New forum member brand (Rugged West)

[Leilah Wilde]

I was really surprised when I saw this review as my experiences with you have been completely the opposite. I had really top notch communication with both of my orders. The response times were very quick and even had me questioning Leilahs sanity with some of the times she would respond given the time difference between Colorado and the UK. I’ve been trying to order a pair of willies boots for two weeks now with my last message sitting on read for over 2 days now with no response. I had nothing like this with Rugged West.

I have not received my second jacket in the new hide but as for my first jacket that was in the two tone steerhide there wasn't any bad smell. I have 5 stars and my RW was nothing like that. I was very surprised that this review said that the Leather was thin. My jackets leather is substantial with out being overly stiff. The measurement were all to spec and there was no chipping on my jacket. I did have some of the tape that was covering hardware pull up a little pigment when I removed it too quickly.

My jacket was exactly what I expected. There were no surprises or differences from the model on the website.

I liked my first jacket enough to buy a second that I am eagerly awaiting in the blackened tea core.

I think you are suffering from success. Not a bad problem to have. It seems like you are taking this seriously and are learning from it.

All of these are "1.4mm steerhide", but I'm not sure if all of these are the same leather:
- blackened brown teacore
- teacore blackened brown
- Oil Black Teacore
- (simply)Teacore
Seems confusing to me.
The photos also show how big the variation is (assuming it's all the same leather, because Leilah said they have 3 options : cordovan, British tan and X). No idea how much of this is down to lighting, camera setting or leather color variation.
View attachment 693203
View attachment 693204
View attachment 693205
View attachment 693206
View attachment 693207
View attachment 693208
View attachment 693209

I’ll answer this one here too…

When I put an order in for the steerhide, I asked the tannery to split the hide evenly between three colours: teacore black, cordovan brown and what I call “British Tan”. When the teacore black was delivered, it was more of a blackened brown (seal brown, if you will). I didn’t dislike it, in fact I really loved it so I chose to create the Stockman and a few Lonely Hunters in this hide. As we only used a small quantity of it, I asked the tannery to darken the rest once more until we arrived at jet black. This is why we now have both blackened brown (all used up now) and jet black (still have some of this left).

 

[Leilah Wilde]

I was really surprised when I saw this review as my experiences with you have been completely the opposite. I had really top notch communication with both of my orders. The response times were very quick and even had me questioning Leilahs sanity with some of the times she would respond given the time difference between Colorado and the UK. I’ve been trying to order a pair of willies boots for two weeks now with my last message sitting on read for over 2 days now with no response. I had nothing like this with Rugged West.

I have not received my second jacket in the new hide but as for my first jacket that was in the two tone steerhide there wasn't any bad smell. I have 5 stars and my RW was nothing like that. I was very surprised that this review said that the Leather was thin. My jackets leather is substantial with out being overly stiff. The measurement were all to spec and there was no chipping on my jacket. I did have some of the tape that was covering hardware pull up a little pigment when I removed it too quickly.

My jacket was exactly what I expected. There were no surprises or differences from the model on the website.

I liked my first jacket enough to buy a second that I am eagerly awaiting in the blackened tea core.

I think you are suffering from success. Not a bad problem to have. It seems like you are taking this seriously and are learning from it.

Honestly, thank you so much for your input. I won’t lie this weekend was rough. I’ve been sitting with everything, trying to process and respond in the right way and most importantly, I felt I needed to take accountability.

Reading your message reminded me why I do this. I’m so grateful that your experience with me so far has been a positive one. Also gave me a good chuckle that you noticed how I respond at crazy hours… I do feel like I’m running on US rather than UK time these days…

It matters to me that my customers feel looked after. You’re a great bunch.
Thank you again for your kindness, patience, and support. Can’t wait to get you into your next.

Best Wishes,
L. X

 

[Leilah Wilde]

Taking all of the points in the video on board, I have started this weekend by purchasing myself a business phone number in hope that I can consolidate all of my different customer chats into one place - on WhatsApp. Up until now it’s all happened via email, Instagram, the website chat. It has been a bit of a juggling act. I will still be responding to emails of course, but if you want to catch me quickly, or even hop on a call to discuss jackets or an order, you can reach me here:

+447356205300

 

[NielsLyhne]

Taking all of the points in the video on board, I have started this weekend by purchasing myself a business phone number in hope that I can consolidate all of my different customer chats into one place - on WhatsApp. Up until now it’s all happened via email, Instagram, the website chat. It has been a bit of a juggling act. I will still be responding to emails of course, but if you want to catch me quickly, or even hop on a call to discuss jackets or an order, you can reach me here:

+447356205300

Great initiative.

 

[TartuWolf]

Now THIS post really shows off the cordovan nicely in different lighting conditions with less processing:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DH3tCCdIJZQ/
I think now we really have a good idea of how the leather looks. Super nice very brownish cordovan.

 

[leatherhead]

Now THIS post really shows off the cordovan nicely in different lighting conditions with less processing:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DH3tCCdIJZQ/
I think now we really have a good idea of how the leather looks. Super nice very brownish cordovan.
View attachment 693517 View attachment 693518

In the first pic, the fit seems really nice, everything fits the model exactly how it should be, although the back is a little tight. But these pics give us much better idea about how the leather really looks like. I am excited for mine.

 

[TartuWolf]

In the first pic, the fit seems really nice, everything fits the model exactly how it should be, although the back is a little tight. But these pics give us much better idea about how the leather really looks like. I am excited for mine.

And I'm waiting for more TFL members to get theirs and add more photos (and reviews) to the RW knowledge base

 

[herculance]

I really hope the issue with the leather smell has been resolved. The only brand-new jacket I’ve ever bought was my FiveStar, and while I love it, I’d rather not deal with that chemical smell out of the box and the whole airing-out process again. (Guess that’s what I get for the price lol)

I honestly have no idea what quality brand-new leather is supposed to smell like. I did take a whiff of some Schotts at Nordstrom, and they seemed somewhat similar to my FiveStar, at least after the initial fumes had settled.

Also, these recent pics in natural lighting are reassuring!

 

[zacharge]

I got shipping confirmation for my Stockman in British Tan! Hoping it gets here soon! Also hoping it’s designed just like the black one…which looks so much cooler than the original version

 

[TartuWolf]

I got shipping confirmation for my Stockman in British Tan! Hoping it gets here soon! Also hoping it’s designed just like the black one…which looks so much cooler than the original version

I'm sorry but that's such a strange thing to hope for - you should get that confirmed before buying / shipping

 

[zacharge]

I'm sorry but that's such a strange thing to hope for - you should get that confirmed before buying / shipping

Haha I had ordered the initial brown jacket when it was first released before the black one came out. I asked Leilah if the buttons could be switched over and she said yes that it would be more similar to the newer iteration. We shall see ha

 

[NielsLyhne]

It sounds like my Rugged Rider should reach me in the next few days.

 

[zacharge]

It sounds like my Rugged Rider should reach me in the next few days.

Same with my stockman- looks like it arrived into the states yesterday

 

[postman10mm]

My Field Leathers Route 66 in waxy calf stunk when it showed up, about a week later, it was fine

 

[herculance]

My Field Leathers Route 66 in waxy calf stunk when it showed up, about a week later, it was fine

Never would have guessed that from Field Leathers, dont they use Shinki & Badalassi? I heard those smell really good.

I guess it could reallt be the storage/packaging conditions like what happened with the Rugged West YouTube review.

 

[codex]

Seems like she sent out a bunch at once. I have a jacket in the mail from her too, a marling in the black steerhide. Will post pics of it when it arrives.

 

[TartuWolf]

She also did one D-Pocket with a more J-24-esque back + detachable collar:

 

[TartuWolf]

Good time to grab a stock RW:

 

[leatherhead]

Good time to grab a stock RW:
View attachment 694710

Apparently, the made to order section also has the discount applied, I could have just waited for a month

 

[TartuWolf]

Apparently, the made to order section also has the discount applied, I could have just waited for a month

Says stock / ready to order only so might be a mistake. But yeah, always a good idea to wait for some sale, RW tends to do them.