustration) out there was to start my own brand.

I've worked with countless suppliers to produce my samples until I found a team I was truly happy with. They're a small family run business in Sialkot and I can't fault them. First off, they put up with me and my perfectionism which is a miracle in itself. I'm sure I've driven them to near insanity with amendment after amendment (patterns/hide/sizing) until I felt like we had every single detail just right. Just as an example, I wanted the same hide thickness running throughout the jacket -no panels were to be cut from lower quality parts of the hide (my OCD runs wild). It's these intricacies that I pay attention to. Thankfully, they're used to me now and we have grown pretty close to the point that we now gift each other at holidays just because. They deserve it. I feel very lucky to work with them.

As for the price range, I think it's pretty spot on. These are heavyweight cowhide jackets and the hides are truly beautiful. With that said, I'm not sitting in a studio hand stitching them myself, nor did I fly out to Japan and hand source the finest shinki horsehide so I had to be realistic and charge what I personally would pay for a jacket of this material and build quality. The patterns are my own, the sizing does not come from my supplier. To make it clear, I do not intend for these to be mall-type jackets... That's not what I'm going for at all. These are a range of well built, classic jackets that are affordable alternatives to those you'd find for +£1k.

So far, the majority of customers have asked for jackets to be made in custom measurements. I wonder if my stock sizes don't work... or if something is just off there. I need to figure that out this week.
This is all a learning process for me at the moment but I'm sticking to it because I'm in it for the long run. I value all of the feedback I can get, both positive and negative because I need to get this right. So keep the comments coming, I'm taking everything on board.

Cheers guys,
Leilah

 

[Leilah Wilde]

They sent LW the entire carcass.

I laughed out loud reading this in my car this AM.

 

[JMax]

I laughed out loud reading this in my car this AM.

Glad your day started right.

 

[Will Zach]

Great to see another "TFL startup"!

Wishing you well Leilah!

 

[jeo]

Hi all,

Found this thread by chance after I dropped a line to Jon (@leatherjacketjawn) on IG last night. I didn't manage to get to the end of the comments as it was pretty late (but just knowing that a thread had been created for RW meant I stared at the ceiling for a good hour before I managed to finally chill out and get some sleep, ha!) Daunting times.

I left my job at the start of Jan this year as a newspaper editor here in London to pursue this full time. I knew it would be quite the leap of faith, but it's what I've always wanted to do. As some of you know, I've been an avid collector of vintage leather jackets for over a decade. It's what I'm most passionate about and I think if you're doing what you love, it's never really a "job". When I went into this, I knew I wanted to cover three bases: build quality, gender neutral designs and affordability. As a woman, we're limited in our choice of solid leather jacket brands. Even high street chains tend to use better quality leather for men's jackets while making women's jackets out of lambskin and cheap, sh*tty shiny hardware that looks like it should be attached to a bathroom sink. It bugged me that if I wanted a solid leather jacket that didn't break the bank, I either had to go vintage (I think my greatest find to date was a 1950s HD Cycle Queen that I'll likely never sell on) or source a men's 32/34 that fit okay'ish in the chest and made me look like a brick house everywhere else. I knew that the only way I could get my voice (and frustration) out there was to start my own brand.

I've worked with countless suppliers to produce my samples until I found a team I was truly happy with. They're a small family run business in Sialkot and I can't fault them. First off, they put up with me and my perfectionism which is a miracle in itself. I'm sure I've driven them to near insanity with amendment after amendment (patterns/hide/sizing) until I felt like we had every single detail just right. Just as an example, I wanted the same hide thickness running throughout the jacket -no panels were to be cut from lower quality parts of the hide (my OCD runs wild). It's these intricacies that I pay attention to. Thankfully, they're used to me now and we have grown pretty close to the point that we now gift each other at holidays just because. They deserve it. I feel very lucky to work with them.

As for the price range, I think it's pretty spot on. These are heavyweight cowhide jackets and the hides are truly beautiful. With that said, I'm not sitting in a studio hand stitching them myself, nor did I fly out to Japan and hand source the finest shinki horsehide so I had to be realistic and charge what I personally would pay for a jacket of this material and build quality. The patterns are my own, the sizing does not come from my supplier. To make it clear, I do not intend for these to be mall-type jackets... That's not what I'm going for at all. These are a range of well built, classic jackets that are affordable alternatives to those you'd find for +£1k.

So far, the majority of customers have asked for jackets to be made in custom measurements. I wonder if my stock sizes don't work... or if something is just off there. I need to figure that out this week.
This is all a learning process for me at the moment but I'm sticking to it because I'm in it for the long run. I value all of the feedback I can get, both positive and negative because I need to get this right. So keep the comments coming, I'm taking everything on board.

Cheers guys,
Leilah

Thanks for the chat last night!

I commend you again for starting this new venture. When you told me you left your corporate gig to follow your passion, I knew you had to share your story.

Thank you for being honest in telling us who’s making your jackets. To know it’s a small family run business I think will make it easier for anyone who may be interested to get on board.

The leather looks decent. Can you tell us where you get the cowhide from? Since you’ve handled many jackets I’m assuming it “passed your test”?

 

[Corsair42]

The perfecto style jacket looks good, if it had shoulder gussets as per a regular Perfecto I would snap one up. Still tempted but was wondering if having it without a belt would still come with a £95 Customisation charge, guess I will have to email customer services.

 

[Marc mndt]

The perfecto style jacket looks good,

Agreed but they forgot to do a topstitch on the sleeve / body attachment.

 

[navetsea]

if you look at the button side it's a woman's jacket, maybe the chest area and shoulder and sleeve is optimized for female figure

 

[Marc mndt]

if you look at the button side it's a woman's jacket, maybe the chest area and shoulder and sleeve is optimized for female figure

Interesting. I checked Schott's website and their womens jackets don't have it either.

But then I check vintage HD ladies jackets and they do come with the topstitch.

 

[navetsea]

honestly the top stitch will make the sleeve post moving and creasing a bit differently, and unless the jacket is really functional pieces for performance, the top stitching only add more casual look to it with extra stiffness on the shoulder and train track puckering worn pattern to it, if the sleeve is designed more square/ blazer like it will look much neater and creases more subtly without, between the schott and the HD, I see the schott is more square shouldered thus pull less on the top of the shoulder typical fashion jacket not for riding, while the HD is more rounder shoulder so with the arm down it will pull more on the shoulder thus perhaps need extra stitches to bear the tension yet nicer to ride in

 

[Leilah Wilde]

The perfecto style jacket looks good, if it had shoulder gussets as per a regular Perfecto I would snap one up. Still tempted but was wondering if having it without a belt would still come with a £95 Customisation charge, guess I will have to email customer services.

Morning,

Glad you like the jacket. If you're after shoulder gussets and no belt, it shouldn't be a problem at all. I wonder if including shoulder gussets are the preference for the general consensus here? If so, perhaps I'll alter the pattern completely for the men's perfecto style.

 

[Leilah Wilde]

Also - I'll add topstitching to the shoulders for the men's jackets and leave it out for the women's.
Hope everyone's having a great day! Thanks for the suggestions too - it's a huge help.

 

[Aloysius]

I've come to quite like non-topstitched shoulders on certain jackets after owning some, but I agree that the men's cross-zip would suit one.

That said, I think no topstitch looks better than the tiny one used on some jackets. Like this is expensive but looks cheap:

A more substantial topstitch makes the jacket look well built.

 

[Corsair42]

Morning,

Glad you like the jacket. If you're after shoulder gussets and no belt, it shouldn't be a problem at all. I wonder if including shoulder gussets are the preference for the general consensus here? If so, perhaps I'll alter the pattern completely for the men's perfecto style.

Shoulder gussets as per the Perfecto would be handy as its not just the aesthetics, it's also useful for mobility when riding or driving,

 

[Observe]

I like the trucker. Despite my tastes having changed a bit lately (got a bit tired of the 1930s coal miner look) I still think a leather trucker is a versatile option. I wonder what the lead times are?